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Hello Band!
It’s Solo and Ensemble Week and it’s Jazz MPA Week! Good luck to all students who are performing!! You’re going to ROCK! Parents: Thank you for taking time to read all parts of this email that pertain to you and your students. 1. Solo and Ensemble Reminders 2. Inventory Reminder 3. Jazz MPA Information (Jazz Band kids only) 4. SPRING CONCERT DATE ANNOUNCED! For students performing at next weekend’s Solo and Ensemble festival, held at Markham Woods MS, please review the email that was sent out via Skyward last week. That email had an attached Schedule and Checklist that has all of the information you need to be successful this weekend! If you need either of those documents again, just email me, no problem. The schedule pdf has all student’s event time info, judge name, solo name, accompanist name, and EVENT ID. - You will need to know all of this information, and can fill in the blanks on the CHECKLIST pdf to bring with you to the festival. - You will need the EVENT ID for your student to access your final rating, usually updated within an hour after your performance time. There will not be scores posted on paper near the cafeteria, as in years past. Be sure to also access the CHECKLIST from last week’s email which has information such as what to wear, when to arrive, what to do when you arrive, and a SCRIPT for how to introduce yourself to your adjudicator properly for your event. We will also be reviewing this information with students extensively this week in class. *** The date and location on the CHECKLIST sent out last week was still incorrect, I am sorry for the confusion. All other information on the checklist is correct. To Confirm: The correct dates and location for this year’s S&E Festival is on Friday/Saturday, February 21st and 22nd at Markham Woods MS. Lastly, please be sure to pay your accompanist directly ($30 per solo, $25 for percussion solos). Payment can be made this week via check or cash (Checks are made out to the accompanist’s name, except for percussion, see below). See the S&E schedule to confirm whom your accompanist is. Percussion – checks are made out to “Vivacity LLC”, not to Heather Thorn (Two Solos cost $40) Beverly Couch – will be in on Tuesday working with some 1st period students Craig Wilson – will be in on Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday working with 2nd and 4th period students Hunter Azme – will be in on Tuesday/Wednesday working with students from all classes ____________________________________________________________________________ School District Inventory will be held next week (2/24). All School Owned instruments must be returned and left at school from 2/24-2/28 while the county checks to make sure we have all of the instruments in our inventory. This process is very important, please email me if you anticipate any difficulties returning your instrument next week, after Solo & Ensemble festival. Students renting instruments from a private music store such as Music Shack, Allegro, or Music & Arts center do not need to return or leave their instruments at school during inventory week. This only applies to school owned instruments only. ___________________________________________________________________________ Jazz MPA festival is this Thursday, February 20th! MPA a BIG DEAL for our band program as our jazz band performs for adjudication. We perform at 10:30am on Thursday, February 20th at Lake Mary HS. All MPA events are free and open to the public, you’re invited to come and support us! Be thinking of our hard working jazz students and wish us luck to make the best recording possible! Jazz Band students should come directly to school, dressed in their full tuxedo. Arrival should be no later than 9am, however a few students have reached out to me letting me know their bus get’s to school at 9:20, and that is OK. The bus departs at 9:30am, sharp. We are planning to do a small warm up in the band room from 9am to 9:25am. Warm up at LMHS is at 10am, performance at 10:30 and we will be returning to school no later than D Lunch in 3rd period. Students have already been excused from 1st and 3rd period classes but are still expected to make up any missed assignments/classwork. ____________________________________________________________________________ Lastly, Lyman HS has finally confirmed our SPRING CONCERT DATE! Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, May 6th at 6:30pm in the Lyman HS’s auditorium. All bands will be performing our final musical selections for the year! I’m so excited to have everyone together to celebrate the year’s musical growth and achievements. That’s it for this week! Please email me if you have any questions! Regards, Joshua Autrey Director of Bands Milwee Middle School Hello Milwee Band Family!
