The Lakewood Bands hosted a BBQ and concert on May 4, 2011 to raise money for next year’s 8th graders to participate in the Festival of Music at Worlds of Fun.  338 people attended the barbecue with close to 500 people attending the concert.  With advance tickets, tickets at the door, and donations, the fundraiser brought in $1637.  Special thanks go out to all the parents who donated items and coordinated the event, especially Melinda Jett, Dana Kossow, Julie Wood, Deb Shetlar, Cindy Bradshaw, and Lisa Peters.

The concert opened with the jazz band performing Norwegian Wood, Meadowlark Boss, and the Theme from Family Guy.  Following the jazz band, the concert bands performed music from 1986 (25 years ago) including Final Countdown, True Colors, Highlights from the Three Amigos, The Phantom of the Opera, and Music of the Night.  The students did an excellent job and everyone had an enjoyable evening of great food, friendship, excellent music, and awesome weather.

What do you get when you combine 105 middle school band students, 21 parent/teacher volunteers, 7 professional musicians, 4 high school students, 6 dodgeballs, 12 basketballs, 6 ping pong tables, 4 movies, 240 cans of pop, and 25 pizzas?  — an evening of fun, friendship, and music.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the band lock-in.  Your efforts helped create a experience that our students will remember for a very long time.  Check out the band website for pictures and videos of the event.

Students received information for the upcoming band lock-in during class class.  The lock-in will take place on April 1st, with student arriving at 6:30 PM that evening and being picked up the following morning at 7:00 AM.  The information distributed in class includes a permission form, agreement form, and volunteer form.  Parents need to review the packet, and students need to return the signed forms in order to participate.  You can download the forms here: Lock-In Information.

Congratulations to our band students for their accomplishments at the Salina Middle-Level Band Festival on Friday, March 4 at Central High School.  Here are the results of the performances:

• 6th Grade Band – Superior
• 7th Grade Band – Superior
• 8th Grade Band – Superior
• 6th Grade Students
  • Alcyonna – Excellent
  • Angelica – Superior
  • Hannah – Superior
  • Laurel – Superior
  • Tyler – Superior
  • Zac – Excellent
• 7th Grade Students
  • Haley – Excellent
  • Harlie – Excellent
  • Harrison – Superior
  • Michael – Superior
  • Olivia – Excellent
• 8th Grade Students
  • Jack – Excellent
  • Melissa – Superior
  • Megan – Superior
  • Morgan – Superior
  • Olivia – Superior
  • Pedro – Superior

Band students at Lakewood Middle School finished their third week of classes today.  The 8th grade band has been working on music for their Rolling Stones marching show.  This week they finished memorizing the music and next week they will begin learning the drill on the field.  In 7th grade band, the students have been working out of the new book and learning new music for the band concert.  This week they reviewed how to read key signatures and next week they will learn how to tune their instruments.

The 6th grade band has been blitzing through the book to review notes, rhythms, and other concepts from last year.  This week they will get their music for the band concert and will be hitting it really hard this week.  On Friday, they celebrated Tie Day in honor of the curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch.

Click here for a more detailed explanation of class activities this week.

Students at Lakewood Middle School finished their second week of school today. The bands have been playing their instruments this week and getting back in the routine. It was great to visit with parents at orientation earlier this week. Thanks for stopping by to see me and ask questions.

In class, the 8th graders got their music for the marching show and have been working hard to learn how to play it. Next week they will work on analyzing the form of the music and memorizing it. The 7th grade band started working out of Book 2 this week. The first few pages in the book reviews important concepts from Book 1. They also got music for the concert in October and we will be hitting it hard starting next week. The 6th grade band learned the warm-up this week and has been working on blitzing through the book. It is tradition that the 6th grade band starts at the very beginning of the book and plays about a page a day. This is a good review for everyone and helps those students who are working on a school instrument to pick it up more easily.

Here’s what we did this week in more detail.

Students at Lakewood Middle School finished their first week of classes today. Monday was an orientation for 6th grade students. On Tuesday, the 7th and 8th graders returned from summer vacation.

In band, the students participated in a variety of beginning of the year activities. The 8th grade band students went outside and reviewed some marching band fundamentals. They also learned how to do a slide right, slide left, and an adjusted step. The 7th grade band reviewed some tricky rhythms from book one. The 6th grade band students spent much of the week learning about procedures and expectations so that they would have a successful year in band. Many of the students have even auditioned on new instruments (baritone, tuba, horn, etc.) to help fill out the band. This is great!

All students should have brought home a copy of the band handbook, calendar, and shirt form. The contract at the end of the handbook is due on Monday. The shirt form is due Monday — if you need an extension on the $15, please send a note with your student. Only students who don’t have a band shirt (that fits) need to purchase one for performances. 7th graders need to have the Essential Elements Book 2 for class this year. All students need to bring instruments on Monday. Students using school instruments will have those checked out to them on Monday during class.

A note on the band calendar — In class the students were instructed to correct to concert dates that have changed since the handbook was printed. The correct dates of the two band concerts are 10-11-10, and 12-14-10. Thank you for making the change. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at scott.bley@usd305.com

If you would to see a detailed lesson plan of what did this week in class, please click here.

Next week, there will be an orientation for 6th grade parents on Monday evening at Lakewood Middle School. 7th and 8th grade parents will have orientation on Tuesday evening.