Words from your directors:
It is Saturday morning before band camp 2021. In the past two days we have camped with our student leadership team, we have had our final summer band rehearsal, we had great fellowship at our freshman fish fry, and had several band dads work this morning cleaning our our pit cave. All reminders we live in a great place with so many great people. Let us never take advantage of this fact and always appreciate what we have.
All the pressure associated with this job is all self imposed. All three directors understand and know what we have. The resources supplied to us by our school system along with the resources supplied to us by the band parents (your kids) are all quality. We know what we have, and we feel complete obligation to give you everything we have to give. This program has more that most, and this is why we work so hard. We have no excuses if we are not good. That falls completely on those at the top. This is the driving force that motivates us to continue the tradition of excellence.
We hope our motivation is not just us. We hope the students, the parents, the administrators and our community hold these same expectations as well. WHY? At the end of the day, that puts us all on the same page. It levels out the responsibilities on all of us to do what it takes. It makes all the hard work wroth it, and it brings all of us together at the end of the day.
Competitions are back! This motivation was gone last year, but I can see the excitement building on the faces of the older kids. More than half the band has never been to a contest, which is perfectly ok. Half the band will get to experience their first one together and that is always a great night.
Parents, we ask only two things of you at this time. 1. PLEASE make sure your students are at band rehearsal 2. Please make an effort to help support the band by helping our booster organization work at some point during the year.
BAND CAMP SCHEDULE:
Monday July 19 8am-4pm, 6pm-8pm LUNCH PROVIDED, STUDENTS LEAVE CAMPUS FOR DINNER BREAK
Tuesday July 20 8am-4pm, 6pm-8pm LUNCH PROVIDED, STUDENTS LEAVE CAMPUS FOR DINNER BREAK
Wednesday July 21 8am-4pm LUNCH PROVIDED
Thursday July 22 8am-NOON
Monday July 26 8am-4pm, 6pm-8pm LUNCH PROVIDED, STUDENTS LEAVE CAMPUS FOR DINNER BREAK
Tuesday July 27 8am-4pm, 6pm-8pm LUNCH PROVIDED, STUDENTS LEAVE CAMPUS FOR DINNER BREAK
Wednesday July 28 8am-4pm LUNCH PROVIDED
Thursday July 29 8am-NOON, return at 3:00 for full band pictures in uniforms
BAND CAMP MUST NEEDS BY ALL STUDENTS:
WATER JUG is the absolute most important thing. Students are in charge of their own hydration. Do not let you kid come to band camp without their water jug.
EAT BREAKFAST: All students need to eat breakfast before camp. They may not be hungry but they will need the energy. Students who do not eat breakfast always get sick when we go outside. Always.
DRINKING MORE WATER: It is highly recommended for students do drink a large glass of water prior to bedtime and immediately when they wake up. This seems to really help dehydration.
PROPER CLOTHING: Athletic type shorts, shirts and shoes. Ball caps and sunglasses highly recommended. Sun scrreen is also very important.
ALL BAND NEEDS: instruments, music, drill sheets, and consider a backpack/bag for band to keep their stuff in.
AN ATTITUDE OF WORKING HARD: If any student is allergic to hard work, then you will develop a rash because you will be exposed to hard work. Look at it this way students, you will get the best sleep every next two weeks.
Student medical conditions: If your student has any medical concerns t hat the directors are unaware of, that needs to be taken care of promptly Monday morning or sooner. Please do not send students without letting us know these conditions.
BAND CAMP MEAL SCHEDULE: Each meal has been sponsored by local organizations or businesses. Tianna Brook has worked very hard to make all of this happen and we are grateful. Your students will eat wonderful lunch meals during band camp weeks. Please look closely at our meal sponsors. If you get a moment, PLEASE reach out to them and let them know how gracious we are. Feeding 145 people is a costly and they were so gracious and anxious to help.
Additional info for everyone: Basically do’s and dont’s
- Students will not be allowed to leave campus during band camp except during the dinner break
- All students need to leave campus during dinner break as they will be unattended.
- The staff will keep close tabs on weather, including heat indices and stronger storms.
- Students may not miss band camp rehearsals except for emergencies.
- Students are responsible for cleaning up areas we use on campus.
- All students should be fitted into uniform by the end of week one of camp.
- Winds and percussion will need to have black socks with their uniforms.
- Shoes will be ordered immediately after the last freshman is measured.
- The band will receive a show shirt and dry wicking shirt to wear under uniforms.
