Date: October 21, 2013 9:59:56 AM CDT
Hello Everyone:
It's hard to believe, but in one week's time, our marching band season will effectively be complete for the year. With that said, there is still quite a bit going on this week and through to the end of the semester. It seems as though people having been successfully using www.dhsband.org to follow the calendar. That said, many of you have probably noticed that this week is quite bizarre. We were unable to secure the stadium on either of our normal nights, so we are practicing on Tuesday and Thursday (which unfortunately creates conflicts for all of our choir/ orchestra students). I understand that the students all need to attend their concerts and am asking everyone to attend our practice for as long as is manageable. Luckily, we should have ample time to teach what little new material is needed before Friday night in this time frame. We will allow students to perform on Friday if they have to leave early for their concert on Thursday.
Beginning next week, we will start practicing from 3-5 pm on Mondays and Thursdays (with some exceptions, so again please continue to follow the calendar). We begin our transition to a basketball pep band at this point. We will explain all necessary information during our first meeting, so I'd ask that you wait until after that meeting before emailing questions (hopefully I can answer most of them next Monday).
Finally, our last event of the year is the Sycamore Pumpkin Parade on Sunday. The DeKalb Music Boosters have always been gracious enough to feed the band after this event and I am forwarding the following message on their behalf:
*October 27, Pumpkin Parade Lunch
Music Boosters provides a hot dog lunch for the marching band and color guard (DHS, HMS, and CRMS) after they march in the Pumpkin Parade. We need volunteers to help serve that lunch. Time is roughly 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and you will be able to see the bands in the parade. We need approximately 4 people at 11 a.m., and 8-10 the remaining 3 hours. Please contact Jen Conley at 815.762.4585 or musicandhealing@yahoo.com.
Thank you everyone for your continued support. As always, please feel free to call or email if you have any questions.
Mr. Lundin
815-754-2120
steve.lundin@dist428.org
Hello Everyone:
I've received a number of questions about the band's schedule this weekend, so I wanted to make sure everyone knows exactly what our plan is.
Tonight we have a regularly scheduled football game with a 5:45 call time. We will try to expedite going home as many students have an important day on Saturday. We will however, stay till the end of the game as we usually do, but we plan on cleaning and getting out of there very quickly though.
For Saturday, students who are taking an IMEA audition should plan on arriving at DHS at 10:00 AM. For those few students who are auditioning before lunch (12:00 and earlier)- you should arrive at DHS by 7:00 AM. It is totally ok if you parents plan on driving their child to Sterling HS for their audition, but if that's not the case, please make sure you arrive on time, the buses cannot afford to wait for you.
Sunday is of course or big day as a marching band. The call time for the day is 11AM. The Cortland town parade steps off at 1pm. The students are fed a small meal as part of this event. When we're done, we're coming back to DHS just repack our equipment and maybe practice for a few minutes. We are planning on getting to Marengo in time for the students to be able to watch some of the other bands who perform ahead of us. It is recommended that students bring either a bagged dinner or some money to buy food before we perform at the competition. We perform at 8 and I predict we'll get home between 10-10:30. We're all then very happy to not have school on Monday.
I am attaching a performance schedule and some information regarding Sunday's event.
Please feel free to call or email if you have any questions,
hope to see many of you this weekend,
Steve Lundin
815-754-2120
Hello Everyone:
I'm emailing this morning because I have some updated information for some upcoming events. I also wanted to throw out a quick reminder for new families that we always meet at DHS whenever we have a performance. We also then always bring everyone back to DHS once we are done.
Tomorrow, for the homecoming parade, we've pushed the call time back from 4:00 to 4:30. We're using a new format this year and I have honestly not seen an approximate end time yet, so I'm encouraging everyone to use the extra 30 minutes to grab a bite to eat, in case it runs a little late. For those of you new to the band, we never eat in uniform as the potential dry cleaning costs make it prohibitive. Also, if you plan on attending the parade. It steps off at 6 pm and travels through downtown DeKalb, similar to the route we follow on Memorial Day.
Also, we are hosting a chili dinner fundraiser and are still in need of donations of pop/water to help defray our costs for the fundraiser. If you are able to donate a 12-pack by tomorrow, it would be greatly appreciated.
Finally, I'm attaching the official information from NIU regarding the competition on Sep. 28. We will not be following all of those instructions as we'll be using DHS as a warm-up site. Our call is at DHS at 4:00 pm and we will be staying to watch all of the bands that perform after us. There is spectator information in the attachment and hopefully this will help answer any questions that you might have,
Please free to call or email if there's anything you need,
thank you,
Steven Lundin
Director of Bands, DeKalb HS
Hello Everyone:
This email is your official welcome letter to the DHS Marching Band season. As I'm sure you're aware, we begin our season Friday night at the Castle Challenge. Although it might seem that we've not done too much yet, the next few weeks are going to be quite busy. For those of you new to the program, if you've not yet found our online calendar, please check out the following link:
http://www.dhsband.org/index.html
Our Calendar is imbedded on the lower right hand portion of the page.
