​Hello Milwee Band!
 
Congratulations to the students in both Symphonic and Concert Bands on their incredible performances this past weekend at our MPA. Both bands were awarded the highest ratings at the festival: Straight Superior ratings from all four judges! Milwee band students were highly focused and very musical on stage; they were also encouraging and supportive of the other bands they listened to this weekend. Those kids made our school look GOOD!

The recordings from this weekend were released and I've uploaded them to YouTube. Feel free to share and distribute to all - music is to be shared! Check out what our kids can do!
 
I’ve included a brief description of what to expect out of each selection, so proud of these kids!
 
Concert Band 
 
Andalucia by Victor Lopez (Spanish Style March, called a "Pasodoble" meaning 2-step) 
 
Chorale and Canon by Anne McGinty (Canon means "call and response", you hear it in the second half)
 
Monticello Memoirs by Gary Fagan (based on American traditional hymn)
 
Symphonic Band
 
Newcastle March by Johnnie Vinson (British Style Sea-Shanty Mach)
 
Suite from Bohemia by Vaclav Nelhybel (4 traditional Czech Songs in various stylistic settings)
 
Yankee Fanfare by Travis J. Weller (It's Yankee Doodle with flair)

Greetings Beginning Band members!
It’s been a while since I’ve sent an email to you - no news is good news! All three band classes are doing GREAT! We’ve had a really strong start to this quarter, and students are working really hard on their major scales and the three songs we are performing at the spring concert!
Here’s an overview of what’s in this email:

1. What’s going on in class - Concert C Major Scale test next week in all beginning classes.
   
   
2. Band Portraits from Winter Concert are ready! See below on how to get your student’s portrait emailed to you.
   
   
3. Band Booster Meeting will be held next Tuesday, April 12th at 6:30pm via WebEx.
   
   • Help needed for Spring Concert (May 12th)
     
   • Help needed for our end of the year reward trip to IOA (We need about 20 parents to help if we want to offer this service to our students!)
     
   • Summer Band Camp - May 31-June 4th, @ Winter Springs HS - how you can help us with this camp plus more details to be shared!
     
     

________________________________________________________
 What’s going on in class?  
 

• We are working on reviewing the scales from the third quarter and learning the Concert C Scale as our first scale of this quarter.
  
• Students will be tested on the C Scale next week on their Tuesday/Wednesday band class.  This needs to be in the “All-State Pattern”, from memory.
  
• We are also working on our three songs for the Spring Concert:
  
  • Star Wars, Creepy Crawlies, and Discovery Overture
    
  • Assignments and performance “pass offs” will be assigned based off the music in the coming weeks - students, be sure to practice your music so you are ready for these tests and spring concert!
    

_________________________________________________________
 Band Portraits from the Winter Concert
 This is my (Mr. Autrey!) fault for the delay in getting these to you. Our photographer (Ms. Anna Jannotti) had these ready well over a month ago and I’ve totally dropped the ball on getting this information to you. 
Please accept my apologies for the delay.
To have your student’s photograph sent to your email, you need to contact Ms. Jannotti and request your student’s picture be sent to you. Include “Milwee Band portrait: Student Name” in the subject line. Also include your student’s name in the email and what band they are in (Beginning Band).
Send email to: 
ANNAJANNOTTIPHOTOGRAPHY@GMAIL.COM
or
CHAT@loveinphotos.com
 You also can join our Band Parent Facebook group to find this same information and access the gallery there. It’s a PRIVATE group called Milwee Spartan Band Boosters - you will need to request to join before you can access this group and the photos. 
___________________________________________________________
That’s it for now!
Thank you!
Joshua Autrey
Director of Bands
Milwee Middle School