Student Director Applications

The 2008-2009 Student Director application forms are now available for interested CHS band students. The application experience is not limited to next year’s seniors. Underclassmen may apply to gain the experience and show the band your interests and leadership. There are several underclassmen who will make very good student directors in the future. I encourage and challenge all of the CHS band members to consider applying. The CHS Student Director is one of the most visible student roles at CHS. Please contact Mr. Price for an application.

Blue Tones Jazz Concert, May 1st, 7:30pm

Blue Tones Jazz band is performing at 7:30pm, May 1st in the CHS Auditorium. There is also a morning short assembly from 10:40-11:25 am. (Musicians, remember your concert dress.)

We encourage parents & friends to come enjoy some great music!

Senior Pictures

All Band seniors, please come by the band room Monday, May 5th at 9:15am to have your senior picture taken!

Wind Ensemble going to State!

The 2008 Corvallis High School Wind Ensemble has qualified for the OSAA State Band Championships this year.
The championships will be held at OSU on Thursday, May 8, 2008 at the La Sells Stewart Center on campus. Ten 5A Bands have qualified this year for state.

The CHS performance schedule for the day will be:
2:00 Warm ups
2:30 Performance
3:00 Sight-reading

The band will have a late morning rehearsal followed by lunch in the band room. The bus(es) will depart for OSU at 12:45. All CHS band members are invited to ride the bus to this momentous event for CHS.

Pep Band 2007~08

The CHS Pep Band completed another year of ‘service’ to the CHS athletic teams.
The Pep band began in late August and performed at every home football game last fall. They continued their support for the CHS community by attending almost every basketball game, beginning last November and ending in March.
This year the regular basketball season for the girls and boys teams was extended. Both teams qualified for their state tournaments. The Pep Band traveled to Portland on March 5th for a mid-day game at University of Portland to support the girls. Though the girls did not win that game, they did win the next two games and placed 4th in state!
The next week the Pep Band traveled to all three games at The Pit at U of O to support the boys team, which placed 2nd in the state. The school also won the Sportsmanship Award this year and the band was a factor. The band received many positive comments from the OSAA, the Eugene Active 20-30 Club and U of O officials for their excellent music and decorum. The band received comments like: “I thought they were a college band,” “they were fun to watch,” they play great music,” ‘they were very well behaved, very easy to manage…” Congrats to the CHS pep band! And a big congrats to the Pep Band student directors this year, Brian McFadden and Andrea Kozak. Wow! What a leadership team!

March Concert

On Thursday, March 13th, the Corvallis High School Bands presented a concert. The concert was opened with a proclamation by the City of Corvallis Mayor, Charlie Tomlinson. The proclamation declared an official observation as March is Music in Our School month established by the national MENC. This year’s theme is Music Touches Lives! Following the proclamation by the Mayor, all three CHS bands performed.

The combined Concert and Symphonic bands presented their three pieces they have prepared for the District Band Festival on March 18th. The three pieces demonstrated their musical growth this year with Soar Like an Eagle, Hymn from Vespers and To Challenge the Sky and Heaven Above. The composer for Soar Like an Eagle dedicated the piece to flying a glider with the feeling of air turbulence, the sound of a flock of birds and the soaring updrafts. Rachmaninoff’s Hymn is a beautiful piece from the Russian Orthodox Church with the chant-like melody set in a band arrangement. To Challenge… is dedicated to an area in Huntsville, Alabama and the NASA space center that develops rocket boosters. This set of music was selected to meet the criteria for band festivals. Their concert performance was very good and the music was very exciting, even “uplifting.”                                                                                      

The CHS Blue Tones, fresh off their participation with the Essentially Ellington program out of Lincoln Center in New York, performed four charts with various solos by Dylan Garity, Joseph Kleinhenz, James Ingalls, Claire Froelich, Michael Grant, Aaron Mock, Stephan Smith, Brian McFadden and Alice Anderson. 

The Blue Tones performed Now’s the Time, The Mooche, Steppin’ Around and One Mint Julep. The Blue Tones are looking forward to their next upcoming gigs: Jazz Night, Jazz Band Dance and the final concert on May 21st.

The CHS Wind Ensemble performed three pieces preparing them for the upcoming band festivals at Districts and League. They performed Emperata Overture, Salvation is Created and Rumble on the High Plains. Their performance was stunning, from the great brass fanfare in the beginning of Emperata, to the rich and majestic and full mature sound in Salvation to the closing piece with the exhilarating percussion. Their performance was very rewarding, very fulfilling, and very satisfying.

