10th-12th Winter Concert TONIGHT!

Tonight at 7:30pm in the FHS Auditorium, we will be having the 10th-12th Grad Winter Concert. We are fortunate at Fairfield High School to have students with so many talents.  That being said, we are excited to announce that you can come early to see some art-work by FHS students posted in the lobby.  

After seeing the wonderful art, the band will begin the concert, playing “Joy to the World”, arranged by Chip Davis, “Patapan” arranged by Tom Wallace and “Wizards in Winter” arranged by Bob Phillips and George Megraw.  While we transition to the Fairfield Brass and Electric Jazz Band with a video presentation of “Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 4: Bliss” including 5,905 singers from 102 countries.  Then Jazz Band will play “A Chili Pepper Christmas” arranged by Jack Cooper.

Then women’s and men’s ensembles will take the stage, with GRLZ singing “Radioactive XMas” arranged by Zach Reiter and GYZ singing “Don’t Be a Jerk! It’s Christmas” by Thomas Kenny and Adam Paley.  We will then present the traditional “Arise, Your Light Has Come” by David Danner, featuring members of Freshmen Choir, Concert Choir, and Vox, along with a brass ensemble and percussion.  Concert choir will be singing two songs: “Ritmo”, an energitic song with lots of percussive movements, and “Let Everything That Hath Breath”, a gospel song with several students featured.  Vox will then perform four of their own pieces, including:  “Eternal Light” by Aaron Zinter, “Good King Kong” by P.D.Q. Bach, “Sleep” by Eric Whitacre, and closing with the NBC Sing-Off version of “Christmas: Baby Please Come Home”.

As tradition dictates, we will close the concert by inviting audience members onto the stage to perform the “Hallelujah Chorus” from G. F. Handel’s “Messiah”.  This will prove to be an evening full of great music, with some surprises along the way.  We hope that you can make it.  Ticket price for adults is $5, $3 for students, with all activities passes accepted.  Bring a friend and come to support your students in all of their efforts!

 

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much to all of you who helped make All State Tryouts a great experience for many, many students.  We could not have provided the students and directors with such a wide variety of choices to eat without your support.  We had students that came up to the concession stand on Saturday to tell us thank you.  Wow!  I think that is pretty impressive since this was an extremely stressful day for them.  It takes a lot of dedication and practice to audition for All State  – and then to take the time to thank us for providing food for them.  Amazing!

Without your support – either by providing food for the concession stand or working during the day – we could not manage this venture.  It was a very successful day.  I do not know how much money we made that will go towards the band program yet.  All the bills haven’t been paid.  But I do know I really appreciate all of you!

Thank you,

Dee Ann Lantz and the Band Aides Board

SE Iowa Band Concert Sunday Evening

Band Parents:

I wanted to let you know of a concert opportunity for students coming up this Sunday evening, November 3.  The SE Iowa Band will be presenting a concert at 7:30 PM in the beautifully renovated Chapel Hall on the Iowa Wesleyan campus in Mt Pleasant.

The band is performing several standard marches, as well as the Overture to “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein, and “Outdoor Overture” by Aaron Copland.  The students will definitely enjoy the John Williams music from the original Superman movie.  The concert is presented in a very audience friendly format, with explanations of the pieces, and demonstrations of compositional techniques and musical points of interest.  (so it will be enjoyable AND educational!)

The band is made up of students from Iowa Wesleyan college, regional band directors, and several talented musicians from the area.  (including Mrs. Andersen!)

The concert is free to all students, IWC students/staff, and a suggested donation of $5 is requested for other attendees.

Feel free to contact Mary Andersen with questions:

mary.andersen@fairfieldsfuture.org

Needed: Donations for All State Tryouts

THANK YOU to all of you who have volunteered to work in the concession stand during All State Tryouts or have donated food items.  You are wonderful about giving of your time and/or donations.  We are still in need of some food items.  We still need:

– Baked goods  as many as we can get

– Puppy chow   50 snack bags or more

– Muffins  4 dz

– Chili  2 crockpots

– Grapes LOTS – (we seems to run out of these quickly.  We will be glad to bag these is you can purchase the grapes – purple or green, seedless)

– Bananas  55

– Chips, individual packages   48

– Baby carrots   10 lbs  (we can bag)

– Water, bottled    48  16oz bottles

As you can see the list is much smaller.  I know some of you were waiting to see what was not provided before letting me know (I love your flexibility!)

For those of you donating food items, you have several options in getting your donations to All State.  Here are the options:

– Send the items to school on Friday with your student.  Have them drop the items off in the band room – either FHS or FMS.

– Drop the items off between 5:00-6:00 pm on Friday evening (25th) at the FHS Commons.  We will be setting up at that time.

– Drop the items off around 8 am on Saturday morning (26th) at the FHS Commons.

– If none of the times work, email me and we will arrange to get them from you sometime next week.

