February 2010 Band Booster Minutes

Mr. Pirzer News:

 

IMPORTANT DATES AND EVENTS:

 

Drum Major Auditions:  Wednesday, 2/10/10 at 3:00 p.m. in the band room. 10 students are auditioning. You’re welcome to come watch the auditions.

 

Concert & Symphonic Band:  2/25/10 – Thursday night – Pre-Festival Concert: Concert starts at 7:00 p.m., Kids need to be there at 6:15. This will be held at GHS, and several guest band directors are coming to judge our bands’ performances. Our bands will play the three pieces that they’ll play at districts. Ms. Sicon will choose a piece for the sight reading component. The Concert starts at 7:00 p.m. and our musicians need to be there at 6:15 p.m. Dress code:  Boys: Black pants (no jeans), long sleeve white tuxedo shirt, the band will provide the bowties & cumberbands. Girls:  Girls will be fitted for skirts, white tuxedo shirts, black shoes with black stockings.

 

VOLUNTEER PHOTOGRAPHER NEEDED:  Mr. Pirzer would like to get a great group senior picture prior to the 2/25/10 Pre-Festival Concert. 

 

FBA Concert Festival at PK Yonge on 3/4/2010. Concert band plays at 7:00 p.m. Symphonic band plays at 8:30 p.m. Musicians will board the bus at GHS around 5:00 p.m. Dress is as for the Pre-Festival Concert.

 

3/27/10 – 7:00 a.m. Westwood – March for Babies, March of Dimes.  This is an annual event for our GHS band and counts toward community service volunteer hours (Bright Futures). Students must be at Westwood Middle School at 7:00 a.m. The music lasts about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

 

3/28/10 (Sunday) – GHS participates in a combined concert with the Gainesville Community Band – Starts at 2:00 p.m. Our Concert and Symphonic bandswill play first, followed by the Gainesville Community Band. A large crowd is expected as this year’s performance is a tribute to Mr. Richard Bowles – a long time UF band director and active community member who passed away in December.

 

If we qualify at districts, we’ll play at State:  4/26 or 4/27 – State Concert Festival: This event will be held at UF during the day.

 

4/30/10 – GHS Spring Concert at 7:00 p.m. – includes both concert & symphonic bands.

 

6/12/10 – Saturday – GHS Graduation at the O’Connell Center. The band will meet at GHS at 8:30 a.m. Dress:  Musicians will wear their Sunday best as uniforms will already be packed away.  Graduating band seniors also participate in this performance. The seniors play the Stars & Stripes, and then join the graduating students.

 

Practice dates for Concert & Symphonic Bands are posted on the band calendar: PARENTS PLEASE TRY NOT TO SCHEDULE THINGS ON THE PRACTICE DATES FOR CONCERT AS THERE ARE ONLY A FEW WEEKS LEFT BEFORE MBA.  Concert Band practice: Thursdays 3:-4:30).Symphonic Band practice: Wednesdays 3:00-4:45

 

Indoor Drum Line:  Has been doing FANTASTIC and fnished third out of 9 and 3^rd out of 21 in the last two competitions. Our drum line is in the top of the two classes – in 1A. Mr. Pirzer notes that our indoor drum line show is far from complete, is still undergoing changes, and will be completely different at the next performance. Come see what all the noise is about!!!

 

THIS FRIDAY & NEXT MONDAY:  INDOOR DRUM LINE:  Disregard the notice that there is indoor drum line practice this Saturday and Monday.  This is incorrect. There are no practices scheduled for the upcoming 4-day weekend, but all other scheduled practice sessions on the calendar are good.

 

Some Upcoming Indoor Drum Line Competition Dates:

2/27/10 – Metansis (sorry, spelling?) High school

3/20/10 – East Lake High

3/27/10 – State Championships – Orlando, unknown venue site.

OUR INDOOR COLOR GUARD has also been competing this winter and placed 6th out of 9th in the Fleming Island competition. Discussion on recruitment efforts for next year's team. Mr. Pirzer mentioned 12 to 14 contacts from the open house held two weeks ago, and his hopes that we're able to expand and add male performers to our Color Guard team next year. Mr. Pirzer projects that next year's show will be GREAT.

