Good morning MSMS Band,
I hope all of you are doing well today! Students, I hope YOU are looking forward to getting classes started! I know I can speak for the directors when I say we can’t wait to get going!
By now, I trust everyone has seen the staggered schedule for the middle school. Our administration, Mr. Goodwin – principal and Mrs. Ritter – asst principal, along with the counselors have put in a lot of time to help our start of school goes as smoothly as possible.
Here’s a recap:
START OF SCHOOL
Staggered Start Schedule
August 20, 24, 26
- Students whose last names begin with A-K attend.
August 21 25, 27
- Students whose last names begin with L-Z attend.
Friday, August 28
- All students will be at home for a remote learning day.
As of this morning, no further information has been given concerning our schedule after August 28. I’m sure our admins will let us know as soon as they can so we can all plan accordingly.
Many of our band kids will be coming to the school this fall. There are also some band kids who are going virtual. I have had many questions concerning what virtual students do when it comes to band. Dr. Holden, our new superintendent, addressed this when he released his first District Reopening plan.
Here’s the part that concerns the band: “For electives or extracurriculars, virtual students may attend an in-person class for an elective that is connected to a competition or performance after-school extracurricular program. For example, high school band class is connected to marching band where in-person rehearsals are essential to the program.”
This also applies to our Middle School Band Program.
I would like to encourage all the band members who are going virtual this fall to please come up to the school during their regularly scheduled band class. I believe coming to band class is vital to the development of your child as an instrument player and a band member. Band is somewhat different from other classes. The feedback that your students get from us is instant. We are constantly critiquing, fixing, and assessing what the students do. That part of formative assessment is what being in band is all about. It’s very difficult to address these things virtually and equally as difficult to try to do a full band virtual setting. Virtual assignments will be something that we incorporate into our curriculum. These virtual assignments will primarily be put in place to help your child individually, which is important. But equally as important is the coming together of all the members to put what they have learned as an individual into practice with the group. That’s when the music happens and the students can see and hear the results. That’s the really good part of what we get to do!
Virtual students would come to band class at the school on the day they would normally come according to the staggered start schedule. For example, Daniel Seay would come to class on August 21, 25, and 27. The staggered start also gives us the ability to social distance even more in our rooms that we will be using for band this fall.
As we get back in the swing of things, we will have performances that we will need to be getting ready for. For our 7th and 8th graders, this is the time of year when we would be getting the pep band ready to play for our middle school football games. We would also be preparing for our fall concerts (Veterans Day and Christmas). As of today, middle school football is still a go. However, given the start time of the school year as well as the staggered start, we probably won’t be ready to play for the first game or so. We would definitely need some time for the students to get acquainted with the new schedule and just get back to playing their instrument with a group! Once a determination is made about playing at a middle school football game, I will let everyone know the procedures and protocols we would use.
We will not need instruments the first day of class. We will let the kids know when they need to bring them up to the school.
Please know that while your child is here at school in the bandroom, Mr. Waters, Mrs. Hood, and I will be doing everything we can to help their safety. My previous communication with you back on July 19 outlined our plans to receive students back in class. We plan to stick as close as we can to those details.
Please email me if you have any questions. I’ll be happy to answer them the best that I can!
Also, keep a constant check on www.msband.org as well the Muscle Shoals Middle School Band Facebook page. Everything that I post on www.msband.org will also be posted on the band Facebook page. If you are not a member of the Facebook page, search for it on Facebook, ask to join, and we will get you added.
I hope this information helps everyone. I hope to SEAY everyone once classes begin! It’s been WAY too long since March! Have a great rest of the week!
Daniel Seay
Band Director
MSMS
