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Waxahachie High School

1000 North Highway 77

Waxahachie, Texas 75165

www.spiritofwaxahachie.com

from the desk of…….

Rich Armstrong The spring semester is well on its way, with many great accolades already attributed to the WHS Band family. The Jazz Café was once again a huge success, and for that we have our hugely talented young jazz musicians and our team of parents lead by Kathy Louque to thank. Huge props to all involved in a great night! Please congratulate our 8 All-Staters this year on their outstanding results at State: Sara Rundgren: 11

th Chair, flute

Jack Dufon: 7th Chair, bassoon

Cynethia Martinez: 6th Chair, bass clarinet

Caleb Neal: 2nd

Chair, alto sax Collin Dacy: 6

th Chair, trumpet

Gannon Escobar: 8th Chair, trumpet

Corey Simmel: 2nd

Chair, 5A Philharmonic Orchestra, French horn Tyler Merritt: 10

th Chair, trombone

Students participated in the annual UIL Solo contest at the beginning of March. 89 of our students re-ceived a 1

st Division, and 30 of those qualified for the State Solo Contest in Austin at the end of May. In

order to qualify for the State contest a student must perform a solo from the Class One list, by memory, and receive a 1

st Division from their judge. This is a huge accomplishment for these 30 students:

Flute-Sara Rundgren Oboe-Morgan McGlothlin Bassoon-Morgan Cooper and Jack DuFon Clarinet-Monica Martinez Bass Clarinet-Cynethia Martinez Alto Sax-Wendy Lozano, Caleb Neal, and Rylan Rash Trumpet-Collin Dacy, Hannah Ensinia, Allison Etheredge, Arely Fonseca, Audrey Herod, Brandon Hug-dahl, and Paul Martin Horn-Victor Baez, Brianna Christman, Corey Simmel, and Kyle Summers Trombone-Brandon Bechtel Baritone-Alex Mills Tuba-Patrick Harris Percussion-Cassidy Armstrong, Annie Bowers, Victoria Garza, Brendan Hufnagel, Kyndall Hunt, David Medina, and Andrew Rolen Congratulations go to Corey Simmel and Caleb Neal on their success as the top winners in the annual Waxahachie Symphony Association Young Artist Award program! Corey was named the 1

st place winner

in the instrumental category out of all students who audition from Ellis County, and Caleb was named the 2

nd place winner. Both of these young men were awarded cash prizes along with the title for this year.

Check out the weekly sheet and/or calendar for our remaining performances this year, including UIL Con-

cert and Sightreading, the Percussion Concert, the Jazz Orchestra concert featuring the UTA Jazz En-

semble, and our WHS Spring Concert.

WISD Band Staff

Rich Armstrong

Director of Bands Justin Bell

Assistant Director of Bands Paul Jaso

High School Assistant/Director of Percussion Denise Armstrong

Color Guard Coordinator Dan Francis

Director, Howard Jr. High Band Reggie Cook

Assistant Director Howard Band Ryan DeLaGarza

Director, Finley Jr. High Band Kendra Ray

Assistant Director Finley Band

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Booster Officers

2013-014

President Dawn Langston Vice President Carrie Cole-lee AVP Concessions Aaron Clayton AVP Fundraising Bobbie Jones AVP Special Projects Kathy Louque AVP Communications Paige Gordon AVP Promotions/Advertising____ _____ Allison Hugdahl AVP Uniforms______________ _____Mary Schueler Uniform Officer _____________________Catrina Rogers Secretary Jeni Obel Treasurer Lori McGlothlin Financial Secretary ___________________ __Tina Autry Guard Representative Ginger Kelley Howard Rep Krissi Mechelay Finley Rep Chris & Bonnie Bearden

The Waxahachie Band Booster Organization provides

support for all students in the Waxahachie Band Program. Every band parent and friend of the band is invited to join

the Waxahachie Band Booster Organization. The Waxahachie Band Booster Organization meets on the first Monday of each month, 7:00 P.M. in the WHS band hall.