Color guard schedule to be posted.

 

GURNEY NEEDED: Shhhh.  Mr. Pirzer won’t exactly say what the gurney will be used for, but hints that you might find out if you come to the indoor drum line competitions. The show will have a twist ending to it that hasn’t been written yet. The concept of the show is “Mad Scientist.” He needs this by next week.  Two volunteers from the booster meeting attendees thought they could find a gurney and will ask around.  But, if you can provide one – by all means, please drop Mr. Pirzer a line. 

 

3/26/10 – Friday before State – tentatively – there is talk about getting together at Santa Fe at their location at their gym. (Sorry folks, but I’m not clear what this event is about).

 

By the way:  What is MPA:  Music Performance Assessment (what we’ve been calling “Festival” earlier in this posting)

 

DAYTONA BEACH TRIP:  A take home sheet was sent home with your student today.

Dates: 5/14/10-5/16/2010

Cost: $110.00

Hotel:  Same as last year (sorry parents – I don’t know which hotel that was). All hotel rooms are refurbished this year with new furniture, flat screen televisions.

Payment: Beach money is due no later than 4/2/10 – the Friday leading into spring break.  

IN ORDER TO GO:  All fair share fees must be paid in full by 4/2/1010 – including Indoor Color Guard and Indoor Drum Line fees, instrument rental fees. 

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT IT’S NOT TOO LATE: Mr. Pirzer will still accept Fair Share payments and allow students to attend the Daytona Beach.  However, if the money isn’t received in full by 4/2/10 – your students will not be attend Daytona Beach.  This is a really fun band trip, and your musician will be glad he or she went! More info as we get closer to blast off date!!!!

 

Gator Nationals:  3/13 & 3/14: Saturday & Sunday. The Indoor Drum Line and Color Guard have conflicts on Saturday for this fundraiser. We have slots for 40 each day.  Last year we made $4,000 from this fundraiser.  Parents, musicians, siblings, friends & everyone else are invited. The money raised will go toward your fare share, toward Daytona Beach,  and then toward the GSH Band general fund, in that order. Sorry parents – money cannot be banked toward next year’s Fair Share.

 

2010/2011 dates:  Band Camps I & II:

Band Camp I:  June 14^th-June 17^th:  4:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Band Camp II: August 7^th, August 9^th-August 13^th, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

 

WE HAVE NEXT YEAR COMPETITION DATES:  PLEASE DO NOT SCHEDULE SAT AND ACT TESTS ON THESE COMPETITION DATES.  There are lots of dates to choose from for these tests: 

Competition dates for next FALL: 

10/09/2010  - - Middleberg or Chiefland

10/23/2010 FBS in Lake City,

10/30/2010 – Southern Showcase in Alachua

BLOCK OUT:  11/18-11/20/10 = 3 days of Thursday, Friday & Saturday for the National and State competitions in St. Petersburg.

 

What is the “National” Competition? We have been invited to the first National Marching Band competition to be held in St. Petersburg at the Tropicana Field prior to State. This is a new, selective competition that is by invitation only this first year.  A total of 30 bands will compete in the preliminary competition and the top ten of these will move on to finals. Only three or four Florida bands will be invited, and the GHS Hurricane Marching Band is one of them. National Band Championship will be 11/18, the day before the State Final Championship.

 

The National Championships will cost a boatload. The charge is $39 per student = $3,900. This covers our entry fee, staff badges, some chaperone badges and all the State Championship fees. This back-to-back competition would require students to spend at least one night in the Tampa area and bus rental of at least two days. Dr. Dixon has approved the additional school absence. If we compete at both of these events, Mr. Pirzer anticipates that he’d find a high school that would allow use of a practice field, that the students would practice Thursday, have some fund Thursday night – dinner, movie or something like that to blow off some steam. Friday a.m. – National Championship prelims and finals later that night, and then compete at State on Saturday. Mr. Pirzer estimates that the total cost for the combined competitions would be about $25,000, or roughly $170-$180 per student.

 

Lots of discussion ensued on whether we can afford the additional competition, the honor of attending the first National competition, options for additional fund raising, possibly combining costs on buses and hotels with Santa Fe High school. It was decided that Mr. Pirzer will send in the 10% entrance fee to reserve our place. We have until August 1^st to make a final decision on the National Championship competition.