3 Important Updates this week!
Summer Band Camp dates have finally been confirmed by Lake Mary HS! The dates for the camp is June 1st thru 11th, running 2 weeks, Monday thru Thursday. The camp website is NOT up to date at the moment, but will be updated next week (the band director at Markham Woods is in charge of the website). Registration will open in the coming weeks and I will send an email out letting you know when online registration is open. https://sites.google.com/markhamwoodsband.org/lml-band-camp/summer-band When the website is updated (again, sorry for the delay!), all Students getting this email should sign up for “ADVANCED CAMP” (not beginning!) and may also sign up to add on Jazz band or a beginning band for a secondary instrument. Please see the website for specific times and more information. __________________________________________________________________________ School owned instruments: The School District will be conducting our inventory check on Thursday/Friday, February 27th and 28th. This means that ALL school owned instruments MUST be returned to Milwee on either Monday, February 24th or Tuesday, February 25th to be checked off the school districts list and may be picked up at the end of the school day on Friday the 28th. I’ll resend this information out the week before, but here’s the gist of how inventory will work (SCHOOL OWNED instruments only! No Music Shack instruments needed for inventory) I will be available to check in your school owned instrument from 8:45am until 4:30pm, daily that week. If you can drop off your instrument in that time frame, there is no need to make specific arrangements. I am also happy to get to school early/stay later by appointment, so please simply email me to make arrangements that will meet your schedule. No big deal at all! The most important thing is to get these instruments back! Thank you for your cooperation with this! With enough notice, please make sure you have your arrangements to complete this task. _________________________________________________________________________ I’ve been receiving a few questions/emails concerning the dates for our Spring Concert. Unfortunately, we are at the whim on both the new Florida Testing Schedule and Lyman High School’s Auditorium. Lyman’s scheduling department has rejected the dates in April I have sent requesting use of their auditorium; thank you for your patience as we try to navigate these challenges. I’ve sent new date requests for May, but this is pending approval from our testing coordinators at our school as traditionally we have not had our spring concert during testing days. As of right now, the date for the spring concert will the week of May 11th, with the preferred date being Thursday May 14th since Make-Up testing is usually on Fridays. This is the best solution so far, and I appreciate your support and patience with this still being slightly up in the air. __________________________________________________________________________ That’s it for this weeks update. Thank you for all of your time and support in music. Regards, Joshua Autrey Director of Bands Milwee Middle School Hello Beginning Band members,
Just 4 Quick Updates this week: 1. Class agenda, upcoming scale tests 2. Solo and Ensemble Sign Up Reminder 3. Private Lesson Encouragement / Practice reminder 4. Lyman Mentoring WILL be back (end of January, week of 27th) 1. This week, we are reviewing our F Major scale, and learning the CHROMATIC SCALE. F Major is a “Review” scale, as we have played F Major scale both before, and after winter break. We will be testing this scale in class Wednesday/Thursday of next week as announced to students on Monday. The pattern will be the All-State pattern scale, which is found in your band book. I’ve also put an assignment up on eCampus so students may submit the assignment there before next Wednesday to help save us time in class. Good luck! The Chromatic Scale is broken down into a two smaller assignments: first we will only be starting at the top (STAR on your fingering chart) of the scale, and working our way down in half notes to the bottom (🙂 on your fingering chart). This pass off is also due next week. The second pass off (going both up, then down) will be due in 2 weeks. *Important Note* Check eCampus for all assignments and due dates this quarter: This quarter, we will be learning 5 of the 7 major scales (F, Ab, Bb, Eb, G) plus the chromatic scale. Students MUST practice outside of school in order to keep up. I’ve seen many students fall behind and get discouraged in band because of a lack of practice this time of year. Please please please keep encouraging your student to be practicing 1.5 hours outside of school hours to keep up. I have never seen a student who diligently practices the appropriate amount of time, outside of school, receive less than an “A”! Keep at it, make small progress daily. Don’t procrastinate until the last minute! 2. Just a quick reminder that Solo and Ensemble sign ups are due by this FRIDAY. Please sign up online using this form: LINK TO ONLINE SIGN UP This event is NOT required, but HIGHLY recommended. 