Band Update!

Tonight (January 26) we will have a very important meeting for all eighth graders (and their parents) moving into the ninth grade this fall. The meeting will be in our Band Room here at Bragg and will begin at 7PM. Come in the back door at the rear of the band room. It will be a short meeting to answer questions and give information about next year.


The date of our concert (For Advanced, Intermediate, and Beginning Bands) has been moved to Thursday, February 18 at 6:30.We are still hoping to have this concert at the NEW auditorium at the High School. BUT we have booked the Bragg Gym as a backup just in case. Thank you for being flexible. We usually don’t change dates, but we needed to have both facilities available to us.


The Advanced and Intermediate Bands will wear uniforms at this concert, so please make sure that your student has all items: White Buttondown Shirt, Solid Black Dress Pants, Solid Black Shoes and Socks, and Black Bowtie (clip on or wraparound). It does not have to be fancy, just plain clothes. We have assigned each student the vest they will wear to complete the uniform.


The Beginning Band will again wear “dressy” clothes to this concert.


If your students is in Advanced or Intermediate Band, please return the Intent form for the Atlanta Contest/Six Flags Trip. The Money for the trip will be due on February 12.


We are currently selecting the music for students to perform at the Solo and Ensemble Festival in May. Students that perform at this festival will be eligible for medals and awards. Students that do not perform at the festival will perform this music for the directors for a playing test in May.


Encourage your student to keep up the regular practice! We have a LOT of students that are making such great progress with just a small amount of daily practice.


Thank you so much for all you do to help our program!!

Spring Trip For Intermediate and Advanced Band

It is time to begin planning for the spring band trip to Atlanta. The trip is for the Advanced and Intermediate Band and is scheduled for March 27, 2010. We are scheduled to perform at the Southern Star Music Festival at 8 AM on Saturday morning. We will spend the rest of the day at Six Flags Over Georgia. I scheduled an early performance time so we would get as much time at Six Flags as possible. The cost of the trip is $90.00 for students and $80.00 for adults.

Students Adults
$52.00 * Music Festival & Six Flags Ticket $42.00
$28.00 Bus Cost $28.00
$10.00 Extra Meal ticket $10.00
$90.00 Total $80.00

All money is due Feb. 12, 2010. This payment is non-refundable.
*The Southern Star Music Festival Package includes the competition, a two day ticket to Six Flags, and one meal ticket. (The second day ticket can be used at anytime this year.)
Only Advanced and Intermediate Band students will be allowed on this trip.
Since the band is competing it is very important that everyone participate. If you have a problem with the trip, please contact me to see if we might be able to get your child to the festival and then come home.

Christmas Concert: Tuesday, December 8!!

Can you believe it is time for this already??
Our Annual Christmas Concert is scheduled for Tuesday night December 8, 2009. This concert is going to be held at the Bragg Middle School Gym. The concert will include the Beginning Band, Intermediate Band, Advanced Band, and the Gardendale High School Bands.

This concert is part of the Curriculum for the band class and is part of each student’s grade. We are teaching our students to be good performers. The entire concert should last about an hour.

Please wear festive attire for this concert. I am not going to be real strict about what the students wear. (Dresses, slacks, or anything nice). NO Blue Jeans, T-shirts, or Tennis Shoes.

We would like a few parents to sit with each group to help remind them about being quiet while other groups are playing. If you could help us with this, please email.

Arrive at least 10 minutes before your rehearsal time. (Leave all Cases in the band room)

5:45 Adv. Band Practice

6:00 Int. Band Practice

6:15 Beginner Band Practice

***6:30 Concert Begins***

Help take back chairs and stands when the concert is over.

Store your equipment properly.

*If your child has to modify or deviate from any of the schedule for this concert please notify me beforethe concert. 379-2600x4x1

A “heads up” for next semester:

Advanced and Intermediate band will need black pants, a white oxford style button down shirt with button down collar, black shoes, black socks, and a bow ties for the three concerts second semester.

We are looking forward to a great concert! See you there!

Some November reminders!

Dear Parents,

Here are a couple of reminders of upcoming events and other information you need to know:

Band Windbreaker orders will be taken on Thursday. This is an optional purchase of $40.00. Make sure your student’s name and instrument is spelled correctly on the form.

Essential Elements Book III for Advanced Band are here. Please send 9.00 for these (15.00 for Percussion). Advanced Band students should keep their Book II as well.

Christmas Concert for all three Bands will be on Tuesday night, December 8 at 6:30 at the BMS Gymnasium. There will be a $3.00 admission charge for all adults.

Mr. Thompson and Dr. Min are here each Monday and Wednesday afternoon until 4 PM listening individually to students playing pass-offs for advancement on their progress chart. We also are listening to the Beginning Band students on a rotating basis during class. We listen to Intermediate and Advanced Band students during class who sign the “Ready List”. This means that they have practiced on their lines and are prepared to play OR need help. Please encourage your child to sign up and be assisted on a regular basis.

We are working hard for the Concert and know that you will be impressed with what your children are doing!

Musically Yours,

Mr. Thompson and Dr. Min

Change in Game Time

There has been a slight change in the times for the football game for tomorrow night (Tuesday 10/19).

We are asking that the Intermediate and Advanced band meet at the band room at 6:30 for the games.

We will dismiss at 8:30 instead of 8 since the 8th grade game will not start until 7:30.

This is our last game and for the league championship. Thank you for helping with this small adjustment and we hope that it does not cause much disruption. We look forward to having many of you as chaperones tomorrow night!

Game Cancelled!!

Our game tonight has now been CANCELLED (as of noon), so we will not perform.

Mr. Caufield is checking into having the Bragg-Bottenfield game moved here for TUESDAY night and we may perform at that. Stay tuned!

We appreciate your understanding in helping us at BMS.

Cheesecakes here THIS THURSDAY (October 8)

Dear Parents,

I wanted to give you a quick update on our Fall Fundraiser. We met our goal and netted around $7000.00 for our band!This is great, especially considering the financial challenges most of us have had.

The big news for this week is that the CHEESECAKES AND OTHER PRODUCTS WILL ARRIVE THIS THURSDAY!!

The products should be ready for distribution from the Bandroom around 1 PM. You can use the back door to come in and get it between 1-2:30 and then again after the school rush hour (please do not come in the back door during the regular school dismissal 2:40- 3:15). Wait until about 3:20 if you are going to come around to the back Bandroom door. If your student has only a few items then they can carry them home on the bus.

We could use a couple of parents to help us, especially between 2:30-3:30. Please contact us if you can help.

The items are frozen, but will need to be kept refrigerated. We would like to have everything picked up by 5 PM, but if you need to come later (or earlier), just contact us!

Another good thing is that since we collected “upfront”, all you have to do is deliver. Thanks so much for your help and we are looking forward to seeing you this week!

With appreciation,

Mr. Thompson and Dr. Min