 

Solo & Ensemble: Just around the corner - next Friday & Saturday at Buchholz.  Students received their dates and times last week from Mr. Pirzer. All students were given their slips and should have brought them home. If you haven’t seen them, ask for them.

 

RECRUITMENT & FRESHMAN:  GHS had open house 2 weeks ago and received almost 50 contacts – 32 instrumentalist & 12-14 interested in color guard.  Mr. Pirzer is requesting parental help (in addition to the students) in recruitment this year and asks for phone volunteers. We did this last year, and it was hugely successful. Mr. Pirzer will distribute phone lists of 8-10 students and asks the volunteers to call these students and parents ---  tell them the great things about our school, our school programs and our BAND and COLOR GUARD. We want to make sure that we get those that are zoned for GHS, but we also want to recruit from potential IB & Buchholz students. Out-of-zone applicants will declare their school preference by month’s end. IF YOU’RE WILLING TO MAKE PHONE CALLS, PLEASE LET MR. PIRZER KNOW.

 

UF Honor Performance: This was in lieu of the All County Honors Band performance, which was cancelled this year due to multiple scheduling conflicts. Applications for the UF Honor Performance have already been turned in. The performance date ran into spring break, and so there wasn’t a great amount of interest. Only three students applied for it.

 

 

Treasurer Report: Given by Mr. Pirzer for Suzanne Clark, who was unable to attend.

 

Balance:  Checkbook balance $7,786.88

Fair Share is coming in okay:  Thank you very much parents!!!!

Fair share was last updated and posted on Thursday and includes indoor color guard and drum line fees.

 

Here are some of our fundraising numbers:
December Script order: $395.30
January  Script order: $79.15
FEBRUARY SCRIPT ORDER IS DUE THIS WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY!!
3/10 is the March Script deadline for orders
(some discussion on whether Script could be automated and ordered online next year).
Toojays - December: $75.00
UF Concessions:  $2,003.75 – All football season checks are posted to fair share balance
$528.00 silent auction and tickets at holiday concert
(Mr. Pirzer recommends another silent auction/tickets at the spring concert)
$785 from the Hire A Hurricane Downtown Arts Festival.

 

Fundraiser Report:

 

Chicken Dinners:  Nothing planned and most likely we’ll not have a chicken dinner fundraiser.

 

NEW FUNDRAISERS:

 

Candy Bars: Mr. Pirzer has 50 cases of candy bars in his office and Maria Plaza is our volunteer coordinator. It’s easy profit – each case earns $25.00 of profit, which is a 50% take-home number. The fundraiser will raise $1,300 when all cases are sold. HERE’S THE SCOOP: Students cannot sell the candy bars on campus. They can’t take the candy to the lunchroom, to class or even sell the candy bars around campus. So parents, you’ll need to take these candy bars to work or to other events. The kids can check out a case at a time from Mr. Pirzer. The sale price is $1.00 per candy bar, and it’s an easy sell.  We’ll sell them until they’re gone.

 

Cookie Dough:  The order forms are in. It looks like we’ll target the end of February through first two weeks of March for sales, with deliveries prior toSpring break. Mr. Pirzer will send the order forms home with your students. PARENTS – PLEASE BE SURE TO ASK YOUR STUDENTS FOR THE ORDER FORMS.  Send your orders and money to Mr. Pirzer, who will place the orders.

 

PANCAKE BREAKFAST AT APPLEBEES:  4/17/10 - $200 deposit already paid. Tickets are $6.00 each. VOLUNTEER IS ASKED to be in charge at Applebees on the morning of the breakfast.  Contact Laura Netardus. It’s possible that we’ll combine the pancake breakfast with a carwash as Applies has generously volunteered it’s carwash hookups, too. We may target this fundraiser for the National competition.

Discussion on targeting fundraiser as follows:  

Cookie dough, Gator National, Chocolate – Fundraising for Fair share, Daytona Beach

Baskets & pancake – Fundraising for National Competition & State Competition costs

After fair share & Daytona Beach are paid for, all additional funds raised go to general funds.