3. Private lessons for all students are highly encouraged! There are a number of GREAT teachers in the area who will place your student on an individual practice plan that will target areas of strengths and weaknesses in your musicianship. As a teacher of 275 students, it can be hard for me to hear each individual student every day, and as such, I can not always monitor progress to make sure your student is keeping up (and ready to pass their assignments). If you would like to get connected to a private instructor, please let me know – I can steer you towards a great match of a teacher who will push your student in positive ways! I can not say enough how much Private Lessons is such an effective way to be more prepared to get better quick! 4. Lyman Mentoring sessions will be returning at the end of this month. I was hoping to have a more concrete weekly date for you, but I’m still waiting to hear back from the high school volunteers as to which day of the week most students can attend. It’s looking to be either on Monday or Thursday after school, so mark your calendars. The sessions will run throughout the month of February in order to prepare students for Solo and Ensemble Festival. That’s it for this week, thank you all so much for encouraging your student to practice! As a reminder for class expectations, students should be practicing for 1.5 hours a week outside of class, at home in order to expect an “A” on their assignments. Joshua Autrey Director of Bands Milwee Middle School Thank you for taking the 2 minutes to read this email concerning the WINTER CONCERT! Sorry it’s so long! I’ve read it about ten times and timed myself, 2 minutes TOPS! This FREE concert is on Monday, December 16th at 6:30pm in the LYMAN HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM. All are invited to attend, All Milwee Bands will be performing. Report Times/Dress/Equipment NeededAll students must stay for the entirety of the concert to receive full credit for the concert. Students should report to the auditorium, fully dressed with their instruments and music at: Jazz Band – 5:30 to 5:45pm. Take Band Portrait, then move quickly to set up in the Auditorium. Beginning Band – Between 5:45 to 6pm, go directly to your seat on stage. You will take your Band Portrait after your performance, during the concert. Concert and Symphonic Band – Between 5:30 to 6:00pm. When you arrive, make your way to the Photo Booth to have your professional Band Portrait taken for this year. All photos should be finished by 6:25, please take your seat for the start of the concert at 6:30pm. What are we wearing for the concert? All students are to wear the same uniform that was used for the fall concert: Beginners – Hunter Green T-Shirt, Black Pants, Shoes, Socks, Belt Concert – White Polo Shirt, Black Pants, Shoes, Socks, Belt Symphonic – Tuxedo Uniform OPTIONAL FUN THING! Students may also chose to wear some fun holiday headgear such as a Santa Hat, Reindeer Antlers, Yamaka, Grinch Hat, or another holiday festive cap. Have fun, get creative – school appropriate, of course. Please refrain from wearing anything that jingles or lights up as it is distracting to other performers! What equipment does my student need to bring? Lyman High School will provide chair, stands, and many percussion instruments. Otherwise we will need to bring our own equipment and music, which varies by instrument – here is a quick run-down per instrument group: Woodwinds: Instrument (leave case in the car) and Music Folder w/ music. Any students who use a different instrument at school must bring their instrument from home to the concert (Bassoons, Some Saxophones). Brass: Instrument (leave case in the car) and Music Folder w/ music. All students must have their own mouthpiece and any students who use a different instrument at school must bring their instrument from home to the concert (Tubas, Baritones, French Horns). Percussion: Music Folder w/ music. Beginners need to bring their mallet bag from home, which has their own snare sticks and bell mallets (some have xylophone mallets, bring those also). Lyman will have all the percussion equipment there for us to borrow. FREE Photo OpportunityFIRST, GET A FREE PORTRAIT TAKEN OF YOUR STUDENT! We will be having one of our amazing band parents and professional photographers, Ms. Anna Jannotti, take a picture of your student with their instrument in their uniform. This is a FREE service that Ms. Jannotti donates her time and energy to help our program! She does AMAZING work and touches up small spots on the photos before she shares them out in the spring semeseter! Band Photos will be set up to the right of the auditorium lobby as you enter, down the hall. Please read below for your report times so you can have your picture taken at the correct time! Don’t miss this opportunity! Also! Please help me in thanking her for her service and donation when you see her at the concert! Volunteers Needed/Concert AttendeesParents, Siblings, Friends, Guest, Neighbors – Doors are open for everyone upon arrival. Come in and have a seat. Make sure your student knows where you are sitting so they can find you after their performance. Jazz Band will start playing music at 6:15pm as a pre-concert treat!
