The end of the school year is quickly approaching and we have several dates to review. Please read carefully and contact us if you have any questions.

On May 5th at 6pm in the DCHS Band room, we will be having our new marcher meeting. Any students planning to join the marching band are asked to attend so we can go over expectations and answer any questions parents and students may have. You will also receive a paper copy of the marching calendar. The calendar for next year is already available on dcband.org.

We will be traveling to the elementary schools during the school day to perform for the 5th grade students. This is a wonderful opportunity for our middle school students to be able to show off their accomplishments to former teachers and to let rising middle school students see what a band looks like, sounds like, and what instruments they may be interested in playing. We will travel to Davis on May 9th and to Dade on May 10th. This will be during school and students will need to wear their band shirts(new ones ordered if they need one) and jeans. 

The Dollywood trip is on May 13. We will leave promptly at 8:00 a.m. from DMS. If you are driving, please meet us at the park at the group entrance at approximately 11:30. Students should wear their band shirt and school dress code shorts/pants. We highly recommend sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, and a change of clothes if they plan to ride a water ride. They are responsible for their own belongings and should change at the park before leaving, so all items need to be with them in the park. They can rent a locker to store items in if they do not wish to carry a bag all day. Electronics are allowed on this trip and all chaperones are required to join the trip Remind in case of an emergency. Electronics are brought at a students own risk and we are not responsible for them. Everyone purchasing a ticket will receive one meal ticket. We will not be stopping for supper, but will stop at a large convenience store 30 minutes after leaving to get snacks on the way home. We recommend each person have at least $15 to purchase supper in the park or snacks at the store. All drinks must be screw top and no energy drinks allowed by anyone on the buses. We aim to return to DMS lower lot by approximately 11 p.m. but will update on Remind and will have students call home 30 minutes out. The Remind code is @dmsdolly22. Everyone attending should join. 

This year’s DMS band banquet will be held on Tuesday, May 17th at 6:00 p.m. in the DCHS Cafeteria. Our band banquet consists of student awards, celebrating student achievements, and most importantly, FUN! This event is not a required event for students to attend, but we try to make it a great time and would love to see everyone there! 

Shew! That’s a lot, but it’s going to be so fun! Please let us know if you have any questions. Email us at chrischance@dadecs.org or heatherchance@dadecs.org or call DMS 706-657-6491 or DCHS 706-657-7517. See you soon!

Good gracious is there a lot to keep up with! Here we go!

Unfortunately, we still do not have a delivery date for the Garbage bags. Getting the materials needed to make them has been difficult, but they are working hard to get them to us as quickly as they the can. We apologize for the delay.

The Winter Guard has one more regular season competition at Chattahoochee High on March 26 and then Championships at the UTC McKenzie Arena on April 2. They have worked really hard and have a beautiful show for everyone to see. They would love to have you come support them! 

The Dollywood letter and first payment are due by March 22. We have received several questions about the trip and hope we have answered quickly. This is the first large trip for all of them since 2019 and we know there are a lot of questions. Please feel free to ask away! A few commonly asked questions answered: Can we use band account money from fundraisers to help pay for the trip? Yes! Every case sold earns the student $1 in their account to be used for band fees or trips. You sold 10? You have $10 you can put on the trip! You can always log into charmsoffice.com to view your account. We will also send home statements on Wednesday(tomorrow). Students may bring electronics, but are responsible for them. School dress code must be followed for school trips. Students may ride with their families to and from Dollywood, but we need a note letting us know. In fact, we encourage this to help on spacing on the buses. Students are required to stay with an adult chaperone the entire time in the park. Siblings are not excused from school unless they are also in band. The Dollywood letter is attached to the previous blog post. 

The Fruit and Garbage Bag Sale Party is on March 25 at DCHS until 7p.m. Any students that sold 10+ items in either sale are invited to come and have a big time! Pizza, hide and go seek, nerf war(we will have a limited supply and students may bring their own), and many more games. We cannot wait!

The Mattress Sale is March 26 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. in the DCHS Commons area. Students are not required to show up, but for anyone that comes to purchase a mattress and tells the sales rep the students name, the student will receive a free band hoodie. Please help share the word of the sale and come try out some great mattresses.

Spring Concerts are quickly approaching. The DMS Concert is on April 5th, the DCHS Concert is on April 28. Details can be found in a previous blog post. PLEASE have students try on their concert clothes to make sure they still fit before the concert. Students are to wear all black for concerts. Skirts/dresses MUST lay below the knee when seated. 

