TWIGEB 09/27/15-10/03/15

Chili’s Follow-up

Thanks to all who came out for some GEB fellowship last week at Chili’s. The place was PACKED with GEB spirit! Our next GEB spirit night for October will be announced soon.
March-a-thon Follow-up
A HUGE THANK YOU to all of our volunteers who worked so hard to put the March-a-thon together – an event of this scope could not be pulled off without the entire band family coming together. I especially want to thank our MAT Committee who did a truly fantastic job in both the planning and execution of a seamless event! Next up, particular thanks and appreciation go out to MAT Chairperson Tori Mathe who masterfully navigated these treacherous waters of logistical challenges…. totally nailed it! A final HUGE THANK YOU to the students who went out and got the job done! So far we have earned $22,157 and pledges are still coming in!
The best part about that figure isn’t the total though – we continue to have a higher percentage of band members participating each year, and WAY MORE of you met your goal this year. Special mention goes to the Sax / Low Reed section for having the highest total amount earned. They will get to pick a new stand tune! To ALL those who went out and raised funds to invest in the future of YOUR Golden Eagle Band…. THANK YOU!
Mark of Excellence Results
Richardson High School Wind Symphony – National Wind Band Honors Commended Winner (Class AAAAAA) by The Foundation For Music Education – Mark of Excellence 2015. We were selected top 14 out of 229 entries from over 33 states!
Jazz Results
Nicholas Crothers – Jazz 1, 3rd Chair
Marcus Sykora – Jazz 2, 3rd Chair
Andrew Schafer – Jazz 2, 3rd Chair

AP Music Theory Test Results

100% sit-in rate and 90% passing rate on the AP Test. These scores were the highest test scores in the entire school and highest AP Music Theory results in the district!

Academic Eligibility

There is one week left in the first six weeks. As we approach the end of the first grading period THIS THURSDAY, it seems a good time for a quick reminder on how grades affect eligibility for band.
The short version is this – pass ALL of your classes and you have nothing to worry about. You are the best and the brightest at RHS and it is our expectation that you’re acting as such in your classes. This means you shouldn’t be in jeopardy of failing a class.
Here’s the long version – if you fail a class, you fall into one of two situations:
Situation #1: You fail a UIL Exempt Class. The link below will take you to our band handbook; on page viii you will find a list of classes which are not affected by the TEA “no pass/no play” rule. If you fail one of these classes, it does not affect your eligibility status with band or other extracurriculars. That being said, failing any class is not okay and YOU NEED TO GET YOUR GRADES UP. WE’LL “SUPPORT” YOU IN THAT EFFORT RIGOROUSLY.
https://richardsonband.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/RHS-Band-Handbook-15-16.pdf
Situation #2: You fail a non-exempt/regular class. If you fail a class which is not listed on the attached list of classes, you will be academically ineligible to participate in any of the extracurricular elements (see below) of band until you regain your eligibility. You can only regain your eligibility in two ways. 1) By passing ALL of your non-exempt classes at the 3 week progress report or 2) By passing ALL of your non-exempt classes at the next 6 week grading period. If you meet criteria number 1, you can regain your eligibility after the 4th week (there is a one week “grace period” after the 3rd week progress report). If you don’t regain at the 3 week point, you have to wait until the next report card.
The elements of band effected by eligibility are: contests, parades and football games. Any in-eligible student may not participate with the band at any of these events. Ineligible students will still attend: M-F rehearsals, concerts, band classes.
Please note – we are watching eligibility closely and will begin swapping people in/out of marching spots based on how grades are looking in classes. If it looks like you may not pass, there is a high likelihood that you will be reassigned out of your marching spot in order to give the other person time to learn the spot before contest.
Pass-offs… want to try again?
Wind players can come and re-attempt movement I/school song pass-offs for any of the directors after school on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays before 5:30pm. We can’t guarantee availability every day (some days there are meetings, etc), but we’ll do our best to be in our offices between 4:10-5:30pm those days for the next few weeks. If you drop by, we’ll be happy to fire up the click track for you.
In the mean time, want to practice step offs with the click track?
The click tracks for Mvt. I and II are now posted in the student area in Charms. In order to log into Charms, visit https://www.charmsoffice.com/charms/plogin.asp. Your school code is “RichardsonHSB”, and your password for the student area is your ID number. You will be able to find the click track in the “Click Track” folder in the “Handouts & Files” section.
Note – the deadline for all re-passoff attempts to raise your grade is the end of the 1st six weeks. After this, we will continue to pull students out to pass-off material, but you won’t be able to raise your average.
RHS vs North Mesquite (AWAY)
The third AWAY football game of the year is coming up this Friday night. As always, full details can be found on the Official Band Calendar at www.richardsonband.org. Please remember that there is NO after party on away games.
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.
7:00 – 8:30 am Morning Rehearsal Attire (Stadium)
White Shirt
Any Colored Athletic Shorts (preferably black or dark blue)
Marching Shoes

Game Details
Drill Team Tune: Fame?Dinner Served: 4:10pm (Eagle’s Nest)?Inspection: 5:15pm?Depart for Mesquite Memorial Stadium: 5:30pm?Kickoff: 7:30pm
Estimated arrival at RHS: 11:30 pm

*Mesquite Memorial Stadium is the location of the UIL Marching Contest, so lets have a FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE!