 

 

Volunteer Coordinator:  Our volunteer coordinator is soliciting students and parents for the Gator National race fundraising event.  For you new parents: This is an early morning, done by around noon, event in which you direct cars to parking spaces. Afterward, if you'd like, you can watch the remainder of the Gator Nationals for free!!! It earns $50 per person, per day. It’s an easy $100 bucks for a parent, student combo. 

 

OTHER:

 

Low attendance with only 13 attendees at this month’s Booster meeting.  We had lots of pizza, though.

 

New officer elections:  We are targeting elections in April.

 

 RANDY HANDLE :  Randy touched base with the Spring Arts Festival head person, who was concerned with liability protection. Mr. Pirzer doesn’t believe that this should present a barrier, as we have GHS liability protection. However, because it’s at the end of Spring break, it may be difficult to get recruits for this fundraiser scheduled for 4/10, & 4/11.  There’s no school on 4/12/10, either. Randy will circulate a list to gauge the level of interest before making any commitment to the Spring Arts Festival. 

December 2009 GHS Band Booster Minutes

December 2009 Band Booster Minutes

Mr. Pirzer’s News: 

Marching season over. Transitional period.  Kind of quiet.

WINTER CONCERTS: Winter concert a week from tonight in auditorium. Students arrive at 6:00, concert at 7:00. Attire:  They won’t be wearing the band uniform. Just wear their Sunday’s best.  Boys: Shirt, tie and nice pants. Ladies: Nice knee-length or longer dress. If the students want to wear something festive, that’s okay, too.

The winter concert will be much, much shorter. No Howard Bishop or Marching Band presentation. There are 5 musical pieces, and that will be it.

12/11/09: Westwood giving a concert in the GHS auditorium at 7:00 p.m. Please come. 

SPRING REHEARSAL SCHEDULE: After the New Year:  Spring rehearsal scheduled:  Afters chool practice sessions:  Symphonic – Tuesdays. Concert – Thursdays. Check the printed calendar for specifics.

SPRING CONCERT DATE:  Was moved from 4/23/09 to Monday 4/26/09 because of a conflict with the drama department in the auditorium.  The State Concert Festival may push our spring concert date to either Thursday or Friday that week.  Mr. Pirzer has to check with the school first regarding the availability of 4/29 or 4/30.

STATE CONCERT FESTIVAL: Last week of April – State concert festival.  It will be held at UF again either on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll ask for Tuesday. 

SCHOOL BOARD RECOGNITION: JANUARY 12, 2010: We’re invited to the school board meeting for band recognition for all 4 public schools. Mr. Pirzer will take the drum majors and the band captains.

SPRING BREAK is 4/4/2010- 4/12/09. 

DAYTONA BEACH TRIP: Daytona: Friday 5/14/09 – 5/16/09 (Fri-Sun).  After school on Friday, the kids pack up and go to Daytona and stay at a hotel. It’s chaperoned.  It’s a blast. The cost usually runs about $100 to $110 per kid. Students must have their fair share paid by 1/31/2010 in order to go on the Daytona trip. Does not include indoor drum line, but the $525 must be received from everyone.

SUMMER BAND CAMPS: 6/1/14-6/17/2010, and, 8/7, 8/9-8/13/2010 are the Summer Band Camps’ dates.

2010 HURRICANE MARCHING SHOW ALL LINED UP: Next year’s show will be fantastic. Mr. Pirzer already has selected next year’s marching band show and is working on developing the program now. This one tells a story and has great music. He ordered the  2010 show was today!!!!  In addition, the color guard is already working on the routines and costumes for next year’s show, too.  He’ll announce the program information to the kids this week. The GHS band staff is all jazzed up about the 2010 selection. Seniors from last two or three years will want to come back and watch this one!

INDOOR DRUM LINE FEES:  Drum line pays an additional $150 dollars for its fair share.  Mr. Prizer has permission forms, and if your child is interested in this – permission form must be completed & returned.

