Hello GEB,
It is contest season AND Richardson vs. Pearce week! There is ALOT information in this email; please read through it all. As a reminder there is rehearsal on Friday, October 5th (10:00 AM – 1:00 PM), Little Elm Marching Contest on Saturday, October 6th and NO REHEARSAL on Monday, October 8th. Please see below for details (10/01/18-10/06/18):
West JH Football Game Performance – 10/02/18
Date: 10/02/18
Time: 4:15pm – 7:00pm
Attire – Danza de La Rosa Show Shirt
This is a voluntary event; 3 service hours will be provided.
RABC Board Meeting 10/02/18
Parents – our next board meeting is on Tuesday, October 2 at 6:30 PM in the RHS Band Hall.
Thursday Morning Rehearsal/Drill Team Information 10/04/18
Each week on game days, we will rehearse in the STADIUM. As a reminder, the Eaglettes will also join us on this day. This is especially important to note because ALL woodwinds, brass and drumline students must remember to bring their flip folder stuffed with this week’s drill team tune (which happens to be Fireball again).
Thursday Pep Rally 10/04/18
Once rehearsal concludes in the morning, students will meet in inspection lines in the band hall wearing their Danza de La Rosa (and their choice of school appropriate bottoms) along with their instrument, lyre and flip folder. We will warm-up together and then head to the large gym. Students will be blocked for 0 hour and 1st period.
RHS vs Pearce (HOME) 10/04/18
STUDENTS – ITS GAME DAY! AFTER REHEARSAL ON THURSDAY MORNING, MAKE SURE TO WEAR YOUR DANZA DE LA ROSA T-SHIRT DURING SCHOOL. LETS SHOW EVERYONE OUR PRIDE AND GOLDEN EAGLE BAND SPIRIT!
The fifth football game of the year is this Thursday, October 4th and its an HOME game! As always, full details can be found on the Official Band Calendar at www.richardsonband.org.
When the bell rings to release school, dinner will be served in the Eagles Nest for those who signed up for the meal plan. Please note that this is only for those who signed up for the Football Game meal plan.
Game Details
Drill Team Tune: Fireball (w/ cut)
Dinner Served: 4:10 PM (Eagles Nest – Subway)
Inspection: 5:30 PM
Tailgate: 6:30 PM (see below for details)
Kickoff: 7:30 PM
Eagle/Mustang Stadium
1250 W. Belt Line Rd.
Richardson, TX 75080
Inspection Lines
Call time for students to meet in inspection lines is 5:30 PM (Band Hall). If a student fails inspection, the student will report to Mr. Marquez after the football game and will be assigned duties for the band during that time.
FULL UNIFORM: GEB Compression Shirt, GEB black athletic shorts, LONG black socks and marching shoes. Guard – Show Uniform
The game will end around 10:15 PM (estimate). As always, we will send out a message through Twitter announcing that we are on our way home. This will also show up on the GEB website Twitter feed.
Upon return, everyone will hang their uniform CORRECTLY and place shoes in the shoe rack outside of the uniform room. Once this is complete you may head over to the optional after party. Please see below for details.
Parents – As always we will NEED many volunteers for the football game. Mrs. Forssell will be sending out information so be on the look out and sign-up!
Home Games: Freshman students/parents, you might be asking yourself…what’s different with home games vs. away games (when it’s not Homecoming)? Well two main things: tailgate and after parties
Tailgate occurs at 6:30pm in the parking lot just outside the band hall and is a mini pep-rally involving the band, cheer leaders and Eaglettes. Directly following the Tailgate, the band marches into the stadium and enters the stands. Any and all Eagle fans are invited!
After Parties are hosted by the various classes of the band (Seniors, Juniors, etc) and take place in the Eagles Nest after home games. These are events for the entire band family to celebrate our hard work and outstanding performance. They last for 1 hour after the band is released from the stands after which, the band hall is closed and all students must be picked up. We’ll send out a Twitter message letting everyone know what time the Band Hall will close for the evening which can be viewed via the Twitter feed or at www.richardsonband.org.
Rehearsal 10/05/18 – 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
There is no school on this day but there is a mandatory rehearsal with our guest clinician, Mr. Alvarado from 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM (stadium) in preparation for our first contest of the year!
University of Texas Longhorn Rehearsal 10/05/18
The Golden Eagle Band will be hosting the UT Longhorn Band on Friday, October 5th in preparation for the upcoming Red River Rivalry Game! The band will be rehearsing at Eagle Stadium from 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM. 10-12 volunteer students will be needed get everything set-up. Service hours provided.
Marching Contest – A Beginner’s Guide
There are two types main types of marching contests that we will attend this year. “Invitational” and “UIL” contests.
For Invitational Contests:
1) We do not find out performance times until about two weeks before the contests.
2) Usually there are 15+ marching bands entered into each contest. Each one of these bands performs in the preliminary round, which starts early in the morning and goes until about 5:30pm. As stated above, we will be scheduled a preliminary performance time about two weeks in advance.
3) There are 5-7 judges in prelims who rank each of the bands based upon the scores they earn in each of their captions (or categories such as marching, music, percussion, guard, general effect). The top 10 bands from prelims will perform again in finals that evening. Bands will either perform in random or ranked order in finals (10th place performs first, 9th place performs second, etc). This means that should we make finals (which is a BIG deal in itself), we will not know our finals performance time until at least 6pm that day.
4) Each of the 10 finalist bands perform in the evening, usually starting around 7pm. After all the finalists perform, the judges tabulate the finals scores and the final contest ranks are announced. Scoring starts all over again in finals and typically, many of the judges switch captions (or the categories in which they are judging) in finals. This makes the finals round almost like a whole new contest.
