News and Notes January 10-16

Good Morning, Band Family!
I am writing this update from the office on Sunday morning as fourth period gets ready to finish up our weekend camp. The students have done a great job and we hope to put on a sneak peak preview of this concert in the quad at 2pm today. The Color Guard has their camp coming up next weekend. These weekends are long but so much gets done!

We have our Disney trip coming up THIS FRIDAY. In order to prepare, we will rehearse this Thursday at 8am down on the field. This will allow us to go over the march a few times as well as rewrite the cadence and set up a new block, along with a new Disney friendly routine for the Color Guard. We will load the trailer after school on Thursday so it's ready to go Friday morning. Here are a few details for the day of the trip:

* Meeting time is 8:30am at guest services just outside the west gate to Disneyland. Students arrive on their own (no busses). You can drop a student off new Downtown Disney for security check in and they can make their way to the entrance of the park. 

* The park opens at 9am. I'll give you a physical ticket that you should link to the Disneyland App for your convenience. Additionally, the park is now cashless, which means you need to load a debit/credit card onto the App. You'll need to make an account, and then choose a payment method. This is only if you plan on buying food there, if you bring your own, you'll just need to make sure it fits Disney guidelines (no glass etc). 

* Meeting time for the parade is 2:15pm between the two parks. From there, a guide will lead us behind California Adventure to get changed and ready for the performance. We step off at 4:05pm at town square and make our way up to It's a Small World. Once we are done, we will walk back to DCA, change, and be released into the park. 

* Once you are back in the park you are dismissed for the day. The park closes at 11pm so you can stick around or go straight home. It depends on how much Disney you like. Parents should coordinate with their students on arranging a ride home. 

* I know we still need to fit for uniforms. We will do. that partly in class, and partly AFTER SCHOOL ON WEDNESDAY. We will also need to grab the new shako's from the bins.
AUHSD Honor Band is coming! Auditions for this group are due this Wednesday. The details on how to upload your video and what scales to play etc can be found on Kennedy's website here: http://www.kennedyband.org/

You'll need to record your scales and etude and upload it as an unlisted youtube video. From there, fill out the google form found on Kennedy's website. Good luck! 

We have some details on our Spring Trip in April. We will be traveling April 8-11 up to Northern California. We plan on staying in Fairfield at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is very conveniently located. On Saturday morning, we will visit Sonoma State University to take a college tour, and then make our way to Santa Rosa to perform at the CMEA Festival held there. On Sunday, we will go into San Francisco and see the sights, including some time at Pier 39. The cost of the trip is $275 per person. The trip is open to everyone, but 4th period is the only group that will be performing. As such, it's important that all members of that group attend. If you think there could be an issue going on tour, please let me know ASAP.
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One last note on an email that you all received from the school regarding contact tracing yesterday afternoon. We were all pretty confused by it but I did ask around and got clarity. Basically it's a decision tree email on what to do should you or someone in your home test positive. There are multiple factors such as if you are symptomatic or vaccinated that guide when you return to school. We all know that staying safe is really important right now so please be aware of the current protocols, wear your mask indoors, and hopefully get a hold of some testing for up to date info. My expectation is that we will have a rotation of missing students and staff for the next few weeks so we will all just do the best we can each day with who we have.