I've done my best to put as much information about specific events as possible on the calendar. If you'd like more information about an event, click on the calendar to open the larger google calendar view and then click on that specific event. For events where we have a specific performance time, I will post that in the comments section, along with other pertinent information. Otherwise all posted times on the calendar are call times for the students to arrive. Some information arrives very late and I will email periodically whenever there are significant developments in the schedule.
Additionally, Homecoming is next week already (wow) and we are going to continue our tradition of hosting a chili dinner during the coronation ceremony. However the plan is very different this year from previous years and we're excited about how we're bringing the dinner closer to all of the excitement (and the band will be performing during the ceremony). We are always in need of help during the event and we do ask all families to donate a 12-pack of soda or water to help support the fundraiser. An attached letter has more information about the chili dinner. Please take a moment to open it and consider donating some time.
For those of you new to the program, when things get busy here, it can seem a little crazy. Please feel free to get in touch with either by email (steve.lundin@dist428.org) or phone (815-754-2120- if you leave a message it will get forwarded directly to my cell phone) whenever you have any questions or concerns about your child. We work really hard to ensure a positive experience for your child while sharing a strong band with the community in and around DeKalb. I realize we've come a long way already and I want to thank you for all you've done. Really we're just getting started though and the next weeks will be pretty busy, but hopefully also very rewarding.
looking forward to a great season,
thank you,
Steven Lundin
Director of Bands, DeKalb High School
Hello Everyone:
This is just a quick note to thank everyone for making this past year such a success for the DHS Band program. I know getting the kids to everything and keeping them involved can be a challenge, so I wanted to make sure I thanked you all for everything you do.
As the year wraps up I wanted to just get some final information out. Students have been told all of this, but I know the end of the year can be crazy, so I thought I'd send a reminder. Graduation practice will be held tomorrow at the NIU convocation center from 12:00-1:00. We do have a bus traveling from DHS to NIU. Students who'd like to ride with us need to be at DHS by 11:30. Percussionists and students who are willing to help load equipment need to be at DHS by 10:00. The ceremony on Saturday begins at 10:00, but we need the band to provide music beforehand. We'd like everyone ready to play by 9:15 (students can either be dropped off in back by the loading dock or park behind the convocation center, near the dock).
Also, as the year winds down, please make sure that all students returning to the program next year turn in registration paperwork for next year's band camp. We were hoping to have those all turned in by today, but I would be happy to collect those from students tomorrow during the graduation practice. I am attaching a copy of those papers for anyone who needs them. If you can't get it in by tomorrow, please do try to turn them in as soon as possible.
Students who purchased tickets for the DCI show at NIU will be receiving a call regarding ticket pick up within the next two weeks.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me (even during the summer).
Have a safe, restful and enjoyable summer (and students don't forget to practice and remember that it's a great time to take some lessons or attend a camp and get yourself ready to shine next year).
Thanks everyone,
Mr. Lundin
Thank You
Hello Everyone:
I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for their kind words and incredible support of the band through the planning and completion of the Sugar Bowl trip. It's been an incredibly busy marching band season and I hope your students all found it to be as enjoyable, rewarding and educational as I felt it was.
I also want to thank all of the staff and chaperones who made the trip run so smoothly. If you see Mrs. Lundin, Mr. Balika, Mr. Farnum, Mr. Johnesee, Ms. DeBall, Ms. Kochel, Ms. Elkwae, Ms. Flippin, Mr. or Ms. Haji-Sheikh, please make sure you thank them for everything they did to make they trip such a success.
I'd also like to thank everyone who went through the trouble to make our homecoming on Friday night so special. I know the students were truly touched by seeing such a display.
It's been a busy few months and I hope everyone is excited to take the next few months to recharge and relax-our schedule is really pretty easy going forward. I think we've all earned it.
I'll send out another mass email when we have our band camp dates set for 2013, but otherwise I think this will be the last mass email for the marching band.
As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Thank you again,
Mr. Lundin
Sugar Bowl Meeting and...
Before I lose the attention of people whose children are not going to New Orleans, we've had 2 students need to drop out of the trip for pretty serious reasons. Unfortunately we cannot refund them their money or reduce our numbers as everything has already been purchased. If your child was not planning on going but has reconsidered, we are allowed to substitute someone else. Please call or email immediately if you think your child might be interested in taking one of these spots. We also have the same situation with a chaperone and could handle taking one more either male or female chaperone. Please contact me immediately if you are interested.
You would need to let me know by the end of this week if you think you might be interested in one of these spots.
I know there are still many questions about the trip and I think it'd be easiest if we have a meeting for all families/students to attend. That meeting will happen next Thursday, Dec. 20 directly after marching band practice (5pm). I will go over the final itinerary at that time, packing needs and answer any questions you might have at that time.
If possible, please try to send at least one member of your family (or make sure your child can stay) so that someone is there to receive all of the information.
19 days to go...........
Mr. Lundin
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