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Greetings friends! One more week until Spring Break v 1.0. The band directors will be out of the office starting February 2nd and will be returning on February 13th after attending the Disney trip with the students and the Texas Music Educators Association clinic and convention in San Antonio. This week, the big item is…
DISNEY TRIP! It’s that time friends. Please make sure that you have access to the Big Trip page at www.atascocitaband.com and download the full itinerary of our trip.
Let’s get past the Disney trip, and then we can focus on the next item for us which will be SOLO AND ENSEMBLE CONTEST February 17th and 18th. Student performance times have been posted on the band whiteboard. Percussion performs on the 17th and woodwinds/brass perform on the 18th. If a student opted for the state track, they perform at Humble High School on the 17th. We will have all the information when we get back from the break. Until then, HAPPY DISNEY TRIP everyone! We’ll see you in Florida!
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Greetings Atascocita Band Familia! Better late than never, I always say! This week was jam packed with things happening, in terms of eligibility, rehearsals, sectionals, recruiting events, group photos, and all the things. Now that we are already on Wednesday, here is your update on all of the things that are happening currently and the things that are about to happen.
SIDE BY SIDE (varsity only): The Varsity Band has side by side middle school performances this week. Due to the weather, we had to reschedule the Timberwood Middle School event to Monday February 13th. The next event is as follows:
DISNEY TRIP: OMG IT’S NEXT WEEK! We are getting super close to departure. We will have lots more updates coming out soon before it gets to be that time. Here are a few things that you should know:
SOLO AND ENSEMBLE: Times have been posted on the whiteboard in the band hall. Students need to take a look at the schedule to see what time they play. Our official contest days are Friday and Saturday February 17th and 18th.
ELIGIBILITY: Progress reports are going out soon. If your child is passing all of their classes this week, they will have regained their eligibility if they had lost it previously. If your child is failing a class on the progress report coming up and they passed everything on the report card, nothing will happen since a progress report is a gain-only. Calendar Additions: We have some dates to add to the calendar!
More information to come on these events soon. TMEA All State: When we return from Disney, the directors will be out beginning that Wednesday at the Texas Music Educators Association clinic and convention for professional staff development. This year’s AHS TMEA All-State Musician will be performing in San Antonio at the clinic and convention. The TMEA All-State Concerts are Saturday, February 11, 2023, in the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio (900 E. Market Street). If you are traveling to San Antonio for the All-State Concerts to support this year’s All-State musician, you will want to consider heavy traffic, parking, shuttle wait time/walk time, and convention center navigation time when you plan your travel. You will need to arrive very early. Parking & Shuttle Information
Alright! That wraps it up for all things band this week. That’s a lot, and sorry it took me so long to get it out. Thank you for following up and reading! We will have more next week as we get ready to wear our Mickey ears! Let’s finish the week strong friends! Greetings fellow Eagles! Here is your weekly update for 1/17/2023! A few things to cover this week, as we have a slightly shorter week. Hope everyone had a great MLK day off!
ELIGIBILITY: We are in week no. 3 of the grading period. That means that this week is the last and final week that teachers can add or create assignments for the eligibility period. Students will have an opportunity to finish up work THIS WEEK for a chance to regain eligibility on January 30th, which is just 3 days before we leave for the trip.
BOOSTER MEETING: Tonight, we will host our first Booster meeting of the month. Parents who are on the Booster Board will need to meet at 6:30 for item voting. The paying members of the band parents in the Booster Club are invited to attend the general session at 7:00PM.
DISNEY TRIP: Meal selection for the Thursday dinner is happening today during class. We will be reaching out to chaperones and other guests to ask you for your choice. The choice of the Thursday dinner options are as follows:
SIDE BY SIDE: AHS Varsity Band students (the wind ensemble, 5th period) will travel next week to Timberwood MS on Tuesday and West Lake on Thursday. We are asking for all wind ensemble students to get a ride there, as there will not be a bus option that will take you there. Next week’s times are as follows:
SOLO & ENSEMBLE: UIL Solo and Ensemble is coming up fast! More details are being ironed out currently, but our official contest day is Saturday February 18th at Atascocita HS.
Lots happening fast these few weeks as we start to get closer to Disney trip time! We look forward to seeing our parents at tonight Tuesday’s Booster meeting, and let’s all have a super good week! Greetings to all my Eagle friends out there! It’s January 9th, and it’s time for another weekly update of all things happening in Atascocita High School band world. Let’s start from the beginning.
