The week ahead - Week beginning 10/29/12

Parents and students,

Thank you once again to everyone for another very successful weekend.  We look ahead now to a well deserved weekend off.  With that said, we are down to our final 9 rehearsals before State Championships.  There are still a lot of things to fix and change to maximize our show.  Each rehearsal is extremely important as we work to perfect as much as we can.  As the weather gets cooler, students may wear sweatpants or warm up pants to practice.  NO JEANS.

We are wanting to put together some incentives for the students as we make the final push to the end of the season.  We would like to ask donations of  $5 or $10 gift cards to places like Starbucks, Moe's, Coffee Culture, Subway, the movies, Godfather's, or any place that you think the students would like a small gift card to.  Details are forth coming, but students will be able to earn opportunities to be entered into a drawing for one or more incentives.

Fund raising reminders.....  I have Domino's Pizza Cards available for $10.00.  For each one you sell, $9.00 will be credited to your fair share.  

Wreath fund raiser money and orders are due in next week.

All County Band:  Applications and money are due to me by this Friday.  Forms and info can be found at http://www.achonorband.webs.com/  As of right now, I have only had one student turn in a form.  Folks, our students need to be auditioning for this band so our program is well represented in the county.

Here is our schedule.

Monday:  Full Band  3:00 to 5:00

Tuesday:  Horns 3:00 to 5:00, Pit/Battery/Guard 5:30 to 8:30

Thursday:  Full Band 5:30 to 8:30

Thanks,

Bill

The week ahead - week beginning 10/22/12

Parents and students,

Congratulations to everyone on a great weekend at the Nease show.  We accomplished all of our goals and have put ourselves in a great position for State.  I have received a lot of questions about how things worked at the competition Saturday and what does block really mean.  So I will do my best to explain.

 

Question #1;  How could Fleming Island win so many best in Finals awards and finish 3rd?

In Finals, they earned best Visual, Drum Major, Percussion and Guard.   There are only 3 captions that count towards the overall score, Music, General Effect and Visual.  There are 6 judges that evaluate those captions and their scores are added together to make up the final score.  The drum major, percussion and guard scores are more of a courtesy to those individual sections and do not reflect in the final Full Ensemble score.  With that said, I want to take a moment and give our color guard a huge congratulations.  They lifted their score from a 72 last week at Showcase to an 86 this week at Nease.  Awesome job.

So, we won best music, Santa Fe won best GE and Fleming won best visual.  When you add all of that together, you get the results that happened on Saturday.

 

Question #2:  What does block mean and why do we make such a big deal out of it?

This one is a little more complicated to explain, but here it goes.  Block has everything to do with the order in which we perform at State Semi-Finals on November 17th.  The way the Florida Band Tournament works is this....

Bands can send in their registrations for State at anytime throughout the Spring, Summer or Fall and assign the band a seeding number based on the order in which they receive the registration and full payment.  Your seeding number determines the order of performance at State prelims with early entries going last and late entries going first.    However, the FMBC collects any registrations sent in before April 1st and puts all of those into a pot.  On April 2nd, any bands that sent in their stuff before April 1st are randomly drawn out of the hat and given a seeding number, this year, our number is #18.  This year, 55 bands sent in their registrations before April 1st, so I am very pleased with being drawn #18.  Our seeding number has NO reflection on a bands class size (1A, 2A, etc) nor does it have any reflection on their ability(This is not college football).

So, this determines how the schedule is lined up for prelims.  Is this fair?  Depends on your point of view. 

Anyway, the FMBC then sets a high score for each each week of the season called Block Score.  If you achieve a block score at a show, you get to go to the end of the line for the State Prelims Schedule.  All bands that block in a particular class are then placed in the order of the seedings. 

 

By us blocking on Saturday, we moved from having to go 7th or 8th from last at Prelims to getting to go second from the end.  The advantage to going later is that the judges get to see everyone else and then if we do our job correctly, they can rank us very accurately.  At State, there will be 17 bands in our class alone. 

 

I hope this explanation helps.

 

We are in the midst of two fund raisers right now, Christmas wreaths and Dominos Pizza Cards.  Both are going out to the students today.