The concert will conclude no later than 8pm, and we will need some great helpers to stay and help clean up. Otherwise, students are dismissed after Symphonic Band performs. Sign Up for Volunteer Positions HERE. Descriptions below. Do we need help/volunteers? ABSOLUTELY! Please sign up for the volunteer job by using the following link. Job descriptions are listed below! Thank you for helping, we can’t have a smooth concert (there will be so many people!) without MUCH help from AMAZING PARENTS! Door Ushers/Program Distributers: Parents who will stand at the door, keeping people from entering during the performance of a song as well as hand out our concert program to guests. We will need two teams of 4-5 parents to assist with this so that every parent can be in the audience for their own student’s performance. Photo Helpers: Parents who can help keep the line moving for our FREE professional photo portrait (BIG SHOUTOUT TO Ms. Jannotti!). Beginners will be taking their pictures after their performance. Advanced students will be taking their pictures BEFORE the concert. We will need help from a few parents before the concert at 5:45 for the advanced bands, and during the concert for beginning bands. Stage Managers: Parents who can help Move Chairs and stands for each group. This helps the stage look “clean” for each group – extra chairs often look tacky – nothing but the best for our students! We will need about 2-3 parents for this – if you’ve worked around a stage before, that would be helpful!!! “Silence Please!” Poster People: Okay Golf fanatics, this is your big moment! We’ve had a lot of success in the past when hold some reminder signs for the audience, as to when to get quiet as a band about to perform. We have pre-made signs that we ask you to hold up right before the band performing to remind others how to create the professional atmosphere (AGAIN –- Nothing but the BEST for our kids!!!) 3-4 parents for this VIP job! Clean up Crew: We need about 4-6 parents to help tear down the stage and load a few cars/trucks full of our equipment to transport it back to Milwee! If you own a truck/mini-van, and can spare a half-hour after the concert, please let us know that you can help move some equipment back to the school – we need about two or three trucks to get everything. LET ME KNOW if you can spare your truck! Thank you all for your help!!!! Please do not hesitate to contact me for further guidance if you have any questions. Regards, Joshua Autrey Director of Bands Milwee Middle School Cookie Dough/Fundraiser Delivery Information:
We have our “Cookie Dough Fundraiser” delivery date this TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29th in the Milwee Cafeteria. Pick up times will be between 2:00pm and 6pm. We might be set up in the band room after 5pm if needed. PARENTS, volunteer opportunity: We are looking for 4 more volunteer parents to help with the delivery process. If you are available from 1:15pm until 5pm, we could use your help! Please email me at joshua_autrey@scps.k12.fl.us to coordinate times if you have availability to help! All Students and Parents, please read: Parents, feel free to pick up your student’s order anytime – even before school is out (highly recommended!). We usually see a big rush during the after school hours, so save yourself some time by getting there early! Remember this cookie dough and cheesecake will need to be stored in the freezer if you are not delivering to your cookie dough IMPORTANT!!!!! Students who have sold 10 or more items will need to have their parents pick up their order as it becomes too much for one student to handle on the bus. Students with 9 items or less will be called out of class during 7th period to pick up their fundraiser for take home delivery. Thanks! Joshua Autrey Director of Bands Milwee Middle School LYMAN FOOTBALL GAME PERFORMANCE:Information regarding the upcoming Lyman High School Marching Band Night, which involves a performance by our 7th and 8th grade Symphonic and Concert Band students!
The date is set for FRIDAY, October 4th, 2019 @ Lyman High School. This is a performance for all 7th and 8th grade band 2 and 3 students – we are looking forward to having an FULL and incredible turnout from all band members, just like last year, for a night of FUN, CRAZINESS, and FOOTBALL! We are looking forward to performing "Land of 1000 Dances" with the Lyman High School Marching Band. Our band students will receive a preview of the high school band experience, a brief lesson how marching band works, and will get to view Lyman's marching show this year. It's a great event and tradition that helps students set their eyes on the future and what music holds for them! What to wear: Wear your “Hunter Green” Milwee Band T-Shirt to the game with JEANS and SNEAKERS. Belts are recommended to look nice! What to bring: Bring your instrument (Tubas, mouthpiece only), Music (Land of 1000), and optionally bring $5-10 for concessions if you are going to get hungry between 6-9:30pm. Otherwise, eat dinner before hand. Times: Here are more times and details for pick up and drop off times: Drop off is at Lyman High School is between 5:30pm and 6pm outside the auditorium. We will take attendance and make sure everyone has their instrument at 6pm. *** FALL SOCIAL Attendees *** – Please FEAR NOT as these times do not conflict with each other. If you attend the Fall Social, you will need to eat pizza or food there, or after school, enjoy yourself at the social until 5:50, and come to Lyman right at 6. You CAN do both! You will just need to do some extra planning with your parents. You should not arrive at Lyman past 6:15pm. PICK UP – Pick up will be after the game is over, in the auditorium after 9:30pm. Parents will need to park outside the auditorium and come in to check out their student. Please read concerning early pick up: If you need to make arrangements to pick up your student after our halftime performance, but before the game ends (between 8:30 and 9:30), please send me an email and also send in a note with your student with the details about what time you will be picking them up. I will let you know how pick up early will work on an individual basis. *CHAPERONES* – We will need about 15-20 official Milwee Chaperones to accompany the band students. Chaperones get to attend the game at no charge (they walk in with the band) but will need to be there the entire time, from 6pm to game end to assist with keeping our little ones safe! There will be an email sent out with a sign up, first come first serve next week (it will be the same email with the permission form). Please make sure that you are an approved DIVIDEND volunteer now, so you can sign up next week. The dividend sign up process is easy and can be found here. That’s it for your band update this week! Thank you all so much for your support and LOVE of MUSIC! Best wishes, Joshua Autrey Director of Bands Milwee Middle School Hello Milwee Symphonic and Concert Band!