5) All of this makes contest day a pretty long day. You should plan for our non-UIL contest (Little Elm/Desoto) to take all day.
For Region UIL Contests:
1) We will find out our performance time about two weeks in advance. This contest happens during the school day and the kids will miss classes in order to attend.
2) Each band only performs once at the Region UIL contest. There are no prelims or finals.
3) Three judges will each give the band a rating on a scale of 1 to 5.
– 1 (Superior)? – 2 (Excellent)? – 3 (Good)? – 4 (Fair)? – 5 (Poor)
4) As opposed to the Invitational style contest where bands are competing against each other, at UIL, bands are not ranked against each other. Rather, the bands are each evaluated independently and given a rating based upon the UIL standards.
5) The band is given an overall rating based on the combination of the three judges scores. For example, if a band gets a 1, 1, 2… that band’s overall rating would be a 1 (called a 1st Division or “Superior” rating).
Little Elm Classic on the Lake Marching Contest 10/06/18
Our first contest of the season is on October 6th at the Little Elm Classic on the Lake Marching Contest. Below is ALL the information you’ll need for the day:
Schedule
The Cottonwood Art Festival will also be this weekend. With that said, much of the parking at RHS will be taken on Saturday. Please plan on arriving around 9:00 AM.
9:30am: Rehearsal at Eagle Stadium (warm-up block)
11:30am: Rehearsal ends, load trucks
11:45am: Lunch!
12:45pm: Change into uniform
1:30pm: Inspection
1:45pm: Depart for Little Elm
2:45pm: Arrive at Little Elm/Check In
4:15pm: Warm-up
5:00pm: Prelims Performance
5:45pm: Finals announced
The Little Elm Classic on the Lake Marching Contest is a Prelims/Finals format contest. If we advance to finals, we will not know what time we perform until 5:45pm or so. Dinner will be provided to all of the students.
7:15pm: Finals Begin
10:15pm: Final Results
11:30pm: Expected ETA at RHS. Brief meeting then dismissal.
*should we not make finals, we may be returning sooner. A message through TWTTER will be sent out when we are on our way home.
Parent Info
If you are a parent who is not chaperoning/helping on the field, we NEED you in the stands supporting the band. The location of the contest is:
LEISD Athletic Complex
1151 East Eldorado Parkway
Little Elm, Texas 75068
Here’s how this works: when the band enters the field and the announcer calls our name, we need a fleet of parents in the stands cheering and going NUTS for the kids. This is all part of the competition! It sends a message to the judges that… “hey, you really need to pay attention to this band!” While we have many parents already traveling with the band as volunteers, they will be down on the field helping with equipment. Come out and see what your kids have been toiling away for because trust me, the football games have just been a preview of the contest show.
Parking is free. Admission to the contest is $10.00 for spectators and free for 3 and under. For our volunteers, Little Elm only provides us with a set number of volunteer passes. This means that you should be prepared to pay the $10.00 entry fee just in case we don’t have enough to cover everyone. While I know that can be frustrating, keep in mind that this is a very important fundraiser for the LEHS Band.
Student Info
You are going to need to bring a good number of items with you on Saturday. Pay careful attention as we’ll have several different “outfits” for the day.
When you arrive in the morning, you’ll need to be wearing:
• Compression Shirt (you may wear your Danza de la Rosa shirt on top)
• GEB Black Athletic shorts
• Long black socks (MUST HAVE)
You’ll need to bring a duffle bag/back pack. Inside your duffle/backpack, you’ll need our “stands uniform” which will be:
• Danza de La Rosa Show Shirt
• Shorts/jeans (school appropriate) and sweater (in case it gets cold)
• Tennis shoes
You’ll come at 9:00am, drop your items off in the locker room, grab your instrument and head to the stadium. You should be in the block by 9:30am.
After rehearsal concludes at 11:30am, you will begin to load up the trucks (props, percussion, low reeds/low brass, etc.). Lunch will be served starting at 11:45am. Once you have eaten, you will head to the uniform room and put on your full uniform. You should be changing into full uniform no later than 12:45pm. Inspection is at 1:30pm – At inspection, we’ll be dressed in and will have:
• Compression Shirt/GEB Black Shorts (under uniform)
• Long black socks (under uniform)
• Full Contest Uniform (including gloves)
• Marching Shoes
• Instrument in case (for winds that did not place on truck)
• Duffle bag/backpack (with your stands uniform inside: jeans/shorts that are school appropriate, Danza de La Rosa shirt, sweater and tennis shoes)
At 1:45pm, we’ll load buses and head to Little Elm. Upon our arrival, you’ll get all the instructions you’ll need.
After our prelims performance, we will hear if we will be advancing to finals. Everyone will receive dinner via the contest meal plan between prelims and finals OR after finals. You may want to bring additional money for souvenirs and/or concession stand goodies.
This will be a long day so make sure you’re resting up throughout the week! The good news is that there is NO SCHOOL OR REHEARSAL on Monday, October 8th.
*students who are academically ineligible may not (by state law) be anywhere near the band during the contest. This includes but not limited to: traveling, sitting or eating (contest meals) with the band. Failure to abide by this rule could result is loss of UIL status for the entire program.
Upcoming Events
10/08 – No Rehearsal
10/09 – Westwood JH Football Game (Volunteers)
10/10 – PSAT (Regular Marching Band Rehearsal)
10/11 – RHS vs Molina (Away)
10/12 – No Rehearsal (Tutoring)
10/13 – Desoto Marching Contest (All Day)
Thank you,
Mr. Marquez