November 2023

Hello Band Families,

Here are the updates for November!

Pep Band: With the unfortunate loss on Saturday, volleyball is out of tournament and we are done with pep band until our first winter season game. Here is this year’s pep band schedule.

Marching Band: The football team is off to the 1st round of the state tournament. This game is still played outside and the temperature looks like a high of 39 degrees on Friday, so we will not perform; however, when the team makes it to the second round of state, we will join them at US Bank Stadium. This would be Friday November 17. I will send out more information once we know more. If the team makes it to the State Championship, that would be Friday, Nov 24 (which is during Fall Break).

Indoor Marching Concert Photo: Thank you again for everyone that came out and watched the Indoor Marching Band Concert last Thursday. It was a great success and the students did an amazing job! It was one of the best since I have been here. Before the concert, we had a group picture taken of the marching band. If you are interested in ordering a picture, you need to fill out this FORM AND submit payment no later than November 17. Many people order these for student rooms and/or to display during graduation parties. The price is $15/picture.

Jazz Band: We have our first jazz concert of the year on Thursday, November 16 at 7pm in the auditorium. Students call time is 6pm. Please see the Uniform Info sheet for dress information.

Concert/Symphonic Band: Started this week, we will be transitioning over to concert band. If you play a different instrument for concert band, please begin brining that instrument to school (ie piccolo/flute, mellophone/horn, etc). 9th graders will begin their performance criteria starting the week of Nov 13. We will review the process on Wednesday. Students need to be practicing one of the levels for evaluation.

Lessons: Students need to sign up for 1 lesson in quarter 2. If there are taking lessons with an outside instructor on their band instrument they do not need to sign up for a lesson with me. The student instead needs to complete a lesson form, which can be found on the Resources page of the band website. Piano and guitar lessons do not count for a band lesson, but you can submit them for lettering points.

Speaking of lessons, our low brass and trumpet teachers still have a few spots if you are looking for private lessons during the day. We also have a horn teacher that is able to start teaching at North. If you are interested in private horn lessons, please let me know and I can pass along her information.

Italy: Just a reminder to enter your passport information on MyGateway if you have not already done so. We also have our informational meeting set for Thursday, December 7 at 6:30pm in the Band Room. This is a required meeting. Please mark your calendars.

Be Bold, Be Brave, Be Kind,

Dr. Wanken