You are all so generous!!  Thank you for donating so we can give back to the students and band programs.

THANK YOU!!!!
Band Aides Board

Middle School Band Practice Update

FMS Band Parents:

The FMS bands will perform on Friday night with the FHS bands during the varsity FB halftime. Our rehearsal is on Thursday evening at Trojan Stadium from 6:30 to 8:PM (rain location indoors).  I know cross country and some volleyball athletes are competing out of town, so if they can get to rehearsal as soon as they get back to Fairfield, that will be fine, even if they are late.  They will want to know their spot on the field and run through things with the FHS band.

Band students need to be sure to take their instruments with them on Thursday after school for practice. Percussion is excluded. Students should wear clothing appropriate for the weather and/or a muddy field – no uniforms on Thursday.

Photos will take place prior to the game performance on Friday in the FHS gym. Students should be in band uniforms, but layering for the weather is acceptable. Avoid hooded sweatshirts under the band jackets, however. Individual pictures will begin at 5:35 PM and the group photo will take place at approximately 6:15 PM in the gym.

After pictures, we will proceed to the track for our pregame performance. The band will sit on the concrete steps on the south side of the field during the 1st half of the game. Halftime will occur anywhere from 8:30 to 9:30 PM – it is completely dependent upon the flow of the 9th grade and varsity games, so I cannot predict a definite time. Students are dismissed after the halftime performance and should be sure all of their belongings are removed from the gym, as it will be locked for the remainder of the game.  We will perform “La Serpiente” prior to the FHS band’s pregame performance, and “Kung Fu Fighting”, “Firework”, and the school fight song at halftime.

On Saturday, we will be marching in Libertyville.  The bus loads at Noon and leaves at 12:10.  We will be turning in jackets following the parade, so if students are not riding the bus back to FMS, they should plan to bring other warm clothing with them.  The parade begins at 1:PM at the elementary school and we will be back at FMS around 2:15 PM.  We will be playing “La Serpiente” and the “Star Spangled Banner”.  Since the parade is in the school district, students can meet us at the school in Libertyville, but I need to know of any students not riding the bus by Friday evening.

Contact me with questions at any time: mary.andersen@fairfieldsfuture.org – and thanks for supporting your student’s music education!

Wanted: Used Band Instruments

The Fairfield Band Boosters (Band Aides) are looking for donations of band instruments in any condition, working or non-working. Donated instruments fill a critical need in giving all students the opportunity to play. “We hate to see any child miss out on the chance to learn a musical instrument because their family is unable to purchase or rent one,” says Band Aides President Detra Dettmann. “I also know there are folks out there with instruments tucked away in a storage room or attic. By donating it to the Band Boosters, they can bring it to life again and give a gift of music to a child.”

In addition to instrument donation, Band Aides will also accept cash donations earmarked for instrument purchases. All donations are tax-deductible.

To make a donation or to receive more information, contact Band Aides Board Member Mark Mayer at 472-2644 or markmayer@iowatelcom.net or any of the band instructors. Fairfield Band Aides is a 501c3 nonprofit organization supporting instrumental music programs in the Fairfield Community School District since 1999.

Coming This Week…

Coming up this week:

Friday Night: Homecoming Band Performance – with a great opening act by the Fairfield Football Team!

Saturday Morning: 10 am: Middle School band performs at the Oktoberfest parade in downtown Ottumwa.

Saturday, 6pm: High Schhol band performs at the Davis County Matrching Festival. This is an evening event (6:00 pm) featuring a field show competition. 4 Classes of competing bands. Class 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A. Plaques are given for each place in each class. Also, top Color Guard, Drumline and Drum Major in each class as well as overall winning band, Color Guard, Drumline and Drum Major.

BandAides Fall Newsletter

Click the link below to download the Band Aides Fall Newsletter!

Band Aides News Fall 2013 Final

Help Wanted!

We hope that you will choose to participate in the many activities and events we sponsor. We greatly appreciate your monetary donations and are hopeful that you will be willing to donate some of your time to help during one of our events, as well.

Your first opportunity to donate time is right around the corner. The FHS Marching Band will be performing at the Davis County Marching Band Festival on Saturday, October 5th, and they will require 6 chaperones to accompany them. The buses will leave the high school parking lot at 5:00 pm, and will return around 10:45 pm that evening. Duties are relatively light and include assisting with moving instruments and helping kids with any uniform problems they might have. The kids all have a great time at this event and behave quite well, making it a fun experience for all of the adults! When not “on duty,” which is most of the time, chaperones have the opportunity to watch bands from around Iowa as they compete in this contest. I’ve attended this contest many times and can assure you that it is a great show!

Please, let us know that you are willing to help by responding by email to rrsloat@hotmail.com at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your support!

Great Performance by FHS and FMS bands at the 2013 Kids Day Parade