Whew! That's a lot! Please remember you can view the calendar on dcband.org and next years dates are already on the calendar through December 2022. The rest will be uploaded soon. See you soon!

We are so excited to be sending out information about the end of year reward trip for the DMS bands to Dollywood! Students are bringing home letters today. Please be sure to review those carefully as there are some new school requirements and payment details. Please remember, any student that still owes their band fee will have to pay it before paying for Dollywood.

We do not have a delivery date for the Garbage bags as of right now, Monday, March 7. The company has communicated they are backed up in production, but are trying to get them finished for us as soon as possible. We will share the delivery date as soon as we get it.

The Fruit/Garbage Bag Sale party is Friday, March 25 in the DCHS band room right after school until 7:00pm. We will be serving pizza and drinks, but would love snack donations!

The Mattress Sale is Saturday, March 26 in the DCHS Commons area from 9:00am - 5:00pm. There is a meeting Tuesday, March 8 at 6:30pm in the DCHS Band room to go over details and give away prizes!

Spring Concerts are quickly approaching. DMS Bands Concert is on April 5 at 7:00pm, the DCHS Band Concert is on April 28 at 7:00pm in the DCHS Auditorium. Student need to be in their seat by 6:30 to warm up in their concert black attire for their concert. 

Please check the calendar on dcband.org to stay up to date. Band banquets are in May as well as the new marcher meeting for rising 8th graders and any rising DCHS students. 

Attached below is the previous letter about the dates changes and band fee payments, the Dollywood letter, and the band calendar for 2022 - 2023. 

Welcome back!!! We have only barely gotten back and there is already a lot happening. Parents, please be sure to return all forms and fees as soon as possible. For DMS parents, this would be the Band Handbook agreement page and the band fee. We charge a small fee to cover band specific needs instead of creating a class materials list. By being able to purchase in bulk, we have been able to save parents money the last several years since doing this. For DCHS parents, this is also the Band Handbook agreement page and the band fee. Marching band students do not pay the classroom fee, only marching fee! Marching students also have their Medical forms which need to be returned asap. Any student without a form will not be allowed to participate in the first game. 

Beginning parents get ready for instrument rental night on Thursday, August 26 in the DMS Cafeteria. All students are to attend whether they will be renting or not because we will be showing off how much they have already learned in a quick performance and meeting at 6pm. We cannot wait to see you there!

Marchers, please see the attached short note about this coming Thursdays performance and play time. Get ready to get soaked!

See everyone soon!

We did it! We made it to May! Ready. Set. Go! There is a lot happening in the band world right now. Here goes:
Tonight (May 3) 6pm New Marcher Meeting     
                           7pm Booster Meeting     
                           Both held in the DCHS Band Room. We are actively searching for people willing to 

Tuesday (May4)  Jazz Band rehearsal until 4:15 DCHS Band Room

Thursday (May 6)  Drum Line and Drum Major practice immediately after school until 5pm

Monday ( May 10) Drum Major Auditions

Tuesday (May 11) Spring Concert!!!! DCHS Magic Morgan Stadium. DMS Bands Concert 6pm(report 5:30)
                              Jazz Band Concert 7pm with DCHS to follow with special guests.....the 8th grade band                                      performing with the DCHS Band. Please see previous blog post for more details. 

Thursday (May 13) Rain date for the Spring Concert 

Tuesday (May 18) Band Banquet 6pm Jenkins Park Bring a chair or blanket, a snack, and lets celebrate the                                      hard work accomplished this year together. 

Friday (May 21) DCHS Band performs for Medal of Honor Recipient Sammy Davis. Stay tuned for a                                           Livestream link in the coming days. You do not want to miss this!

We will have a new marcher meeting on Monday, May 3rd in the DCHS auditorium for any current 7th grade through high school student that has not been a part of the marching band before.  ALL color guard members should be present for this meeting as well to be sized for their uniforms for next season.

Below is a copy of the letter that went out to current 7th grade students today.

Can you believe we have already made it to spring? With spring typically comes the annual spring concerts and we are excited to announce that they are back! On May 11 we will be having a Spring Concert in the DCHS Magic Morgan Stadium. The DMS bands will perform at 6pm and the Jazz band and DCHS band will perform at 7pm. All are welcome and encouraged to socially distance in the stadium. Students need to report(that means instrument ready to play and student all the way to their report location) by 5:30. DMS students wear their DMS DC Band maroon shirt with blue jeans and the DCHS students wear the Uniform maroon shirt and blue jeans. There is a weather date set for May 13 in the case of inclement weather at the same times. We cannot wait!!