ALL COUNTY BAND FOR HIGH SCHOOL for this year has been cancelled due to multiple scheduling conflicts.  It was initially scheduled on the date of Passover and was moved, and moved, and moved, and finally, it had to be cancelled. In lieu of this, the University of Florida will have an Honor Band culminating in a Saturday evening concert.  The target date is 4/1/2010-4/3/2010. Fees for participation are $60.00. Mr. Watkins at UF will coordinate this. Students who wish to participate in the Jonor Band need to inform Mr, Pirzer and obtain his recommendation.

MIDDLE SCHOOL HONOR BAND still on at this point, but has also been rescheduled many times, too, and also is in danger of being cancelled.

Band Booster President: Frank Mason:

THE SHOW:  He was grateful and expressed his gratitude to Mr. Pirzer. He thought that we should have finished first or second based on the complexity of the show and the music performed. Thought the kids did a great job!  As a former band player himself, he can appreciate all the nuances and factors that the kids have to incorporate and memorize in order to perform such a quality show. Congratulations to the staff and to everyone, band field leaders as well, for making this happen.

LOTS OF GROUP DISCUSSION ON MARCHING BAND COMPETITIONS AND STATE FINALS:

Mr. Pirzer:  Prelims and Finals are judged by completely different judges. You don’t see bands move up very often.  A band’s relative ranking entering into the competition is usually reflective of their show performance. For GHS to move up and jump over a competitor band is a huge accomplishment.  Our students really had to regroup this year, because it had so few seniors and was building its experience. To place third in the State is awesome outcome. State Finals was our best run of the season!!.

Our students felt good about the show and could barely contain themselves to get outside of the tunnel. They huddled in a big circle and cheered in exuberance after the Finals show, upon exiting the tunnel.

Scoring at Finals:  Musically we hung with everyone else. We were right behind Stoneman Douglas. What held us back was Candide. It just didn’t lend itself to be as successful as Mr. Pirzer imagined it to be. It didn’t give us the same impact that the other three pieces did, especially the last piece, but it’s not where we lost out. We lost out in general effect.  We never had a whole grasp of the program until Saturday night. We played catch up this year. Next year our show will have a big general effect.

Stoneman Douglas has a huge number of band students and doesn’t march freshman in its competitions. All you see are seasoned marchers in the Stoneman Douglas show.

Palmetto Ridge is a massive band with over 300 students. Every 3-4 years they do an audition marching band.  They make it really small and create a competitive band. Mr. Pirzer’s philosophy is that the band is for everybody, not just for the elite best marchers.

Role of seating in final scoring: Mr. Prizer thinks we placed where our ranking played out.  We went 7^th from the end. That might have worked against us. It is really hard to remember what a band did 7 shows ago.  The later the performance, the higher the score, but some of the bands that went after us didn’t make it into the top five. We practically jogged to the field from warm up. The kids were a little rattled. The most important thing is the 5 minutes in the parking lot after the performance – win, lose or draw! 

Newberry High was ecstatic to place high enough to compete at State and to come in 12^th.  Kudos to all Alachua County marching bands.

Mr. Pirzer tells the kids to not post anything about our performance, music, etc. online until after the State Finals. After that, it’s okay.

RECOMMENDATION:  There was a recommendation that Santa Fe High be used as a role model for schools hosting competitions. Mr. Pirzer notes that there are not a whole lot of schools that want to take on hosting competitions, and especially not the State preliminary competitions. The 2A site had a water line break, and the field was wet and muddy.  Having hosted two shows at North Marion in the past, Mr. Pirzer knows how many things can go wrong.

Mr. Pirzer suggests we fund raise money to dome the base ballfield  (ha ha).

Treasurer News:

Checking account has $5,000 in the check book. We are still trying to keep the trailer fund separate ($2500 for that) from general funds. We have $2100 bills to pay.  Now that marching band season is over, there won’t be as much going toward staff costs. From here forward, we should be cash in cash out each month.

Fundraising totals:

Moe’s - $165

Hire a Hurricane: Downtown Arts Festival - $785

Guard yardsale: $110

Concession stands: 3 games pending receipts

November script – $674

Fair Share:  Fair share has trickled even more so.

$19,000 left on the Fair Share

Fundraiser News:

SCRIPT:  Jill: Script is due Wednesday.  Turn in by Thursday a.m. at the latest.  Turn around time will be by next Wednesday for the holiday break.