AFTER SCHOOL SECTIONALS: Begin this week. Make sure to look at the sectional schedule located on the MAIN PAGE of the band website. Students involved in full orchestra will also be on Wednesday, TMEA AREA AUDITION RESULTS: Congratulations to Atascocita High School's 2023 TMEA All-State musician, Jacob Casilio. Jacob placed at top of the F Horn auditions with the best musicians in the area and was selected for a chair in the TMEA All-State Band. He will travel to San Antonio in February to perform with the TMEA All-State Band as a State Champion on his instrument. All-State is the highest honor a Texas music student can receive. 1,830 students are selected through a process that begins with over 70,000 students from around the state vying for this honor to perform in one of 18 ensembles sponsored by the Band, Orchestra, and Vocal Divisions. All-State students participate in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors during the annual state TMEA Clinic/Convention. Their performances before thousands of attendees bring this extraordinary event to a close. Congratulations Jacob! And we would also like to congratulate our Area band members who also performed today for the TMEA Area auditions and represented Atascocita High School so well. The band directors are very proud of you all. (side bar: congratulations to Humble High School for having not one but TWO All-Staters, for the first time since 1990. That is an amazing accomplishment, and we send our congratulations to Mr. Roberts and his crew over there!) DISNEY TRIP: We have the full itinerary, and it is going to be posted on the Disney Trip page. If you are a Disney trip student or parent, that will be located on the main website for you to access at any time you like. Click here to go to the main Disney Trip 2023 page to find the detailed itinerary. All communication about the Disney Trip is now about to be transferred to the BAND group specific to AHS Band Disney Trip. If you are a student, chaperone, or parent of a student going on the Disney trip, you will need to download the BAND App on your phone and add the AHS Band Disney Trip group to your phone to receive all of the updates. BAND PARENT BOOSTER MEETING: Since that Monday is a holiday, we are going to have our first official Band Parent Booster Meeting of the semester on January 17th. The Booster Board will meet at 6:30PM, and then the general session will take place at 7:00PM where ALL PARENTS are invited to attend. WE ALWAYS NEED HELP IN OUR PROGRAM, and your attendance will give you all the information on everything we are doing for this semester. Solo and Ensemble will be coming up soon, and we are still working out the details on that for our students. That’s all I got for this week. I hope that everyone has a really great second week back to school, and we will see you on the other side! Greetings, Eagle Family! And welcome to 2023! We had a very great first semester together, and now we are super excited for a second semester of all new events, competitions, performances, big trips, and so much more! It’s an exciting time to be an AHS band kiddo. Since we haven’t seen each other in quite some time, this first weekly update is going to be quite extensive, as it will get us kick-started on the major things that are happening this month. This update will cover:
Let’s begin! TMEA Area Auditions: Please click the button above for the itinerary for the TMEA Area Auditions, which are on Saturday at 10AM at Dekaney High School. This is for the band students who advanced to the next round for a chance to compete for TMEA All-State Band. After School Sectionals: Please click the button above for the new after-school sectionals schedule for the concert bands. All band students are required to attend their assigned sectionals after school. It’s only ONE out of the week, so that shouldn’t be too taxing on anyone. The spring semester gets a lot easier in terms of after school rehearsals. A few notes on after school things:
DISNEY TRIP: It’s fast approaching! I have a few updates regarding this trip:
ELIGIBILITY: The eligibility list will be going out soon, and we will be notifying band students of what their status is. If you lose your eligibility on this report card due to failing grades, you will have a chance to gain it back. If you do not gain your eligibility back at the end of January, then your ineligible status will stay in effect, which will knock you out of Disney Trip and UIL Solo and Ensemble. UIL SOLO & ENSEMBLE: That’s the next big thing for us. We will be wrapping up all of our UIL Solo and Ensemble planning sometime this week, and more information will be going out on that soon. The big thing for now is:
MIDDLE SCHOOL SIDE BY SIDE WITH WIND ENSEMBLE: An after-school event where the AHS Wind Ensemble will go and play side by side with the middle school band kiddos. Take a look at the dates and times below:
That’s a lot to kick off the year with, so that’s where we are going to stop for now. We hope that everyone has a really awesome first week back, and we are super excited to see you all! Greetings everyone! One more week until winter break! We've finally made it! It's been a super long semester a football games, practices, marching band competition, and so much more. But we are finally here at the end, and I think I speak for mostly everyone that the break coming up will be well deserved.
Here are a few announcements for this week, with information about Disney trip meetings if you missed it, winter band concert information, jazz band concert, and more. Last weekend on Friday and Saturday, selected members of the Atascocita High School band who auditioned and made the region band performed and rehearsed with some of the best students in the region as well as best conductors in our country. It was a marvelous concert, and we couldn't be more proud of our band students who represented our school so well. MONDAY DRESS REHEARSAL: in fine arts, a dress rehearsal is usually the last and final rehearsal before a big performance. The word dress means to address any final nuances of music, and it is often times confused with clothing. For today's dress rehearsal, it is just our last big rehearsal before the performance. Rehearsal times are:
Rehearsals are in the auditorium. TUESDAY CONCERT: this year's annual winter band concert will be on Tuesday December 13th at 7:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium. All band students should be in the band hall no later than 6:00 p.m. All four bands will perform, and all bands will observe and support all performing ensembles until the concert is over. We anticipate that the concert will be an hour. 6:00pm is band student call time. Concert Band is going to start at 6pm on stage, and we will let the other bands know where their warmup areas are. Please see last week's update for concert attire. The students have options this time. WEDNESDAY JAZZ BAND CONCERT: this year's annual winter jazz band concert will be on Wednesday December 14th at 7:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium. The jazz band has been working super hard on an excellent program that we know you will all enjoy. Please come support them. Pro tip: don’t exempt band final. You will have wasted an exemption. That’s all we will say about that. That’s all for now. We will have more updates out on the BAND app soon. We are looking forward to seeing everyone for our concerts this week! The Atascocita HS football team was unfortunately defeated in their previous playoff game, and therefore our football marching band season has officially ended for the year. There will be no more football games until the next school year.