It was great seeing you all on Saturday! What a FUN event full of great food, games, and water balloons! Last week, I sent out an email (also posted on Skyward, and website) with the details for next Friday’s exciting performance at Lyman High School! As a review: Football Game Performance at Lyman High School. Student Dress: Milwee Green T-Shirt, Jeans, Shoes, Socks, Belt Time: Drop off at the auditorium between 5:30 and 6pm. No later than 6pm, please. Pick up is at 9:30pm, no later than 10pm. We are performing at Half-Time of the football game! The cost to enter the game is $7 (I think!), parents do not have to be there, but are strongly encouraged to come cheer on your student! On the Files/Handbook page on the website is the permission form for this event. Please fill out and return. Feel free to return electronically by scanning the completed form and emailing it to me; or print, sign, and turn in! Students will receive a hard copy tomorrow or Wednesday in class. **PARENTS!** We are looking for a few more chaperones to help at the event. If you can stay from 5:45 until 9:30 and help us keep an eye on our wonderful kiddos please sign up here! You do get a free ticket to the game for your service, and to be fair, we are going to give out these free tickets on a first come, first serve basis. You must be SCPS dividend approved to chaperone. Click the link to fill out your application (it takes only 2-3 days to get approved!) That’s it! Thank you so much for your support. See you Friday! Joshua Autrey Director of Bands Milwee Middle School Hello everyone! Fundraiser Reminder & Request First, is a quick reminder that our last fundraiser turn-in day is next Monday, 9/30. It’s the last BIG PUSH! Parents, please bring in that brochure to work and ask your co-workers to chip in! Its such an amazing cause – show them what we do here and how good our music program is! Here’s a youtube recording of our Jazz Band last year: Funky Cha Cha – WOW! ***We are a short of our goal this year, by about $6K. Everyone is expected to do their “fair share” of fundraising ten items, or about $100 worth of donations, to help keep our actual “band dues” at $25 for the year (other schools have a mandatory $150 fee to be in band). We have not raised the price of our band dues since I’ve been at Milwee because we’ve made our fundraising goal each year and I want to make sure we have enough resources to keep our program healthy and strong. Dues and fundraising goes to pay for purchasing new music, instruments, and hiring instructors. THANK YOU! Band Social Info: I am so excited to share a fun day on Saturday! It’s going to be “warm” – so bring an extra water bottle or two! The Band Social is at Secret Lake Park in Casselberry from 12pm to 3pm! We have a number of activities planned such as Kickball, Basketball, EATING, and even a Water Balloon Fight! The boosters will have plates/napkins/cups/cutlery, just bring a “casserole sized dish” of food and there should be enough for everyone! Also! To store the water balloons, we need to store them in coolers filled with water (they don’t pop this way)! If you have room in your car, and a spare LARGE cooler or big Bucket, please bring it! This should be a nice way to “keep the kids cool”! Attached is a MAP with Parking Info. There are two lots to choose from: North and South, and they are accessed from different roads. The main road to get to the park is SEMINOLA BLVD, then you choose from either IVEY RD or SECRET WAY. See the attachment for more details. Lastly, overflow parking can be long the street of SECRET WAY. Please do not block driveways and be courteous of home-owner’s yards. We want to represent the school in the best way at all times. See you there!!!!! Joshua Autrey Director of Bands Milwee Middle School 
Hello Milwee Band Family!
You are all cordially invited to our second annual Band Icebreaker Social! Band kids are a special bunch: they walk to class together, sit at lunch together, do homework together, practice together; basically do EVERYTHING together! By the time your younger student is in 8th grade, they will have made TONS of friends that are in our band family – in fact, most would say their closest friends are only in band. This is a great opportunity for us all to get to know each other! Details: Saturday, September 28th at SECRET LAKE PARK in Casselberry from 12pm-3pm. We have rented a large pavilion to and there is a nice green space to play: tennis courts, basketball court, a “kickball field”, and a big lake! I’m looking forward to doing some games & activities with you all, it should be a blast! Bring some sporting equipment if you want to play! This is a family event! Everyone in your family is invited! What to bring for the potluck? Feel free to bring anything you like to share (special family recipes are always a treat!), but if you’re not sure what to bring and to put a little bit more structure to ensure we don’t end up with a million bags of chips here’s some ideas: Brass – Protein/Main Dish Woodwinds – Sides/Salad/Appetizers/Chips&Dips Percussion – Drinks & Desserts The band boosters will be providing the “hardware”: utensils, plates, cups, napkins, ect. Looking forward to this very much! See you on the 28th! |
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