Days away

We are just days away from the startup of school and I, for one, am very excited.  I see every year as a new opportunity to make music and further student's knowledge and love of music.  I hope everyone is well rested and as excited as I am. 

Reminder to dust off the instrument and practice a little since we will start right into making music the first week.

I hope you have taken notice to our new logo.  It was a collaboration between the artist, a graphic designer friend of mine, and myself.  I think it turned out great.  I'm hoping to have t-shirts available for order with the logo on the front.

Please take some time to review our wikispace since I have posted updated documents such as the handbook and various others. 

See you all next week!
Go Tigers!

Handbook/Communication

I have spent a lot of time recently writing a band handbook.  You can now peruse the draft which was posted on the wiki.  I am hoping to finalize that as well as add a bunch of stuff to it over the summer.

For the upcoming year, I will be doing as much communication as possible via email.  I have made a personal goal to use as little as paper as humanly possible.  I will, however, give every student a printed copy of the handbook to keep in their 3-ring black binder. If you wish to be placed on my email list, please send an email to petrosker@dcpsmd.org with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject heading. In the body of the email please make sure you put your child's name so that I can have accurate records.

Wiki

One thing I dislike about this blog service is the inability to place downloadable files onto the blog.  Items like forms, permission slips, hand-outs, fingering charts, etc. are now being placed on a wiki that I set up.  The web address for the wiki is www.mlmsband.wikispaces.com. I will update the items in the blog for this and will attempt to get everything organized.

This blog will still be the main communication tool for students, parents and the community.  If you wish to be updated regularly, please "follow" this blog.

Spring Concert

The MLMS Chorus and Bands did an outstanding last night.  I cannot begin to tell you all how proud of you I am.  I thought both bands did a wonderful job.  Fire Dance rocked my socks!

Just because the concert is over doesn't mean the learning is.  We will be working on scales and method book work as well. 

2011-2012 Festival Band auditions are going to be May 18th.  Those that are interested should see Mr. P for the audition piece.  There are 3 scores that go into consideration for Festival Band.  They are the R-Score (which calculates responsibility via a rubric), P-Score (which is the playing portion), and the S-Score (which is the rhythmic sight-reading score).

All County + more!

Congrats to the Festival Band for an outstanding performance at the ESBDA Jr. District Band Festival and earning a II rating!  We will listen to the comments and discuss this a little further when the spring concert has concluded.

Wednesday (April 20) is All County Band.  Students will rehearse from 9-10:30 at MLMS and perform at that evenings concert (7pm @ CSDHS Gym).  Participating student qualified by their work in the method book "check-offs".

We will be adding a performance either May 17th or May 19th for Delmarva Community Services.  More details on that as they become available.

All Shore Band

Kudos to Lida Allen for representing MLMS in this weekend's All Shore Band Concert.  It was one of the best performances I've seen.

Congratulations to the 5 other students from Dorchester County as well!!!

District Festival

The performance is fast approaching (1 week away) and I am just finalizing all of the information.  Students should have a letter on Monday explaining all of the last minute details.  Here is a copy just in case you didn't get it:

I wanted to update you about our field trip on Thursday, April 7^th.  The following is a brief summary of our schedule:

           

9:30      Leave MLMS

            11:05    Watch 2 performances

            12:00    Lunch @ McDonalds

            1:25      Warm-up

            1:50      Perform

            2:15      Sight-reading

            4:30      Arrive at MLMS

As you can see, we won’t be back in time for the students to ride buses home so you will need to arrange for someone to pick-up your child.  Also, our only viable lunch option is McDonalds. If this isn’t acceptable, students are welcome to pack a lunch but there will not be access to a microwave or refrigerator.

Students are required to wear the following.  Students not conforming to the dress code will not be permitted to board the bus and will stay at school, completing a normal day.

Boys                                                     Girls

Black dress pants (NO JEANS)              Black dress pants or knee-length skirt (NO JEANS)

Black socks/dress shoes                         Black dress shoes

White button-down collared shirt          White blouse

No other colors than what is listed

                        There is no need for MP3 players, laptops, or any other electronic device.  MLMS and Mr. Petroske will not be held responsible if they are brought and happen to get lost or stolen.

o   Cell phones will be allowed but should not be turned on or used unless we are running late in our return.

ALL SCHOOL RULES AND CONSEQUENCES WILL APPLY.