Fall Concert Dates Announced –
I am happy to announce the dates for the fall concerts for this semester. The 7th and 8th grade bands will present a fall concert on Thursday, Nov. 1 in Schafer Auditorium at BMS. The 6th grade bands will present a concert on Monday, Dec. 10 in Schafer Auditorium at BMS.
I am always thrilled and proud to see our students progress from concert to concert. We have a wonderful facility to perform in and it is quite a special night for the kids. Concerts are part of the student’s grade and students are required to participate as part of the learning experience. BMS Band concerts are free and open to the public.
The Annual Fall Fundraiser Has Come To An End –
The official end date for the fundraiser was September 17th and we can expect delivery sometime the week of October 8 – 12. We will receive a more concrete date and time as that week approaches.
The cookie dough fundraiser has both the tubs of cookie dough ($15) and the pre-portioned cookie dough ($17). The students were given a brochure and an order form on the 4th. The band is only taking orders at this time. The students will collect money when they deliver the product. Checks can be made out to BMS or BMS Bands at that time.
Prizes are available to the students at several item levels. The first prize occurs at ten items.
This sale has gone very well and is ahead of last year’s total. It will help purchase supplies, music, technology, and instruments. I can’t express how appreciative I am of all the help with this annual project. The profit helps a lot of students in our program and the success of the project impacts every child in the band.
6th Grade Bands –
The 6th grade bands are off to a good start. The kids have settled in on the instruments and are learning the first few notes. We are entering that phase where some pick it up right away and some struggle a bit. It is natural for some of the kids to get frustrated over the next few weeks. Just remind them to take it slow and they will work it all out. They want it all to happen right now. That will be the case for a few, but most will struggle. Most of the kids only have experience with instruments that sound right away like recorder, guitar, piano. Playing a brass or woodwind is not quite the same thing. Just be as supportive as you can and they will begin to figure it out and be fine.
The students that aren’t using a school instrument should be locating an instrument to play on. There are links to Paige’s Music and Melody Music Shop on our website. Both companies are good choices for locating an instrument to rent or buy.
The percussionists have been selected and will need to buy a stick bag with the appropriate sticks and mallets to use for class. We have the stick bags with what the percussionists need in the band office to make this easy for them. The stick bags with the sticks and mallets will cost $55 again this year. They will also need to have something to practice bell parts on at home. A bell kit, piano, or little electric keyboard work well for this.
All the students will need a beginning band book. We use Essential Elements 2000. Most students that rented from Paige’s Music already have this and others may too. The percussion book includes the snare and bell music and costs $16. The rest of the band books are $9. The students that still need a book can purchase it from the band office.
Have a great week!
Bedford MS Bands 