October 2009 Band Booster Minutes
Mr. Pirzer’s News:
DATE CHANGES: ALL COUNTY BAND concert was scheduled Tuesday 3/30/09. This was Passover. It is now scheduled for Thursday 4/1/09. West Side Baptist Church is the same. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. We will rehearse all day 4/1/09, take a 2 hour break, come back and perform on the same day.
SPRING CONCERT DATE Friday 4/23/09. Moved to Monday 4/26/09 – which is the week of state concert festival. The auditorium was double booked.
COMPETITION DATES: The dates of our upcoming competitions are 10/24, 10/31, 11/21. These dates are also posted on the band calendar.
MIDDLEBURG COMPETITION: It was the most miserable, hot competition in 10 years - about 95 degrees with high humidity. Our guard member who got dehydrated at the competition is doing fine. Looks like next weekend should be much cooler. Thank you to all the parents who supported with pit, uniforms, and cheered in the stands. Prelim performance vs final performance -- much improved. Students stepped up for Saturday night. Result of the Middleburg competition is that the band students are revved up, focusing and gelling as a team.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. We can’t say enough about getting sufficient hydration. About 10 people were escorted out of the Middleburg competition due to heat-related events. Students should prepare themselves the week before and the day before. Hydrating the day before makes a BIG difference on the day of the competition. Mr. Pirzer thinks we need to fill up the cooler with Gatorade for electrolytes for these hot competitions.
COMPETITION INFORMATION: 10/24/09: District Marching at Columbia High School. Itinerary will be available on Monday in the band room. Students will show up at 11:00 for practice. Admission: $7.00. This is like the Middle School Concert festivals. It’s not a competition; it’s a performance assessment with Superior, Excellent, Good. We are shooting for our 64th straight Superior. Student practice at GHS will be at 11:00 a.m. Load and leave time is around 2:00 p.m. Performance time is 7:30 p.m. Buchholz right after us. Awards immediately afterward. 8:30-8:45 end of show. Back at GHS by 10:00 p.m.
10/31/09: Southern Showcase at Santa Fe High School in Alachua: This is our number one competition behind State. In two weeks we should look great and perform our full show. We aim for our 5th straight Grand Championship at the Southern Showcase
FOR YOU GATOR FANS: We may have an RV outside at Southern Showcase with a TV, for those who want to watch the GA game while attending Southern Showcase. Last year we placed high enough in the scoring that Gators fans were able to watch the entire football game AND still see their students win the Southern Showcase Grand Championship.
STATE: 11/21/09: State competition is just around the corner and coming up really, really quickly. It looks like semi-finals will be held at Jefferson High School in Tampa; State Finals at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. We have chartered a FAN BUS -- Candy’s Coaches – they’re really nice coaches. There are 50 seats and $25.00 will get one. Last year it was $40.00 per seat. We leave around 8:00 a.m. and usually return around 2:00 a.m. We expect seats to go fast. Your student can snag you a reservation sheet in the band room.
NEXT BOOSTER MEETING: Monday 11/9/09.
REHEARSAL: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. this Wednesday, Thursday night game. We’re on the visitors side this Thursday. No rehearsals this Friday or Saturday. [old news by now, sorry]
ATTENDANCES AND PRACTICES: We hope you’ve heard your students talking about this, as Mr. Pirzer has addressed this with the students. They’ve lost more than 500 student practice hours due to absentism. There seems to be a lot more appointments and other random things that are scheduled on top of practice hours. We have 8-10 students absent at every practice. These holes have an impact on the practice. We only have 5 weeks left in the season. PLEASE have your students attend all the practices. Please check the calendar when you schedule things for your students.
OPEN QUESTIONS TO MR. PIRZER:
EMERGENCY PLAN: What is our emergency plan for our competitions? All events have medical personnel on site. There was some concern that the staff at Middleburg were not paramedics. Others stated that there were paramedics on site, but they were very busy helping various people and, and therefore, not in the tent. If one of our children has to be transported to hospital and the parent is attending the event – parent will accompany the child; otherwise, a staff person will accompany the student.
Discussion on not drinking caffeine products or energy drinks on the day before or during the event. Hydrate heavily the day or two before the event, as well as during the event.
Agree about the heat. Questions regarding if there was a possibility of moving competition dates/times to later in the day or later in the year? With 25 sanctioned events that all have to be staggered and coordinated – it would not be possible to change event dates and times because of the heat. It was noted, though, that it usually IS NOT THIS HOT by the time these competitions start. Our Middleburg competition was unusually hot.
WATER AND SNACK DONATIONS: Discussion on whether there was a better way to ensure adequate supplies than soliciting donations. One suggestion was to include an amount targeted for supplies in the fair share or fundraising goals, and then have a staff or booster officer purchase supplies before each event. Mr. Pirzer countered that he feels the current way generates a high level of donations, solid parent support and good community spirit, and he prefers to keep it that way.
SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SCORING OF OUR MIDDLEBURG PERFORMANCE: Does the duration of the performance have an impact on the evaluation? Perhaps it affected the score a bit. Maybe 3-4 points. One of the judges said in his comments, “I’m sure there’s more to come.” The group far exceeded Mr. Pirzer’s expectations for the first competition. Final scores depend, too, on who the judges are, and whether they like big shows or more complex shows. We tend to increase our score over the season as our students finess they’re show. We always have a complicated show. The students are challenged and enjoying their program.
Showcase: 16 or 17 bands scheduled. We are tentatively scheduled for 2:15 p.m
Band Booster President: Frank Mason:
Not present.
Treasurer News:
We are still operating in the black and have about $10,000 in the checkbook. We have a few bills to pay. We also have school buses and state buses to pay for. Concern expressed about FAIR SHARE contributions. Fair share has trickled down and is not coming in as regularly as it was in the beginning.
