Man, is there a lot happening in the band right up to Spring Break! Please, please keep an eye on the calendar at dcband.org to stay up to date. 

On March 21 at 6pm there will be a DMS Band meeting in the DMS Band room. We would love to have everyone that can come. We will discuss the future events, the Dollywood Trip, Marching Band, instruments, volunteer opportunities, and any questions parents have. We will move quickly so it won't take long. We hope to see you there!

The DMS Bands will be traveling to Dade Elementary on March 28 to perform. This is a great opportunity for the elementary students to hear the band and help them decide if they would like to participate in band in middle school. This trip is during the school day. 

The DMS Bands Spring Concert is March 28th at 7pm at the DCHS auditorium. Students should report by 6:30(report means in seat, instrument ready) in concert black. All concerts are free and we hope to see everyone there! 

On March 29th, the 7th and 8th grade bands will be traveling to Ringgold High School to participate in the Concert Festival. A permission slip is going home On Thursday, March 9 with more details. It is also linked below. The students need to come to school dressed in their concert black. There will not be time to change prior to leaving. They will return before school releases. 

On March 31st, the DMS Bands will travel to Davis to perform just like the DES performance. 

And then......SPRING BREAK!!! Whew! The best thing a performing ensemble can do is perform and we are so excited for them to be able to share their hard work and talent with everyone in the coming weeks. 

 Man has it been a busy time for our bands! The DCHS band participated in Concert Camp on Tuesday and the 7th and 8th grade bands participated on Wednesday. These are all day events that include getting to have sectionals to work on better instrument technique followed by being directed by a guest conductor. You know that old bit about telling someone something a million times and then someone else walks up, says the same thing, and suddenly everyone gets it? It's a real thing and all of us need to hear the same thing in different ways for it to sink in. Guest instructors not only do this, but teach so much more. We learn as much as the students! In the end, loads of pizza and cookies were eaten, new information was learned, and amazing progress by the ensembles happened. It was a great time! From here, the bands will continue to work on the same music to make it even better to go perform at Concert Festival in March. A letter and blog update will be coming out in a couple weeks about this event. Don't forget to keep up with the calendar on dcband.org to see concert dates and more. 

The 6th grade band has begun learning a new scale. That's #2 in the books. The goal is 12 total major scales, one for each note. The better students know their scales, the better a performer they become. Please encourage them to practice their scales. But don't stop there! There are so many free resources on the internet! So here are just a few to help students want to practice. Why is that so important? You only get better and better the more you practice!  Every DMS student has a book (Essential Elements or Measures of Success). These come with free resources to play along, listen to tracks, correct missed notes/rhythms, and more!

The almighty Google Search! Type in the name of your instrument and the song you are looking for. Chances are you will find it and for free.  Musescore.com has 1,000's of songs! The band has an account and can print a part for you, just let us know.   Flutetunes.com all free flute resources!  Check out the links listed on the website as well. Find a new, great site? Share away and we will share with everyone!

This weekend was the GMEA District 7 Honor band. The Dade County Bands had three students participate: Jax Higdon (DMS), Makaela Chance and Landon Ramirez (DCHS). We are super proud of their hard work to represent Dade as some of the best musicians in our District!

The annual DMS Band and Chorus Dollywood trip letter has gone home! It is also at the bottom of this blog. Please send these back by next Tuesday, Feb. 21 with a deposit. In order to have our group reserved and get tickets on time, we have to have this sent in early, this is why the payments are scheduled for February and March and the trip is not until May. The Dade County School Systems bus policy states that only students and staff may ride buses. Only band and chorus students and school staff will be allowed on the buses. We have very limited room on the buses and encourage families to travel together to meet us at Dollywood. There will be a Remind for this trip. We will post the code asap for everyone to join. We are super excited to celebrate the bands hard work with a big fun day!

There was a misprint on the letter handed out to the students.  The report times for the concert and concert start time were wrong.  They have been corrected on the version below.  Sorry for the confusion! 

​Student's can find practice recordings for the Foundations and Young Ensemble Warm-ups here:

6th Grade - https://youtu.be/zxdxmbHdy_U
7th Grade - https://youtu.be/25bpu5mYp2Y
8th Grade/DCHS - https://youtu.be/C3TWtfittl0

7th/8th Grade - Gettysburg Address recording - https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&productID=10364216&type=audio

DCHS Students can find practice recordings in Google Classroom.

The DC Band program will be taking a trip to Universal Studios in April 2023.  This trip is open to all band students in the DMS 8th Grade Band and the DCHS Band.  All trip materials that were provided to students are linked below.  We will be having a parent meeting on Thursday, September 1st at 7:00 p.m. in the DCHS Auditorium to go over details with parents and answer any questions that you may have.

As part of the trip, we will be participating in the Universal Studios Sound Design Studio experience.  The video below gives an overview of what the students can expect as part of this amazing experience.

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!