- New students will get band polos this year, the same polo as last year. Vets will use shirt from last year.
Competition schedule: All the dates on our schedule for competitions are correct. On October 2nd, the Hewitt Trussville contest is listed but we will not be attending. Their contest is actually on the 9th which is our open weekend. We will find another contest to go to on the 2nd.
OCTOBER 9TH OPEN WEEKEND: We purposely left the October 9th Saturday open due to fall break on Monday/Tuesday October 11-12. This gives everyone a 4 day holiday to enjoy. However, we do have a football game the night before at home versus Hartselle. All students, as normal, will be expected to attend that game.
September 24 BYE WEEK FOR FOOTBALL: We will not have a game September 24, however we do have a contest schedule the next day at Russellville HS. We get the rare Friday night off but actually to our benefit as the students will get a night off the day before our first contest.
ALABAMA STATE MARCHING CHAMPIONSHIPS, OCTOBER 30th PELHAM, ALABAMA: We are happy to return for the third time to the Alabama state marching championships. A bit of history-this championships was born right here in Muscle Shoals in 2018 hosted and started by the directors and the boosters of MSHS. Much like athletic championships, classifications of bands is determined by school size and will be a very competitive event. It is the bullseye at the end of our marching band season and we look forward to this important Saturday.
Home game and Away game procedures: For home games, the call for the students is 5:30pm. Students will be dismissed at 3:15 for home games. For AWAY games, students never leave campus. They will bring all their belongings to the school Friday morning. We will eat at the visiting concession stands prior to the ball game.
Student check out policy for trips: our school board policy states that all students attending a trip (game, contest, etc) MUST ride the bus to the event with the group under the instruction of their teachers/instructors. Students are allowed to check out with a parent and their signature. Students may ONLY leave with a parent present and their signature.
Finally: THROUGH IT ALL; a little more information regarding our 2021 competitive marching band show.
The staff has always believed designing shows that mean something to the students, staff, and the community. Our shows are often complex that sometimes take a trained eye/ear to understand what we do. When we choose a topic or concept that connects with us, it is easier to understand and enjoy. This is certainly the case with THROUGH IT ALL.
The wind ensemble played “K2, The Savage Mountain” by Julie Giroux this past spring for MPA. It was the second time in 6 years it had been performed by mshs band. The music is written in a way that tells the story of a trek to climb the second highest peak in the world. The composer does a great job describing this trek through her music. It plays just like a soundtrack to a big movie production. When you listen to it, the music transports you to that middle eastern part of the world and is a favorite of our band students.
We began to discuss the possibility of making it into a competition show but we were all on the same page that we didn’t want to do a show about climbing a mountain. Someone mentioned that the past 16 months of our lives felt like climbing K2. Then it hit us…….there is the connection we needed. Mrs. Hood came up with the show title and we began looking for visual ideas to tie it all together. That is where our prop idea came into play.
When you title a show with the word THROUGH, you better go through something. Special pieces of architecture found in the middle east are gateways or arches. They have different names depending on the region they are found, but they all said to have special meaning according to their cultures and religions. Passing through may bring you closer to the God’s, relieve stress, symbolize perseverance or overcoming adversity. Never the less, it is suppose to lift your spirits and ease your mind of stress. This couldn’t symbolize anything more appropriate for the time we find ourselves. It really was the perfect visual connection to the region of the world, matching the music perfectly as well as tying in the word THROUGH in the show title.
The show will be in three segments; I. THE QUEST II. THE TEMPLE III. STRONGER TOGETHER
Movement one is an exciting upbeat opener that captures the feeling of starting an adventure. I definatley has the middle eastern musical flavor. Movement two will make you feel like you walked into a budhist monk monistary and hopefully our auxiliary costumes and staging will bring the temple movement to life. We are excited about the music for this one as it sounds like nothing we have ever done before on the field. The band drill will be cutting edge movement here. The third movement name came from a motto started by our color guard several years ago. It stuck with us and we are naming our closer Stronger Together. To persevere and overcome adversity like we have the past 16 months, we got through it together and are now stronger because of it. We will be unified in our efforts as a band to perform this show to the best of our ability, and we will be stronger because we are together. Fast, energetic, with a drum feature and strong brass moments will conclude the show with excitement for sure.
I hope this helps you maybe understand a little more about the show concept. I hope you can watch the show and understand these things without explanation. If we have to constantly explain what we are trying to do, then we haven’t done a great job designing it 🙂 But, knowing this ahead of time hopefully gets you excited.