Spring break is a great time to clean instruments. Please see our instrument cleaning video page located on the website for helpful tips. Keeping an instrument clean not only keeps it in it's best playing condition, but it also helps it sound its best. Have fresh reeds, grease, oil, cleaning cloths(old shirts are great) to be ready to perform your best. 

Students recently gained a new program they can use flat.io. This is a music notation software that lets them create their own music! With this we can explore counting and writing rhythms, creating melodies, learn how dynamics and articulations change how a note sounds and so much more. This program links to their Google Classroom as well. Students also have access to Smartmusic.com. Here they can practice along with pieces they are working on in class, learn new music, work on tuning and tempo and more. Smart Music is like having a teacher at home! Please encourage your student to use this when practicing. It will help so much!  Please always encourage practice time. Just 10 minutes 5 days a week can help a student improve dramatically. Pretty outside? Practice outside! Need some quiet? Practice with Smart Music using headphones and silent practice. There are so many ways you can practice that will make you the best you can be! 

Thank you so much for all of your support with the fundraising. Your support helped us with so much getting much needed materials and preparing for the future. We do have extras incase you know someone who forgot to order. 

We cannot wait to see you soon. In the meantime, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and right here on the blog. 

Parents,

We have started a new process this semester for students (and you!) to keep up with what is happening in class each day.  The students have been receiving a sheet each week titled Weekly Assignments. 

This sheet contains several items for students:

• The top section will change weekly depending on what we are focusing on.  It may be a specific rhythm that the students need to count, new notes we are covering, or terms they need to review.
• The middle section contains two things:
  • A list of items that we will be covering in class each day.  Students need to be practicing a day ahead (i.e. - Practice Tuesday's material on Monday night).
  • The upcoming tests that the students will be doing.  Currently, this list is scheduled out 3 weeks in advance so students are aware of what is coming up and can practice ahead.
• The bottom section is announcements of any upcoming items of information that students and parents need to know.

The goal of the Weekly Assignment sheets is to keep students and parents informed of what is coming up and to help focus student practice time during the week.  You can access the Weekly Assignment sheets by visiting the Weekly Assignments tab on the menu at the top of the page.  In addition to the Weekly Assignment sheets, you can also find a copy of the rubrics that will be used to grade student playing performances.

Can you believe that we are already almost a whole month through 2021? There is also only one week left in the annual garbage bag sale. Let's make this the best sale ever! 

We would like to take a minute and remind everyone of some of the fantastic resources that we have for band students. We have begun to give students Weekly  Assignment Sheets that work as a weekly syllabus for them to know what they will be doing and what to practice. Each student has a custom made notebook and DMS students also have their Measures of Success books. These are great resources for fingering charts(how to play notes and read notes), musical terms, songs to practice, how to read music sheets, and much more. The website, dcband.org also has links for the notebook to view online and a link for the Measures of Success book online that they can even play along with. Smartmusic.com is a fantastic resource all Dade County band students received for free this year. This is like a private teacher for free at home! Need to practice for a test, it is there. Want to learn a new song, boom, there. Need to know if you are playing correctly, turn on the mic and it will assess what you play and give feedback on what to improve on. Really, I cannot express how amazing this website is! And free this year! Students have already used it at school and can log in at home. We are already working on new music for concerts and just this week were able to purchase some great new pieces for each group(thank you fruit sale!). 

In short, there is a lot happening in band and we hope you can encourage your band student to practice at home. Maybe have a concert at home! Students thrive when they are able to share their accomplishments. 

Please be sure to watch our Facebook page, Dade County Bands for up to date information(also linked on the home page of dcband.org if you do not use Facebook but would like updates). We also have an informal private page, Dade County Band Geeks, where we allow students to share with one another and communicate. 

Garbage bags due next Friday, Feb. 5 by 3pm. 

Stay well and we will see you soon!

Happy 2021! We apologize for not making any updates in a bit. We hope that you had a fantastic holiday and we are looking forward to a wonderful new year. If you happened to miss it, we were able to share a holiday concert virtually at the end of last semester and hope you enjoy the students hard work. Through having class outside when weather permitted, sectional work, new classroom set ups, these students have met any and all challenges with ease and have been able to grow as musicians. We could not be more proud if how they have worked! Thank you for your continued support of these amazing young musicians. 