RECAP OF TMEA ALL-REGION RESULTS: The Atascocita High School Band is finished with TMEA Region Band Auditions, and we are pleased to announce some incredibly great news! The following students earned a spot in the TMEA All-District Band:
The following students earned a spot in one of the TMEA All-Region Bands and will perform next week in a clinic/concert with some of the best kids in the region:
The following students not only made a region band, but they also placed high enough to advance to compete in the next round of TMEA All-Area auditions for a chance at the coveted TMEA All-State Band:
Two students won 1st chair in their rooms and were champions on their instruments:
The following 9th grade students also competed on Tuesday and earned a chair in the TMEA Freshman Band:
In total, the Atascocita High School Band had a total of 44 spots earned, which is the highest of any school in all of our entire region. We are SUPER proud of everyone who participated in this year's TMEA Region Band auditions! TMEA Region Band Information: Students who made a region band will have information in their folders on rehearsal times and concert performance. The schedule of events for the kids who made a region band are as follows: Friday December 9, 2022
Saturday December 10, 2022
Concert Times: Dec 10, 2022
DISNEY TRIP MEETING: Our mandatory meeting has been rescheduled for December 8 Thursday at 7:00PM in the high school auditorium to go over absolutely every single possible detail that goes into pulling off a trip that is hundreds of miles away. We will go over in full detail the Disney trip handbook that has every single item necessary for a fun and safe trip. Here are a few big Disney notes to prepare yourself for:
Greetings Eagle Family! This weekly update will be super short and sweet, because I present to you.... The Itinerary of Itineraries! It is another super fun-filled week of band goodness, with football playoffs, TMEA region band auditions, and more. You will need to download this itinerary above and have it ready for the whole entire week.
This week, we have:
I go into a lot of very specific detail on every little thing that's happening in the itinerary, so please refer back to it often. There is a whole lot happening this week, and I wanted it to be as concise and easily understood as possible. Make sure to stay tuned to the BAND app often, as I will be constantly posting updates on how things are going this week and if there's any fluctuations to the schedule that might happen. A lot of band students have been working very hard all year long to prepare for TMEA Region Band auditions, and we wish them the very best of luck this week! On top of that, we also have a Friday night Football Playoff game, as the AHS varsity football team has advanced to the next round of playoffs. One big note I want to make on here is this: As of this day, no band student will be allowed to leave campus before departure time of any events. The expectation is that you stay on campus. The Boosters provide you playoff game meals free of charge, so please take advantage of it. This is for YOUR safety - there is way too much that can possibly go wrong when you are not here with us, and we want you and your parents to be guaranteed of your safety. Therefore, there will be no Google Form asking about meals - the expectation is that you will be here and you'll have the meal that the Boosters provide. I will ask the Boosters to mark off who had one on the list and who didn't for accountability purposes. I take the student safety thing very seriously. That's all I got for now. I'll have more later, but get the itinerary and have it close to you this week! Good luck everyone this week, and I'll see you on the other side! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We hope that you have an amazing break this week. Here is your update for the week of November 21st.
There is no school this week and no rehearsal, but there are a few things coming up: FRIDAY FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS: AHS vs. Ridge Point, located at the Cypress Berry Center. Friday November 25th - 7 pm kickoff. An itinerary will go out soon.
I'd like to discuss next week though, because there is a lot going on. Next week is super busy though! The next week dates are:
A lot more information will be going out next week. In the meantime, we hope that you all enjoy your time with your families this Thanksgiving. Have a great restful week, and we will see you at the playoff game Friday! Good morning, Eagle family! Here is your update for the week of November 14, 2022.
FRIDAY FOOTBALL: The Atascocita Football team has won their previous game and has advanced to the next round in the playoff series. Here are the details:
Link to the playoff game ticket is below: https://gofan.co/app/events/787521?schoolId=TX25492 REGION ORCHESTRA: Congratulations to the following band students who earned a spot and performed in this year’s TMEA All-Region Orchestra! The performances were outstanding, and we enjoyed hearing our band students play with the best of the best in the region for orchestral music.
DISNEY TRIP: I am starting to put together a whole bunch of stuff for the Disney trip that is scheduled to kick off on February 2 that Thursday. We will have a mandatory meeting on November 28th at 7:30PM in the high school cafeteria to go over absolutely every single possible detail that goes into pulling off a trip that is hundreds of miles away. We will go over in full detail the Disney trip handbook that has every single item necessary for a fun and safe trip. Here are a few big Disney notes to prepare yourself for:
**Veterans Day Performance is THURSDAY, not Friday. VETERANS DAY **THURSDAY**: The HS Wind Ensemble (varsity band) will be playing at the Veterans Day memorial service.
We will have more information coming out on the BAND app band page as time goes on. But that’s it for now. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email at any time. rxbest@humbleisd.net |
BRIAN BESTDirector of Bands, Atascocita High School 
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