Greetings and hope your summer is going well!  Please remind yourself there is still a lot of summer left, so enjoy! It is going to be an awesome 06-07 school year. There are three outstanding concert bands this year with talent abound! Yes, you will need your instrument the first day of class, as we will be performing at a home football game. We will do as much music as we can play well for that first game.

Staffing this year: Both Mr. DeGier and Mr. Blaser will be doing what they have in the past at JHS, plus teaching some lessons/ensembles at DMS in the afternoons. Due to the staffing reduction that occurred last Spring at DMS in band, adjustments had to be made to make sure all students in District 206 will be provided lessons for continued musical growth. We are looking forward to going to DMS and getting to know all the DMS Students.

Pep Band:  The Pep Band involves all students in the JPS Instrumental Music Program. The Pep Band goals are to provide musical entertainment, rally the team, and provide school spirit and pride for everyone at the games. The Pep Band will perform for all home football games and one volleyball game, plus tournament games this fall. Something new this year: The JHS Activities Department will be purchasing new t-shirts for all Pep Band members! This is a great way for our students to be unified at all games the Pep Band performs at. Plus, we have ordered 5 new Pep Band selections to freshen up the music in the folders. At the end of last year, students gave input on possible music to add to the folder, and we did our best to try to find them!

Below are the dates of all fall football and volleyball games:

Football:

• Friday, Sept. 8th

• Friday, Sept. 22nd

• Friday, Sept. 29th

• Wednesday, Oct. 18th

Volleyball:

• Tuesday, Oct. 3

Facility updates: A lot of cleaning, replacing and tweaking has taken place this summer! New lights have been installed in the gym so there will be no more 'buzzing' sounds coming from the ceiling during concerts. Also with the aid of the Community Concert Association, there will be new concert stage lighting for concerts on the stage! This has been needed for quite some time. Last year during the pop concert, the circuit breakers went out numerous times, which was really frustrating. Hopefully, this year the lights can stay on during the entire concert!

The dungeon has been cleaned out, organized, and updated. There is more room now for all of our supplies and equipment. The new uniforms are hanging in the cabinets just waiting to be fitted to high school musicians! The whole dungeon looks aweseome!!

December 2006 Trip Updates

The trip committee is meeting this summer and is down to planning the final stages of an awesome trip to Florida this December. Again, the dates of the trip are: Departing Alexandria on Tuesday, December 26th, and arriving home on Sunday, December 31st. Two awesome parades are scheduled for the band to march in including the Macy's Universal Parade in Universal Studios and the nationally televised Florida Citrus Bowl Parade in downtown Orlando.  The Citrus Bowl Parade will be telecast by ABC. A parade/trip booklet will be available for parents this fall that will have all the information for the trip. Look for more information on the trip in the August/September newsletter.