Good Morning! 

I hope you are all having a good (dry!) weekend! :)

Thank you to so many people who came out to the bottle drive on Saturday. We've had a LOT of bottle drives over the years and this had to have been the WORST weather ever. Spectrum kids were amazing and, despite being a little cold and wet, raised $1500. Thank you to all of the parents that came out to support this fundraiser and to drive. These would not be successful without your hard work and we appreciate your time. 

Thanks to everyone who sold Apple Pies this year! The Band Parents Association is busy organizing orders and we'll have numbers soon. It was great to see so many kids turning in orders. Our top 3 sellers will be announced on Saturday October 5th during the pie making day (Prizes from Future Shop and iTunes). We hope to see lots of you out to help. It's really an amazing event! Not JUST because of the pie making but because of the team building and camaraderies that start to form between kids in all of the grades.

Musically, all classes and performing bands have been doing an excellent job. Keep it up, folks! Continued encouragement to practice at home is always appreciated.

Here's what we have on the go:

1.) Band Classes – No change to schedule.

*Friday Schedule: 
Grade 9s – Band Class
Grade 10s – PE
Grade 11s/12s – English/Spare

2.) Band 9/10 Practice Cards – Week 3 can be submitted for marking. On to week 4 now. 

3.) Morning/Lunch Rehearsals – No change to schedule.

4.) Requirements For Term 1 – Term 1 Requirements (Playing test material, scale studies, exercises) have been distributed to all of the band classes and jazz bands. These are due by Monday, October 21st. Students can submit these in the following ways: a.) Perform them in class for me in front of their peers. B.) Perform them for me in private when I'm not teaching. C.) Submit them on  a flash drive, data stick, DVD or CD. D.) Upload them to the band website. 

Go to the band website Requirements Page to upload your video/audio files and to download PDF copies of the required materials: http://spectrumbandvictoria.weebly.com/requirements--online-submission.html

5.) Pit Orchestra – Will start next Wednesday (October 9th) at 3:15pm – 4:45pm 

6.) Uniform Sewing Nights – Uniform sewing/alteration nights will continue this Wednesday from 6:00pm – 8:00pm in the Band Room. Thanks to everyone that came out last week to help! 

7.) Notes for "The Great Apple Pie Event" – Saturday October 5th, 9:00am in the School Cafeteria

- The event groups students and parents into stations and we start putting pies together in an assembly line fashion. We work until the last pie is completed. It's a lot of fun!

- We need LOTS of students and parents out on Saturday to make this event run smoothly. 

- You are welcome to bring your own peelers, corers (if that's even a word? HA!), cutting boards, knives, bowls, etc. but PLEASE LABLE THE ITEMS THAT YOU BRING.

- A hot dog lunch will be provided by the Band Parents Association. 

- The culinary arts kitchen is off limits to students. 

- Pie order pick-ups will start at Noon on Saturday, with the final pick-up being on Sunday from 10am-12pm. Please make arrangements to pick up and deliver the pies that you have pre-sold (we will give you copies of your order forms to help with delivering). There is no storage available at the school after the weekend. Pies are assembled but NOT cooked. This way your customers can cook or freeze them at their leisure. 

- We are in need of APPLE DONATIONS – Please email me if you are able to contribute. Ideally, it would be great if donations could arrive on Friday so that the band room doesn't smell like a fruit stand – if you have to bring in early that's fine though. :)  If you have trees that need picking, let me know! We can  arrange teams of kids/parents to help with picking. Size/quantity/type of apple doesn't matter. We'll take ANYTHING. :)


If you have questions about the event please contact our Band Manager, Carol Davis by emailing spectrumbandparents@hotmail.ca


That's it! Looking forward to another week of music. As always, don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Cheers,

Jamie Davis

Hello! 

My name is Jamie Davis and I am the band teacher at Spectrum Community School. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all of our new families this year and a warm welcome back to our returning students and families. Thanks for choosing Spectrum and for choosing to be a part of our band program! I look forward to working with your students and meeting/catching up with all of you as we get into another busy and rewarding year for our program. 

I send weekly emails home on Sundays to keep you up to date with what is happening. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about the program or your child's participation in it. 

1.) Fall Forms Package – Due Monday

All students received a package of forms  (Dates to note, Hand Book, Course Outlines, Practice Card, Rehearsal Schedule, Uniform Information) on Wednesday and Thursday last week. Your assistance in completing these forms and returning them on Monday morning is appreciated.  