The OMEA District XI Band Festival

On Tuesday, March 18, 2008, the OMEA District XI Band Festival was held at Crescent Valley this year.
The Friends of CHS Band and the CHS band students were the event management team. What a wonderful job they did all day! The other directors were very impressed with the organization of the event. The festival began sharply at 8:30 am with City of Corvallis Mayor Charlie Tomlinson proclaiming March as Music in our Schools month. There were eleven groups this year in the band festival.
The CHS Wind Ensemble, for the first time in decades, received ‘state qualifying scores’ of 78, 79 and 74. The members of the band were very excited! (And so is the director.) The band will submit their scores and recording to the OSAA for consideration to state which will be held at OSU on May 8th. This is a very exciting achievement for member of the CHS Wind Ensemble. They have worked very hard this year to achieve this level of performance.
Congratulations to them as they prepare for the Mid Valley League Festival hosted by CHS at CHS on Thursday, April 10th.

From the Director: Important facts for this week & next

Tuesday, Band Concert at 7pm.
CHS band members warm up at 6:30pm Tuesday night before the concert.
Concert orders: symphonic/concert bands; blue tones; flute octet; wind ensemble

Wednesday: study hall in band classes; Pep band rendezvous in band room at 11:30…do not go to C Block. Bus leaves at 11:45am. Eat lunch on the bus. Parent Volunteers to drive down with large equipment? Game at 1:30p. Home around 5 pm.

Thursday: study hall in band

Friday: attend 1:30 game if win on Wednesday.

Saturday: attend either 12:30 game or 6:30 (championship) game.

Next Tuesday: Band festival at CVHS, but CHS is the host. We will need students as helpers during the day to help the bands navigate the festival.
Bus to leave at 7:30 from CHS. Symphonic band warm ups at 8 am, perform at 8:30am.
Wind Ensemble performs at 11:00 am, warm ups at 10:30 am. Have a second bus for wind ensemble?

Basketball Schedule For This Week (10th -14th)

All games at U of O:

Wednesday

1:30p (11:30 Bus) against Hermiston

*If we win: Friday, 1:30pm (11:30am bus)

* If we lose: Thursday, 9 am (bus?)

Link to the OSAA Boys Bracket: Click here

Please remember to get your parent permission slip on Monday from Mr. Price.

Solo and Ensemble Thank You

The OMEA District XI Solo and Ensemble Festival was held at Corvallis High School on Saturday, February 16^th. This is the first time in over 20 years this festival has been held at Corvallis High School. A big thank you to the parents who volunteered to organizing the festival with set-up, food, registration, doors, etc. 160 musicians were involved and several people attended. Thank you to: Anne Loewen, Barb Thompson, Anne Flannery, Joyce Christopher, Peggy Breed, Marie-Louise Martinson, Kathy Smith, Yuki Tanaka, Julie Dickenson, Cindy Miller, and Sarah Bice. And thank you to the many students who helped provide for a great setting. There were so many positive comments about the facility and the management of the festival from the directors, visitors and adjudicators. Thanks everyone!

THANK YOU - El Sol de Mexico!

Last Tuesday El Sol de Mexico restaurant hosted a Band Benefit for CHS. They gave us a check for $500! Next time you eat there please take a minute to thank Bernardo for the support.

Blue Tones

Blue Tones Members:

Please check the Blue Tones page for recording details.

http://chsbluetones.blogspot.com/

Calling all music lovers! Sign the petition TODAY!

Read some info on our efforts to influence the school board and get proper funding at http://www.wheresthedough.org/. Please, sign the petition!

This effort includes all high school band students. Pass the word to everyone you know within the 509J school district. Our goal is to get appropriate funding for music education in our schools; not to detract from any other class or program.

For more information or to provide comments contact Michael Smith at michael@statguide.com

Important Dates in 2008

Mark your calendars for the following events:

February 15th - potluck before basketball game
February 16th - we host the District Solo Festival at CHS (need lots of parent help)
March 11th - Spring Concert
March 19th - Band Festival at CV (need some parent help)
April 10th (no school, Thursday) - OSAA Valley League Band Festival (need help here too)

Notes from the Director - 12/22

Thank you for a wonderful concert on December 13th. I have received so many positive comments from students, staff, parents and patrons about the performance. There is a DVD of the night’s performance plus an audio CD that we will have available when we return. I am proud of the sound we have put together this year in all of the groups. There are some great things happening in the CHS band program and the students are the source. Thank you CHS musicians!

On Sunday, December 30th, the CHS pep band will provide the music for the OSU men’s basketball game. The game begins at 7 pm. We will be provided an OSU shirt and pizza. The CHS band room will be open that evening between 5 and 5:30pm for students to pick up their instruments. At 5:31pm our equipment will be moved over to OSU. We will pass out the OSU fight song to the CHS members, go over it a few times and then put on a show for the OSU crowd. This is an exciting opportunity for the CHS band program! Oh, and don’t forget to ‘dress’ for the holidays again!

Thursday, January 3 at 6 pm-10:00pm will be a CHS band program holiday party for CHS band members in the CHS band room, choir room and hallway. Movies, games, food, drinks, etc. will be available for the evening. Students will provide the movies, video games, board games and bring snack food and cookies. Drinks will be provided and maybe some ‘real food’ will be provided…TBA. There has been talk of having a ‘white elephant’ gift exchange and that’s always a hoot! So stay tune!
Parent chaperones will be needed to help with evening’s activities.