Full Contest Uniform: marching shoes, black socks (mid calf length or higher), bibbers (uniform pants), GEB underarmor, jacket, baldric (sash), shako (hat). You will be wearing/taking all of these items on the bus.
Guard Uniform: Contest costume
*failure to have the items mentioned above as well as not having your instrument, flip folder, lyre and GEB silver water bottle FILLED WITH WATER will result in failing inspection. As a reminder we do not talk during inspection lines.
Other reminders include:
No nail polish
No jewelry (earrings, necklaces, rings, etc.)
No unnatural hair colors (blue, green, etc.)
Boys – clean shaven or trimmed facial hair
Girls – show hair

Transportation: Dallas County Buses

The Texas Tech band will be performing post-game. We will walk over to the HOME SIDE and watch their performance (it will not take more than 15 minutes). Furthermore, they will also be playing in the stands along with us and the North Mesquite Band during the 3rd and 4th quarters!

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 won’t find out our performance times until about two weeks before the contest.
2) Usually there are 20+ 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 won’t know our finals performance time until at least 6pm that day.
4) Each of the 10 finalist bands perform in the evening, usually starting at 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 two non-UIL contests (Midlothian and Duncanville) 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).
Midlothian Marching Showcase
Our first marching contest of the year is THIS Saturday! The Golden Eagle Band will be traveling to the Midlothian Marching Showcase on Saturday, October 3rd. Here is the plan for the day:
11:00am: Stadium Rehearsal?12:30pm: Pack up/Load/Eat (lunch provided)
*Jason’s Deli will be served in the Eagle’s Nest?1:45pm: Inspection?2:00pm: Depart for Midlothian
4:30pm: Walk to Warm-up?4:45pm: Warm-up?5:15pm: Move?5:30pm: Performance?5:45pm: Finalists announced

The Midlothian Marching Showcase is Prelims/Finals format contest. This means that, after all the bands march once in Prelims, they will select the top scoring 10 bands to perform again in Finals. The finalists perform in order depending upon their ranking in prelims. This means: 1) We won’t know if we are performing in finals until 5:45pm and 2) If we are performing in finals, we won’t know what time we perform until 5:45pm or so. We’ll send out a twitter message with the plans for the evening once we know the prelims results so our fans can make it out to cheer us on! Regardless of whether or not we make finals, we will stay and watch for the evening.
7:00pm: Finals Begin?10:15pm: Final Results?11:30pm: Expected ETA at RHS. Brief meeting then dismissal.
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:
Midlothian Multi-Purpose Stadium?1800 S. 14th St, Midlothian TX 76065
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 $8.00 for spectators 12 years of age and older. $4.00 for children under 12 years of age.For our volunteers, Midlothian only provides us with a total of 15 volunteer passes. This means that you should be prepared to pay the $8.00 entry fee just incase 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 Midlothian Band which is why they need to charge admission.
Student Info (non-props team)
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:
• GEB Dri-fit Purple Shirt?• GEB Athletic shorts?• Marching Shoes
• Long Black Socks
You’ll need to bring your duffle bag or a backpack. Inside your duffle/backpack, you’ll need our “stands uniform” which will be:
• Tennis Shoes?• (EQ)librium T-Shirt?• shorts or jeans (school appropriate)
• Sweatshirt (in case it gets cold)

You’ll come and drop your items off in the band hall, head to the uniform racks and grab your bibbers, shako and a plume. When the whistle blows, at 11:00am in stadium, you’ll be wearing:
• GEB Dri-fit Purple Shirt (under bibbers)?• GEB Athletic Shorts (under bibbers)?• Marching shoes?• Long black socks?• Band shako with plume
• Bibbers

After rehearsal, we’ll return the uniform items to the racks, load the trucks (if applicable) and head to the Eagle’s Nest where lunch (Jason’s Deli) will be provided. Once we have finish eating, you are to setup for inspection. Inspection is at 1:45pm. At inspection, we’ll be dressed in and will have:
• GEB UnderArmor Shirt (under GEB Dri-fit Purple Shirt)?• GEB Athletic Shorts?• Marching Shoes?• Long black socks?• Instrument in case (for winds that don’t go on truck)?• Duffle Bag/Backpack (with your stands uniform inside)
At 2:00pm, we’ll load buses and head to Midlothian. Upon our arrival, you’ll get all the instructions you’ll need.
After our prelims performance, you’ll also get all the instructions you’ll need.
Regardless of whether or not we place in finals, we’ll stay for the evening’s performances. Everyone will receive dinner (burgers! – we also have a vegetarian option) via the contest meal plan between prelims and finals or after finals if we draw an early spot in finals. You may want to bring additional money for souvenirs and/or concession stand goodies.
This will be a long day make sure you’re resting up throughout the week!
Student Info (props team)
When you arrive in the morning, you’ll need to be wearing:
• Tennis Shoes?• (EQ)librium T-Shirt?• Shorts or jeans (school appropriate)
• Sweatshirt (in case it gets cold)

*we will have our props done prior to UIL and Duncanville. For this contest, you will be helping with many logistical aspects!
Other Upcoming Contests
Wednesday, October 21: Region 3 UIL Marching Contest
Saturday, October 24: Duncanville Marching Invitational (Prelims/Finals)

Friendly Heads Up

Don’t forget – there is no school on October 12th, but we DO have Stadium Rehearsal that night from 5:00p-9:00p. Trying to make sure that no one is caught off guard by this 🙂
Whether you play trumpet, pass out plumes or help us with any of the countless other tasks that make this machine tick, THANK YOU for all your hard work!
Thank you,
Mr. Marquez

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