 

This week is a much easier week for us

Monday:  Full Band 3:00 to 5:00 PM

Tuesday:  Horns  3 - 5 PM  Pit/Battery/Guard 5:30 - 8:30 PM

Thursday:  Full Band 5:30 - 8:30 PM

Friday:  Full Band 1:00 - 5:00 PM  (No school)

Saturday:  FBA District Festival at Columbia HS, itinerary attached

 

The ACT is being given here at GHS on Saturday morning, we are not starting until the ACT is over.

 

Have a good week,

Bill

The week ahead - week beginning 10/15/12 and Nease Itinerary

Parents and Students,

First, a big thank you to everyone who made Showcase a success.  I encourage you to visit www.floridabandtournament.com to follow scores and schedules, but to also see sample judges tapes as well as to see the criteria as to what the judges are looking for.  In a nutshell, our show is not quite clean enough yet to earn us maximum points.  We will be working very hard over the next few weeks to clean as much as we can and wrestle every point out of the show that we can.

 

Friday night is Senior night for GHS.  Senior Band Parents should meet us by 6:30 at the field to escort your senior across the field.  The seniors will be receiving information sheets tomorrow for senior night.

 

Below is the itinerary for Nease, and here is a look at the week ahead.  At this point, we have plenty of snacks and water for this week's show.  Thank you so much for your generous donations.

 

Monday:  Full Band 3:00 to 5:00 PM

Tuesday:  Horns 3:00 to 5:00 PM, Pit/Battery/Guard 5:30 to 8:30 PM

Thursday:  Full Band 5:30 to 8:30

Friday:  Football Game, report at 3:30 to load.  Dinner provided by Harvest Time

Saturday:  Competition at Nease, see attached itinerary.

Southern Showcase Itinerary

Band Booster Meeting Minutes - 10/8/12

Meeting began at 7:02  PM.

President’s Report

Approved minutes from prior meeting.  Motion made and seconded.  All in attendance approved.

Band Director Update

• Since last boost meeting, have had only one full rehearsal without rain.
• Thanks for being flexible with the schedule this week.  We need the extra time to practice.
• This Friday is the homecoming game against Buchholz.  Both bands will play after the game, Buchholz first, GHS second.  Will send the students back to school as soon as instrument trailers are loaded.  Will not unload trailers Friday night.  Student need to be back Saturday morning between 9:30am and 9:45am for practice before Showcase.

• Trailers need to be hooked up by 11AM.
• Admission to Showcase is $10.
• Preliminary performance is at 4:30pm.  Finals time will be determined based on preliminary performance.  The better the performance in preliminaries, the later the finals performance.

• There will be 20 bands competing on Saturday.
• Buchholz, Fleming Island, and Nease are also in our class (4a).
• Preliminaries perform against same class.
• Finals top 10 – then compete open class.
• Floridabandtournament.com has the competition schedule.

Next week – normal rehearsal schedule.

Next competition at Nease, 10/20 – just GHS and Fleming Island in 4a.

Students will need to be here at 830am.

Districts, 10/27- 8:15pm performance – one and done  (meaning no preliminaries, just one performance).

Students (Parents, please help here) need to pack healthy food for all competitions.  The snack-bar fare is not the best for competition digestion … please keep that in mind.  Students have enough to deal with without having to worry about … ahem … digestive issues.

Please make sure they eat breakfast before they come here for the competition.  And that does not mean drive through at McDonalds.

Electronic devices … leave them at home!  They are a distraction.  Enough said.

To block score – need to get an 82 at this competition.

The tournament sets a score each week.  If we achieve that score, we get to go later in the state preliminaries.  Later is better.  Only have two chances to block – this week and Nease … blocking has to be done at least two weeks before state.

Mr. Pirzer has fair share list as of 10/3/12.  Please pay your September installment if you have not done so already.

Also, section t-shirts are currently for sale for $8.  Please buy them and wear to the competitions and games.

Huge thank you to everyone … especially to Roberta’s sweatshop …. The sweatshop is almost closed! 

Treasurer’s report  - Susie Hummel via Frank Mason

Bank balance is 17k … after deducting checks not cleared, 10k balance.

