MOST RECENT UPDATE
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CORRECTION: The sign-ups for accompanist rehearsals are for Monday, Feb. 1st and 8th, as previously published, NOT Jan. 25th. Apologies for any confusion.
January 22: Cafe Virtuoso and UIL |
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UPCOMING DATES:
January 30: Café Virtuoso Virtual Concert Fundraiser
Good afternoon,
We are looking forward to our concert broadcast on January 30th! Hope to see you there!
Competitive Solo Accompanist Rehearsals
Students competing at the Region 25 UIL Solo Contest AND using our accompanist will begin rehearsing on Monday, February 1st. Please sign up for your accompanist rehearsal time. These times are first-come, first-served. If your student needs to arrive early or stay after their accompanist rehearsal, the Band Hall will be open. Please sign up HERE: http://bit.ly/AccompanistRehearsals
Instrument User Fees
If your student uses Plano ISD owned instruments, a usage fee of $85 for the school year had been applied to your student's RYCOR account back in September. If you have not paid for this yet, please do so as soon as possible. If you have not become familiar with RYCOR, please take a look at the attached link explaining how to create your account and navigate this system. Feel free to reach out with any questions you have by contacting Mr. Martin - chris.martin@pisd.edu
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HFTRklfABXWCBIk3cJwfRBlgBMxvNLVD/view?usp=sharing
Café Virtuoso Raffle Baskets
Please consider donating for the Vines Band Raffle Basket Competition. This is a very popular part of the evening with fun themed baskets for raffle. Boxes are located in the Band Hall to drop off your donations.
Group 1 - Percussion “Maroon - Wildcat Gear” - Tee shirts, sweatshirts, hats, visors, socks, scarfs, etc. Anything Maroon!
Group 2 - Clarinet and Bass Clarinet “Date Night” - Gift cards movies, restaurants, DVD movies, popcorn, candy, etc.
Group 3 - Alto Sax, Tenor Sax and Baritone Sax “Games and Entertainment” - board games, card games, sports related items, Main Event gift cards, XBox or Playstation Games, Skating passes, rock climbing, Adventure Landing, etc
Group 4 - Flute and French Horn “Pamper Me/Spa Day” - Nail salon Gift Cards, lotions, makeup, perfumes, bubble bath/salts, Candles, Sephora Gift Cards, etc.
Group 5 - Trombone, Oboe, Bassoon, and Euphonium “Kitchen/Food/Culinary” - food items, kitchen accessories, coffee/tea items, coffee mugs, BBQ tools/accessories, etc.
Group 6 - Trumpet and Tuba “Fast Food and Sweets” - fast food gift cards, box of chocolate, movie size candy, flavored popcorn
Please have your student bring their donation to the Band Hall and drop off in the appropriate Box. Items are due by Monday, January 25!
A Note Regarding UIL Concert & Sight-Reading Contest
Dear Families of the Vines High School Music Department,
Last semester was a testament to the resilience of our students and community. While our students rose to the challenges of learning and performing music at a distance, we, as teachers, were stretched to find creative ways to engage students and continue challenging their musical and personal growth.
In hopes to remain fully transparent with you, while UIL has revised standards and protocols for the 2021 contest season, the following challenges remain for us:
- Adequate rehearsal space: The only spaces that can sufficiently house each ensemble while observing social distancing protocol at Vines High School are the gym and the cafeteria, both of which are prioritized for Theatre and Athletic events.
- Adequate rehearsal time: In the current configuration of class delivery, we will regularly hear in-person students twice per week and online students who opt to attend in-person rehearsals outside of the school day once per week. While this is adequate for preparing music significantly easier than is appropriate for each student’s level of development, we should consider the value of preparing music for a contest for the sake of a contest. Our limited rehearsal time would be better spent preparing an appropriately advanced repertoire and finding creative ways to develop the TEKS for our students.
- Adequate instrumentation and personnel: Regardless of the level of difficulty of literature, we will continue to be affected, as Marching Band was in the fall, by quarantined students. In a marching band, every part is doubled and tripled, whereas in our smaller concert ensembles, even one missing student could greatly affect performance. Additionally, entire sections of our concert ensembles are online-only, limiting the repertoire we would be able to perform. Preparation for an indoor, off-campus stage performance is not feasible to many of our families, and we would like to offer equitable opportunities for growth and performance to every student in our program.
In place of preparing for a traditional contest season, we will be delivering a more in-depth chamber music curriculum during the first half of the spring semester, before beginning preparations for a community-oriented final spring concert. This will allow us the opportunity to use the cafeteria and outdoor facilities to hold rehearsals outside of the school day in more favorable weather.
While we are disappointed that the current circumstances do not allow us to compete, we are grateful for the multitude of safe performance opportunities available to our students.
Thank you for your continued support, and thank you to our incredible administrators for consistently work to advocate for our programs and students.
Sincerely,
Scott Arakawa, Director of Orchestras
Jonathan Cao, Director of Bands
Chris Martin, Associate Director of Bands & Director of Full Orchestra
Debbie Seitter, Director of Choirs
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Past Updates
| 1-15-21 Cafe Virtuoso Baskets |
| 1-8-21 Week 1 |
| 1-5-21 Welcome Back |
| 12-11-20 Winter Concert Broadcast |
| 12-4-20 Winter Concert Info |
| 11-20-20 December Update.pdf |
| 11-14-20 Congratulations! |
| 11-13-20 UIL Contest Itinerary |
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| 10-23-20 Week 11.pdf |
| 10-16-20 Week 10 Upcoming Schedule.pdf |
| 10-9-20 Week 9 Game 3 Itinerary.pdf |
| 10-4-20 Week 8 October Updates.pdf |
| 9-25-20 Week 7 REVISED REHEARSAL SCHEDULE WEEK |
| 9-18-20 Week 6 Game Itinerary.pdf |
| 9-13-20 Week 5 Update & Game 1 Itinerary |
| 9-5-20 Week 4: Cohort Learning |
| 8-30-20 Week 3 Update |
| 8-23-20 Week 2 Update |
| 8-16-20 Week 1 Update |
| 8-9-20 School Begins |
| 8-2-20 Band Camp Week 2 |
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| 7-24-20 Band Camp Preparation |
| 7-14-20 Band Camp Update |
| 6-26-20 Mid-Summer Update |
| 5-22-20 Audition Results |