BJ’S FUNDRAISER:  This Sunday 11:00 – 9:00 p.m. All day!! Watch the football games at BJ’s. Bring the friends and family.  Make it a tailgate party! 15% goes to the Band’s general fund. No credit for Happy Hour specials and alcohol.

Moe’s fundraiser: $165 was earned from the Moe’s fundraiser, which equaled 15% of the gross revenue.

TOOJAYS:  December fundraiser date to be announced.

Future fundraisers: Update: AppleBees – pancake breakfast targeted for a weekend in April.  Suggestion that we can combine this with a car wash in parking lot.  He recommends that we steer clear of the 10^th, as we don’t have any school that Monday.  We need to put a $200 deposition to secure.  Spring break is 4/4/2010- 4/12/09.  Return to school 4/13/09 Tuesday (Monday is off, too).

BRAINSTORM SESSION:  GIFT BASKET auction for the winter concert. Discussion on pre-sales of raffle tickets versus silent auction. Funds raised to go into the band’s general funds. Suggestions for basket themes: Spa day basket, Movie tickets, scrap book basket, tool basket, Gator basket – museum, natural history, butterfly, pet basket, etcetera.  It was decided that with such short notice, we would focus on three theme baskets of Coffee, Chocolate and Movies for a silent auction with a minimum bid.

Laura Netardus – contact person.

Thanks were extended to Randy Handel for spearheading the Hire A Hurricane fundraiser and also to Adela who spearheading the Gator Dockside fundraiser.

FROM RANDY: Hire-a-Hurricane had great reception. The artists loved it.  He thinks it will be a great fundraiser for next year, too. He’s checking into the Spring Arts Festival possibilities, too.  The Spring Arts Festival is held in mid April, right after spring break.

Gatornationals:  March 13 & 14.

Discussion on cookie dough and chicken dinner fundraisers in the spring.

Volunteer News:

A question on whether guard and drum line will be attending the same winter events, and the answer is some times. Our volunteer coordinator is recruiting crews for chaperones and set up. Indoor show will be further advanced than last yea with cosume changes and painted floor.

Color Guard News:

UF Concession Stands continue after football season and will need continued staffing.

Other:

Solo & ensembles:  Forms are due on Friday are will be held on February 19 and 20 at Buchholz High School.

Drum major camp – probably will have something in January.

BAND SUPPLIES:  Band supplies are good. We probably won’t need any more water or crackers for awhile. Thank you to all those who donated.  The band is pleased to have enough 9 volt batteries to last. 

Come Early to Winter Concert for the Silent Auction!

The GHS Boosters will host a Silent Auction before the Winter Concert on Monday, December 14th. 

Our three themes are Coffee, Chocolate and Movie Night! (Future themes might include Scrap booking, Gator Sports, UF Museums, Tools, Spa Day, Dining Out, Personal Training etc.)    Bring your donations for the Gift Baskets to the band room by Friday, December 11th, by 2:00 p.m. Laura, Susan and Liz have volunteered to put together the baskets this week end.  If you'd like to help, contact Susan or Laura. 
 
Bidding will start at 6:00 p.m. and end when the concert begins....  How does it work? There will be a starting bid written on a paper in front of each Gift Basket.  You bid on the basket(s) of your choice...and the basket goes to the highest bidder! Winners  will be announced at the end of the concert.
  
Bring cash or a check to pick up your basket.   The proceeds will go to the General Fair Share Fund.

Any questions?  E-mail Laura Netardus laura.netardus@hcahealthcare.com or Susan Weinstein  justus-weinstein@msn.com

Important Upcoming Dates

Parents,

We have some important upcoming dates to keep in mind:

Fundraising Dates:

• TooJay's GHS Band Family dinner night (similar to the Moe's night a few weeks ago), this Wednesday, December 2nd.  Coupons are available in the band room.
•  Scrip Orders are due Wednesday, December 9th.  Will be delivered in time for the Holiday's.

Booster Meeting Date:

• Booster Meeting, Monday, December 7th.
  

GHS Band Winter Holiday Concert:

•  Monday, December 14th @ 7:00 PM in the GHS Auditorium.