Fundraising-  Cindy Mason

Pancake – 113 people.  Turnout was decent.  $$ have not been calculated just yet. 

VP/ Volunteer Coordinator Report – No report

Uniform Report

All is fine. A few last minute alterations for missing and loose buttons are necessary.  Thanks to all who washed bibbers.  Email to follow later this week regarding sections to help for weekend activities.

Other business

Lea M. – need 19 parents in total to work concessions on the Nease game.  If you are wiling to participate and have not yet registered with UF, please go on the website and do so.  Please contact Ruth Dean or Lea M. (or just send a note to ghsbandnews@gmail.com) for additional info.

State competition parent bus.  Leaves the Friday before state (11/16). Package gets you a seat on the bus and one spot in a double occupancy room Friday night.  Cost will be around $90 per person. First come first served.  Will have less space on the bus for parents this year, given the increased size of the band.  Same hotel as last year.  Different name.  Paperwork will be coming soon.  Entry fee – prelims $12/  finals $19.  Cash only.  Friday …. practice at King High School 2-3 hours in afternoon, then back to hotel, and then to mall.  It is fun for all involved. Really.

Next meeting: November 12, 2012

Meeting adjourned approximately 7:40 pm.

Schedule Changes - Week Beginning October 8

Parents and Students,

Due to the unbelievable amount of time lost because of rain, Ms. Sickon and I have been forced to extend our rehearsals for this upcoming week as we prepare for Showcase next Saturday.  In a given season we typically lose 2 to 4 outside rehearsals because of rain.  So far this season, we have had 15 outside rehearsals interrupted or outright lost because of rain, including all four this week.  Next week looks better for the weather so we hopefully can get the show done for Showcase.

Here's our updated schedule....

Monday:  Full Band 3:00 to 6:00

Tuesday:  Full Band 3:00 to 7:00

Thursday:  Full Band 3:00 to 6:00

There will not be a 5:30 to 8:30 rehearsal for pit/battery/guard on Tuesday.  We desperately need full band time outside.  We are very sorry for the last minute changes, but our success at Showcase and beyond relies heavily on the work we can get done next week.  

We will still have the Booster Meeting at 7:00 PM on Monday.

Don't forget that Red and Blue Sector shirts are still available, but going fast.  Don't be left out of the Realm!!!!

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.  Showcase is just 7 days away.

Bill

--
Bill Pirzer
Gainesville High School Band
1900 NW 13th St
Gainesville, FL 32609
352-955-6707
www.gainesvillehighschoolband.com

The Week and a Half Ahead - Week Beginning 10/1/12

Parents and Students,

The T-Shirts are here!!!  We have had t-shirts made for the red and blue teams as well as a green shirt for the guard and a black shirt for the drum majors.  All shirts are $8.00 each and are on a first come first served basis.  These shirts are dress code approved for school and practice.  They are also dress code approved for the most spirited parents at any competition.  Please make any checks payable to the GHS Band.

 

Competition season is upon us, so here is what the next week and a half look like.

 

• Thursday 10/4:  Full Band 5:30 to 8:30
• Friday 10/5:  Full Band 3:00 to 9:00
• Monday 10/8:  Full Band 3:00 to 5:00  Booster Meeting 7:00 PM
• Tuesday 10/9:  Horns 3:00 to 5:00, Pit/Battery/Guard  5:30 to 8:30
• Thursday 10/11:  Full Band 3:00 to 5:00 PM  (Due to Stormwarning)
• Friday 10/12:  Homeoming Games vs.  Buchholz  We will perform the show after the game.
• Saturday 10/13:  Southern Showcase of Champions at Santa Fe HS , Our prelims time is 4:30 PM.  Students will report to GHS at 10:00 AM for practice.  Our finals time will not be known until after prelims.  We will return to GHS around 11:30 PM.

 

Admission to Showcase is typically around $10.00.  For new parents, these competition days are day long events so the students will be with us from 10:00 AM all the way to midnight.  We take buses to and from the events.  If you have never been to a competition, be sure to come observe what marching band is really all about.  Be sure to wear your purple or choose your allegiance with a red, blue or green shirt.

 

See you at the Booster Meeting on Monday,

Bill