Winter Concert Rehearsal - Concert Band and Wind Ensemble will be rehearsing Tuesday after school. We’ll be recording Motown Forever and working on the Beatles and America after dismissing the Concert Band students. We will have a meeting of the Winter Concert committee and section leaders immediately following rehearsal. Ticket sales, ad sales, and advertising will be discussed.

Jazz Ensemble - Our Holiday Jazz tour is rapidly approaching. Jazz will be rehearsing after school on Wednesday and Thursday. Our first performance will be next Thursday, December 10th. Posters for the concert and tour are done and must be distributed and posted this week. Jazz Ensemble will be appearing with Sweet Harmony Choir - here’s the dates:

• Thursday 12/10 - Buon Appetito’s Restaurant - 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm
• Saturday 12/18 - Jersey Gardens Mall - 12:00 pm
• Friday 12/18 - The Vocal Holiday Concert - 7:00 pm
• Saturday 12/19 - Breakfast with Santa 10am-12pm at Midtown Community School

Booster Meeting - The next Band Booster meeting is Monday, December 7th. The Breakfast with Santa event that will conclude the Holiday Jazz Tour will be discussed. We are still looking for more volunteers to work the kitchen and door. At this event we’ll be selling 50/50’s and serving breakfast - with Santa! We’re working to raise money for the Simpson Baber foundation and the Band - so we need everyone’s help! All band students will be expected to help that day also - so put in on your calendars - Saturday, December 19th - 9am to 12pm.

Tags: Boosters, Winter Concert

USSBA

We’re approaching our final two weeks of USSBA competitions with Edison H.S. this week and Sayerville next week. We’ll have a regular rehearsal schedule but with percussion on Tuesday afternoon since Monday evening was cancelled due to the holiday. Tuesday we’ll work on music and on Wednesday and Thursday we’ll clean the drill, work out the music details on the field, and have Lisa and Sarah add some body visuals for the horn line. This is our final two weeks so everyone must be present!

For show directions and a complete schedule you can get show info from the USSBA website on the schedule page. Just click on the listed show and date - It will list the entire show schedule and it will have directions at the bottom of the page.

New Recordings

The Band’s LiveScribe pen is back and working. Throughout September their company server was having difficulties so I could not create any “pencasts” but now they’re working fine. We’ll be using the pen in class more now - expect critiques and rhythm tests this week!

Tags: Marching Band, USSBA, Recordings

NYC Parade

The Pulaski Day Parade in New York was a BIG success! The band performed beautifully! Thanks to everyone for doing such a great job!

This Week!

This week we have two big performances - an away game Friday evening (report at 5:00 pm) and the Columbus Day Parade on Sunday (report at 11:00 am) They are sure to be two more great performances. For rehearsals we have a regular schedule with Percussion on Monday, Winds and Guard on Tuesday, and marching band on Wednesday and Thursday.

Goals for this week

This wee we need to work on the Fight Song and the Banner. They were poorly performed at last week’s game, so let’s try to get those parts down! Here are some other goals:

• New Ain’t No Mountain ending and drill
• Visuals for first half of show
• Fix all horn angles, pops, and body facings
• Get in STEP!

Tags: Marching Band

Piscataway Show

The Piscataway show was a great success! I know many of you may have been bummed-out about 5th place, but we’re really exactly where we want to be right now! Everyone performed a great show, and our critiques went really well. We were only 2 points out of first place! I’m sure we’re going to continue improving our show - this will be a great season.

This Week in Band

this is a BIG week in band. Friday is Band Day! We’ll be hosting the 7th and 8th grade students at a morning rehearsal for Band Day. We’ll learn The Hey Song and Let’s Go Bees. The elementary students will also be invited to perform at our first home game of the season that evening which is also home coming! It’s sure to be a big day!

All band students - be sure to get your permission slips for Friday signed ASAP!

Fund Raisers

This week everyone will be getting their Florida Orange sale info. This is a BIG fundraiser and everyone needs to get involved. We’ll have more orange info online soon and a link to our online orange store.