FAIR SHARE: Is due the last Friday of every month. $75.00 is the expectation.
We haven’t received any concession stand money yet.
Fundraiser News:
Script: Last year Script orders netted $1745, $1083 the year before it. This year it is running very low at only $205.00 so far. It’s a great fundraiser and doesn’t require one to spend any more money than they would have spent anyway, but it does take some plan ahead coordination. THINK ABOUT YOUR HOLIDAY PLANS as Script orders can be used to purchase your presents or to give as presents. With a little preplanning, you can reduce or eliminate your FAIR SHARE while taking care of your holiday plans. New order forms are on the Hurricane website. Turn Script orders it to Mr. Pirzer.
SCRIPT DATES:
10/14, 11/12, 12/9, 1/13, 2/10, 3/10, 4/21, 5/12, 6/9.
It works like this: You turn your order in before the deadline. Between Wednesday & Friday of the following week you’ll have your Script cards and an itemization of how much money went to your child’s Fair Share and year-to-date accrual.
GATOR DOCKSIDE BREAKFAST: 11/07/09: Tickets are printed, but only 5 students have picked up tickets to see. Tickets are in groups of 10. This is usually a really big fundraiser for us. 50% of the ticket price goes toward your child’s fair share. Student servers and parent coordinators & chefs will be needed.
BELKS $5.00 COUPONS 11/07/09: Yep! It's a his & her day! On the same date as our breakfast, Belks is having a special sale. Purchasers of these $5.00 coupons get full face value at Belks AND get entered into a $1,000 Belks shopping raffle. The full $5.00 purchase price goes into your child’s fair share. WE NEED A VOLUNTEER TO COORDINATE THESE TICKETS AND TO WORK WITH STUDENTS AT THE TICKET TABLE AT GATOR DOCKSIDE. Please send an e-mail to Susan Weinstein or Laura Netardus if you will be our parent coordinator of the Belk ticket sales.
WREATH SALES for the holidays. It’s time to get things moving if we’re going to have the wreaths for the holiday break. The wreathes were a very big hit last year, were reasonably priced, looked great, smelled good and lasted a long, long time. WE NEED A PARENT VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR FOR THIS EVENT. Please send an e-mail to Susan Weinstein or Laura Netardus if you will be our parent coordinator of the wreathe sales.
ART FESTIVAL: The Downtown Arts Festival is scheduled for Saturday & Sunday - 11/14/2009 & 11/15/2009. The GHS Band is committed to doing this event. Ellie, a local artist, was so pleased with our set up this past weekend at Thornebrook, that she has recommended us the other artists. We received our first purchase of services for tent set up and break down for $90.00. Price is $45 per set up and $45.00 per break down. It’s an early day, but it’s PURE PROFIT --straight into your FAIR SHARE pot of gold. Set up times run from 5:00 a.m. through 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. Break down times run from 5:00 p.m. to about 7:00 p.m. On Sunday. Tents are left up overnight.
Randy Handel is coordinating this fundraiser, and ALL HE NEEDS IS FOR STUDENTS TO SIGN UP. (A few parent volunteers might be appreciated, too). Mr. Pirzer strongly encourages student sign up. If we establish a good reputation at this event, it could become a GHS HURRICANE BAND fundraising mainstay for years to come.
Discussion on whether we’re going to presale all our set up sales and/or if we’ll have a “talent pool” on hand for last minute orders.
SEND YOUR E-MAILS TO: Randy Handel: Randolph.handel@sfcollege.edu
Some question of using students to perform yard work. An offer of $100 has been received, but questions concerning insurance came up, and it doesn’t look like this is an opportunity that the GHS Band will pursue, although we certainly appreciate the interest.
UF CONCESSION STANDS:
Our UF Concession stands are doing well. There is a home game 11/21/09, and we have to fulfill our obligation and must staff the concession stand for the entire game. At present, we have no one signed up. SINCE ALL THE STUDENTS WILL BE IN TAMPA AND UNAVAILABLE to staff the concession stand on 11/21/09, we need parents to staff it instead. We need 12-14 people, and can take siblings over 14 years of age. Our concession stand is Stand 3, Section 8. We meet at Gate 17 for entry. We sell almost everything - Hotdogs, pretzels, popcorn, candy, drinks. IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO THE STATE COMPETITION, PLEASE VOLUNTEER. The sign up sheet is located in the band room. Eileen Monck, Shannon Monck and Ruth Dean are the contact people for this request.
Volunteer News:
We had an incredible turn out Saturday. We had lots of folks. Lots of snacks.
Bruce expects that the Thursday night football crew of volunteers will probably the same wonderful people and help as before.
Color Guard News
See UF Concession stands.
Other:
Trailer lights were out and unknown why.
DO YOU HAVE A PAIR OF GATOR TICKETS FOR SALE? Mr. Pirzer is begging for 2 Gator tickets so that his wife can see TEBOW live. Of course, the game must be a home game and on a night when we have no other scheduled band event
We still have GHS SWEATSHIRTS, BOOSTER SHIRTS, KID SHORTS, FEMALE SHIRTS, hats, visors for sale. Sweatshirts are running low. We may need them next weekend (finally).
LETTERMAN JACKETS: Usually arrive about 5-6 weeks after the orders are placed. The orders were will probably will come in the week before the State Championship.
IT’S HOT AND PRICKLY ALL UNDER: Black and Purple Under Armor is the solution. Ask your student what it is, if you don’t already know. Under Armor can be purchased at WalMart or any sports store, according to Mr. Pirzer. It’s worth the money. Helps keep the student dry and cool in the heat and, believe it or not, also warm and dry in the winter chill, too.