The first week of January will have a busy pep band schedule. There is a game on Monday, Jan 7th and a game on Tuesday, Jan 8th. Then the big games are on Friday, Jan 11th with CVHS. There are two games that night back-to-back. The girls game is at 6:00 pm and the boys game follows 20 minutes later. The band’s theme for the game is Crazy Spartan Attire in addition to your pep band t-shirt. Will the drum line have a rousing routine ready for the game? Let’s hope so.

The CVHS-CHS musical, The Sound of Music, will be presented January 17-January 20, 2008. Mark your calendars to attend one of the performances that begin at 7:00 pm.

WIBC and Xmas Parade PHOTO

Hi all,
WIBC and Xmas parade pictures are up at Photo link- right hand side of this blog page.
If you can/want to share any of your band pictures, please send them to me at:

http://mrd.mail.yahoo.com/compose?To=yuki.fcb%40mac.com

Yuki

12/30 7pm Alums & Pizza at OSU Basketball game!

The CHS Pep Band will play at the OSU men’s basketball game on Sunday, Dec 30th at 7 pm. T-shirts and pizza will be provided by OSU. CHS alums and current CHS band members in the OSU band are invited to participate with us.
We will play our pep band music plus the National Anthem and the OSU fight song.
We now have their version of the fight song sent to us to use.
This will be an exciting evening for the CHS program to provide the music for the whole game.

CHS BLUE TONES AND THE 'ESSENTIALLY ELLINGTON' JAZZ PROGRAM

The CHS Blue Tones Jazz Band is participating in the Essentially Ellington Jazz Band Program at Lincoln Center later this year.

Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpeter extraordinaire, is behind this fabulous program for high school jazz bands. Recordings are made and sent in and reviewed by Winton Marsalis and his jazz band members. Their comments are sent back to the Blue Tones for a fabulous learning experience.

The Blue Tones will make their recordings in January for the February 1, 2008 due date.

Participating bands receive 6 Ellington charts. The charts are an assortment of various Ellington pieces transcribed as close as possible to the Ellington changing styles between 1931 and 1962. For example, one piece is written for 3 clarinets, 2 trumpet, 2 trombones, piano, bass, drums and banjo. What an exciting sound this piece has for us to learn about. Another piece, the theme song to the TV show Asphalt Jungle and titled Asphalt Jungle, is a great 60’s ‘noir style’ of the black and white detective shows of that era.

An important aspect of this music is the reliance upon solos from clarinet, to piano, second trumpet or bari-sax. The pieces were written to ‘show case’ the members of the Ellington band and the CHS jazz students will have the opportunity to learn about those solos and the music. Each piece has ‘rehearsal notes’ from Wynton Marsalis explaining the nuances of the music: rhythms, interpretation and chord colors.

This is a very exciting program for the Blue Tones to participate in this year. They will also be performing at the December 13 and December 14 CHS Holiday Concerts.

The website at which you can listen (and download) the songs is

http://www.jalc.org/jazzED/ee/f_repertoire.html

12/21 @ 7pm CHS ALUMNI PEP BAND AT CHS BASKETBALL GAME

The annual CHS Alumni Pep Band basketball game this year will be Friday, December 21, 2007 at 7pm. The evening will begin at 5:00pm with alumni getting together with the current CHS band members for pizza, soft drinks and cookies.

The alums will also choose the music and make copies for the 6 pm rehearsal. CHS alums are to RSVP and reserve a band instrument, if needed. This event is put on by the Friends of CHS Band. Alums; please tell your old band friends about this event!

eScrip

In light of the recent announcement on the CHS Digest regarding eScrip the Board highly encourages all Band parents to register your Safeway cards to support the CHS Band program! It’s free and easy to do!

Simply go to www.escrip.com and start at Step 1. The Friends of CHS Band Group ID # is 500003995 then fill in your name and address information. If you would rather bring your Safeway card to the concert, we can take down your number and address and register it for you.

Imagine not having to do concessions because we have registered so many Safeway cards and collected enough passive income through normal, every day purchases! It would bring smiles to many faces—parents and students alike!

IMPORTANT: People can also register their credit cards with eScrip and the Band receives a portion of all purchases made on that card as long as the cardholder logs on to eScrip FIRST and then does all their shopping from there. There are over 700 online merchant partners participating through the eScrip Online Mall. Please browse their website! This would be especially helpful to the Band with the holiday season approaching fast.

This is an EASY way we can all help support the Band and it doesn’t require any of our time or money. It would be very much appreciated if you mentioned this information to your friends, co-workers, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews NO MATTER WHERE THEY LIVE! If they can sign on to a computer and register Friends of CHS Band on their card(s), the Band program will benefit. Isn’t that cool?! The more the merrier!