Tags: Marching Band, USSBA

The Piscatway Competition is here! The kids are going to perform a great show today - we hope everyone can make it to see their performance at 3:30 pm. Here are the directions:

IF YOU ARE TRAVELING FROM NORTH JERSEY AND USE THE NJ TURNPIKE SOUTH:Get off at Exit 10. Follow signs to Rte. I-287 North. Once on I-287 North, continue @ ten miles to Exit 8 – Possumtown Rd. - Highland Park - Middlesex. At end of ramp turn right onto Possumtown Rd. Turn right at next light onto Centennial Ave. At first light turn left onto Knightsbridge Rd. Follow Knightsbridge Rd. through 2 lights (crossing Hoes Lane).Knightsbridge Rd. becomes Behmer Rd. High School is on your right.

In the future you can get show info from the USSBA website on the schedule page. Just click on the listed show and date It will list the entire show schedule and it will have directions at the bottom of the page.

Tags: Marching Band, USSBA

New Booster Section

Our website now has a new section for band parents that has info on our Band Booster Organization. Check it out for the latest Booster news and join our Band Boosters!

New Media

We’ve posted some new recordings and photos from band camp. Go to our Band Members section to check them out!

Tags: Boosters, Marching Band, Recordings

July Mailer

The July mailer has been sent, but several people have come up that did not receive it or lost it. We’re posting it here online as well within our members only section. Please go check it out if you need to download those forms and don’t forget the password!

We’ll also soon be posting the new handbook, the new attendance policy, and contracts for 2009-2010. Please check back often and try to get your paperwork submitted in a timely fashion. An August mailer will go out this week that will contain a reminder letter about band camp, the full camp schedule, and a band marching shoe order form. We’ll post those documents online as well as soon as they are mailed to you. We’ll also try to fix any mistakes that were made in the snail mail. If you did not receive your letter, please contact your section leader to confirm that we have your address listed correctly.

Tags: BandCamp, Trip

The section leaders will be calling all members to confirm that they have received the camp letter and schedule, the Dorney Park permission slip, and the Band Camp permission slip. Next week we’ll be sending out the final camp letters that’ll tell everyone what they need for band camp and the band shoe order forms. Please look for these important papers in your mail.

The first day of band camp is August 18th - 10:00 am for section leaders and 6:00 pm for band rehearsal and sectionals. Music is already online in the members section - if you’re having any trouble reading it - please contact your section leader - they’ll help you out.

Enjoy the rest of your summer - and don’t forget to continue to check back here for more announcements, music and recordings.

New Repertoire for the marching show has been posted in the band members section. See the Music page in the Class Materials section. That’s where we’ll be posting the Scorch and PDF files for all of our music.

So far My Girl, Think, I Can’t Turn You Loose, and Dead! are available. More soon!

New Repertoire and Trip!

We’ve selected some new repertoire for the ’09 marching season, a tribute to Motown! Since it was not financially feasible to go to Memphis to visit Graceland in honor of our Elvis show, we’ve decided to look into other destinations which led the staff to choosing new repertoire for the upcoming season.

First let’s talk about the trip. We’re planning a tour of two major midwestern cities. First to Detroit, Michigan to visit the home of Motown music. Next it will be off to Cleveland, Ohio to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and to hear the Cleveland Symphony! Trip information and itineraries will be distributed at our first Band Booster Meeting in August. The trip information will only be distributed to PARENTS at Booster Meetings, parents must attend at least one meeting to meet with me in person in order for their child to attend the trip. The total cost of the trip will be no more than $575 which includes transportation! EVERYONE can fundraise and should be able to attend this great educational event of the 2009-2010 school year!

Next - repertoire. For our marching show we’ll be doing a tribute to Motown. The selected songs include Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, I Want You Back, Think, I Can’t Turn You Loose, and My Girl. Full recordings of the charts and downloadable parts will be online in the members section within the next few weeks.

More Info!

Please stay tuned for more information about band camp within the next few weeks. Band Camp is only a few weeks away and there’s still loads of work that needs to be done. Have a safe and happy summer - see you all soon!

Summer break is almost here. The BHS Band had a great year and now we’re getting ready for 2009-2010! Check back here soon for band camp updates and schedule change info. Members can check out our members only section for our complete 2009-2010 calendar of events. We’ll also soon be posting news about next year’s theme and repertoire selections, our upcoming trips, the band boosters, and our big fundraiser for 2010 - a PS3 Rock Band video game competition!

Have a great summer break and stay SAFE! See you all at band camp - Mr. Puchinsky.