It's that time again! The annual garbage bag sale has begun. Students have received their order forms and the shop is open to make purchases online through the dcband.org website. The bags are $25 per case and come in 3 size choices(13 gal, 33 gal, 55 gal). All orders are due by February 5th. The bags are made to order and are estimated to be ready the end of February or first of March. As soon as we have a delivery date, we will be sure to share. Pick up will be at the DCHS band room. 

Please remember to make sure students have all materials needed to have a well working instrument. Clarinets and saxophones need reeds, brass need valve oil and slide grease. Also, please reference the cleaning videos located on dcband.org to help keep the instrument at its best. Brass do not need frequent baths. Once every month or two is plenty unless you have been sick. 

We look forward to sharing more music videos with you soon and are making plans for a public outdoor performance this spring! More details to come. 

See you soon!

The welcome back zone has morphed back into that everyday feel. It has been fantastic seeing all the students and hearing them play. In the last few weeks first notes have been played, the marching show is getting polished, and lots of knowledge checks(dust the cobwebs off of those brains) have been heard from all over. Be on the look out for some upcoming videos featuring these hard workers making music!

A few reminders. Please log in to Google Classroom with your student to sign off on the 2020 band handbook. The handbooks are virtual sign now and we hope that this can be something that can continue in the future. Band fees are due now. Please check the handbook for more information on that and if you have any questions or concerns, please just let us know. 

The annual fruit sale is just around the corner. This sale helps us purchase new music, materials, instruments, make repairs, and more. Please watch for materials to be coming home in a couple weeks. 

Marching band, please be keeping an eye on the future. The first game will be here soon and we can't wait!

Until next time, have a great day, keep practicing, keep smiling, and we will see you soon!

Parents,

This calendar year has brought many changes and challenges to us all.  We are re-imagining how we have school, how we ride buses, and even how we do band during a pandemic.  The students have already been very fluid and adapting to the changes that have had to be made.  Some of those changes are now affecting how we deal with travel during the football season.

Under the recommendation of Dr. Voccio with the Dade County Health Department, at the current moment, the DC Marching Wolverines will not be traveling to the away football games.  This decision is based on the information that the areas we would be traveling to have a higher rate of community spread of COVID-19 than we have in Dade County.  The band students would be potentially sitting in the midst of hundreds of people for several hours while at the games.

As things develop, this decision may be changed/modified as we see infection rates in the surrounding counties change.  If anything does change, we will inform students and parents and adjust our schedule accordingly.

We are currently working on some live streamed and socially distanced community performances for our students over the next few weeks.  We want them to be able to showcase their hard work for the community and their families.  Below is the current schedule of games that the Marching Wolverines will be performing for.  Additional performance dates/times will be sent out as soon as we can lock in those events.

We are looking forward to having students back and playing again!!!! The DC Marching Band is open to any student in 8th grade through high school.

If you are planning on being a part of the 2020 DC Marching Band, please fill out and submit the form below before July 13th.  This will allow us to place and order on t-shirts before band camp. The marching band fee for the 2020 season will be $75.00 per student.

Below are the dates and times for marching band camp.  Camp is shortened this year due to current restrictions in place.

July 22 - 24: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Everyone
July 27 - 29: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Everyone
July 30: 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Everyone (Pictures)

There are some restrictions that we must follow during this time:

Each student is required to have their own personal water bottle (gallon minimum recommended). No use of water fountains or shared water coolers is allowed. Each student should have their water bottle clearly labeled with their name. DO NOT share water bottles. We will be outside the entire time each day, barring weather issues.

Students will not be able to store equipment in the band room overnight. Exceptions to this will be for sousaphones and percussion instruments due to size.

Students will be required to have their temperature checked and answer 4 questions each day prior to being admitted to the rehearsals.

Students and staff should arrive dressed for practice. There will not be changing facilities available.

Students should plan to leave campus immediately after the end of the activity

Any student who wishes to wear a mask, will be allowed to.

When outdoors, students should maintain a minimum of 6 feet distance from one another. If we are rehearsing indoors, students should maintain a minimum of 10 feet distance from one another.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

After School Rehearsals - The DC Marching Band will be rehearsing after school on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 3:30 to 5:15. This is subject to change based on the school release time.

Uniforms - Students will need khaki color shorts AND pants for the season and black socks. The shorts/pants should follow school dress code and are not allowed to have holes. If a belt is worn (optional), it must be black. A band t-shirt will be provided to each student. Shirts will be tucked in. Hair must be fixed in a way that it is removed from the face (pony tail, braids, clips, BLACK headband, etc.). The only jewelry allowed will be stud earrings and watches.

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