2.) Band Classes (The school timetable has changed this year. Changes have been outlined in the band handbook and course outlines)

Monday - Band 9 in Period 1
Tuesday  - Band 10 in Period 1 (bring instruments!), Band 11/12 in Period 2 (bring instruments!)
Wednesday - Band 9
Thursday - Band 10, Band 11/12
Friday  - Band 10, Band 11/12

3.) Morning / Lunch Rehearsals for Performing Bands

Please see the Rehearsal Times PDF for our performing bands that rehearse outside of the timetable. The following bands will start playing this week:

Junior Jazz Band – starts on Tuesday at Lunch
Senior Concert Band – starts on Wednesday at 7:30am
Senior Jazz Band – starts on Wednesday at Lunch
Junior Concert Band – starts on Friday at 7:30am 

4.) Spectrum Band Parents Association Meeting – Wednesday night at 7:00pm

Our band program would not be successful without the hard work of our band parents association! They provide so much for Spectrum kids in terms of fundraising, travel organization, uniforms, equipment/instrument purchases etc. The association is currently looking for some new parents to help fill some executive committee and member at large positions as well. Please email our president Steve Davis (davisfamily2@telus.net) if you would like more information.  

**THE FIRST MEETING IS ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH AT 7:00PM IN THE LIBRARY. All parents are welcome!**

5.) Uniforms

Uniform rental agreements went home with the fall packages last week. Please read carefully - we ask for two cheques. The first is a $150 damage deposit post-dated to June 30, 2014. The second is a maintenance cheque for $50 (cashed right away for repairs, yearly dry-cleaning, band shoe purchase). 

Uniform Sizings: All students must attend one uniform fitting/sizing session with the uniform coordinators. These are on Monday, September 16 - 6pm to 8pm OR Wednesday, September 18 - 6pm to 8pm in the band room.

***All students must provide a pair of plain, long black socks and a WHITE men's button-down dress shirt (must be able to hold a tie. Knit shirts, shirts with patterns on them, polo shirts are not acceptable). The Band Parents association has excellent quality white shirts for sale ($20 each).

6.) Fundraising

All students have a fundraising account with the band that can be used to purchase instruments/supplies, lessons, etc, and to go on band tours. Fundraisers are set by the Band Parents Association with profits going to student accounts or to the program's general account (or both) depending on the fundraiser. 

The Great Apple Pie Event – Year 8!

Our first large fundraiser has already started: The Great Apple Pie Event forms have been distributed to all students and are also available on the band website ( www.spectrumband.ca ). For those of you that have not had the privilege of having one of these amazing pies they are simply delicious. Pies are made fresh by students and parents (it's an awesome team building experience!) and can be frozen or baked at your leisure. Sell to your neighbours, family, friends, teachers, and classmates! There will be prizes available for the top three student sellers. 

We are in need of apple donations to make this event work. If you have apples to donate or know of anyone who would like to donate please let me know! 

September 27th: Order forms DUE (Return to Mr. Davis in the band room)
October 4th: 4pm-7pm - Volunteers needed to set up the cafeteria.
October 5th: 9am-5pm - Pie Making Day - We will need LOTS of students and parents will be making pies in the cafeteria. Orders will be ready for pick-up at Noon!
October 6th: 10am – 12pm – Last day for order pick up.

Bottle Drive

Our first bottle drive is on September 28th from 9am – 1pm in the school parking lot. The Band Parents association always provides lunch for student and parent volunteers! We need LOTS of kids and parents out to make these successful. Parent volunteers will need to fill our School District volunteer driver forms to be able to drive students. These are available on the band website and must be completed before the bottle drive as they need to be approved by the principal. 

*Please note that there will be NO BOTTLE DRIVE ON OCTOBER 13th. Sorry… that was a typo!

Scrap Metal Drive

We will be holding our first "Scrap Metal Drive" on Saturday, October 26th (9am to 3pm). There is a large list of items that we can accept and this could prove to be very successful for our program! We will have a bin at the school closer to the date ready for drop offs. We are in need of parents with tools to help break-down/disassemble some of the donations - let us know if you can help.

If you would like to drop off early – donations can be brought to Schnitzer Metal at 307 David Street. Please specify that your donation is for the Spectrum Community School Band.

7.) Website / Facebook


Lots of information, media, etc. is available on the band website: http://www.spectrumband.ca

The Spectrum Band Facebook Page is located at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spectrum-Community-School-Band/103143009803059



Thank you for reading! Please let me know if you have any questions. I'm looking forward to a great year! 

Cheers,

Jamie Davis