Attention anyone who would like to help

the Waxahachie BAND Program

There will be lots of room for anyone wanting to help with the band this next fall. Want to

help but maybe not on the board? Here is a

list of other committees:

July 4th Parade & Picnic Jazz Cafe Chairperson

Band Banquet Chairperson Ice Cream Social Chairperson

Away Game Food Chairperson Contest Food Chairpersons

Midlothian (Sophomore Parents) DeSoto (Junior Parents)

UIL (TBA) Area (TBA)

UIL/Area Week Chairperson Head Chaperone

Car Wash

Patron Program Magazine FundraiserBand Photo Posters

Chairperson Jr High Concession Manager

JV Concession Manager High School Concession Managers

Concession Menu & Inventory T-Shirts and Banners

Uniforms TNT Chairperson

High School Socials Finley Socials

Howard Socials

If interested in any of the positions or

committees listed or you would like more

information, please email

president@spiritofwaxahachie.com

The Waxahachie HS Percussion program had a successful day on March 1st

at the Solo and Ensemble contest. We had seven percussionists qualify for

State and another student earn a 1st division rating on a class two solo. The

following percussionists qualified for state: Cassidy Armstrong (9th), Annie

Bowers (9th), Victoria Garza (9th), Brendan Hufnagel (11th), Kyndall Hunt

(10th), David Medina (11th), and Andrew Rolen (9th). Every student in the

program was required to play a marimba solo, the majority of them four

mallet solos. The percussion program has gotten much stronger as the result

of playing quality four mallet literature.

We are currently preparing for our Percussion Ensemble concert that

will be held on May 17th at the High School. We work on the various

ensembles during our Percussion Class, but we also have sectionals after

school for the smaller ensembles. At the concert, the group will be

performing all types of percussion literature, from orchestral literature to

Stomp-like pieces, from chamber ensembles to rock charts. Finley J.H. and

Howard J.H. will join the Waxahachie HS for the performance for the

concert. All percussionists in the cluster, 6th-12th graders, will participate.

We also will be having Bill Bachman as our guest performer for the concert.

In the world of percussion, Bill Bachman needs no introduction. Not only is

he a prolific author, world-class performer, clinician and educator, but also

an inventor and touring/recording drum set artist. We look forward to

having him and we look forward to putting on a performance that will be

incredibly entertaining.

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) Waxahachie Winterguard 2014 and Beyond!! What a great season the winterguard had this year! Our show consisted of Copeland’s “Air and Simple Gifts.” It was a beautiful show that showcased many of our students as soloists as well as the full ensemble utilizing the costumes and panels from the fall show “Mystic Hollow.” We traveled to Aledo, HEB, Arlington, and finally Grand Prairie for the 4 performances. We completed the season at championships in 6

th place.

When we returned from finals we immediately began work for the Waxahachie Charmer’s Spring Show. Our whole ensemble showed off again doing a modified version of the winterguard show “Air and Simple Gifts,” while the juniors and seniors prepared a fun pop piece by Cher called “A Women’s World” choreographed by Katie Kelly. Both groups did a spectacular job and were received very positively at the show. Now that the winter season and spring show are completed we turn our attention to auditions for next year!! We will begin with “Come check it out days!!” at the end of the month in the junior high schools. We will be in PE classes at Finley on April 28 and at Howard on Tuesday April 29. The colorguard will then have after school sessions at Finley on Thursday , May 1 and at Howard May 2. This is new for us and very exciting to see the great talent we will get from the junior high schools. We will continue the audition process on Tuesday night May 6, then the following week May 12, 13, 15, and 16, wrapping up with the audition day May 17

th.

If you know of any students that would be interested in the colorguard experience please pass the information to them. Every year our colorguard takes another step to another level!! This next year will be no different!! Roman and I are excited to see what will happen this next year!!!

….Denise Armstrong

Thank you to all of our Spirit of Waxahachie Partners

High Note Partners

$1,000 - + Level Advantage Self Storage

Americase & Amerigrafix Bloomfield Photography

Colwell Oil Company Neighborhood Credit Union

Ray Porter, CPA Wal-Mart

Waxahachie Cleaners Waxahachie Daily Light

Woodmen of the World Financial Services Financial Service

Composer Partners $500 - $ 999 Level

Citizen National Bank Chicken Express

Christian Brothers Automotive Featherston Auto Repair

Joe & Rhonda Meyer The UPS Store Waxahachie, TX

Musician Partner

$250 - $499 Level

Compton’s Cleaners

Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson,LLP

Stu & Billie Stephenson

Stu Field Representative For Woodmen of the World

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) From the desk of ….. Ryan DeLaGarza……

It has been awhile since our last newsletter, but here are some of the upcoming events in the Finley Band!

April 9, 2014 @ UIL Contest for Symphonic II at Cedar Hill HS

Stage Performance @ 3:00 PM

Sight-Reading @ 3:30 PM

***Parent volunteers welcome! We will take the students out to eat following their performance in Cedar

Hill.***

April 10, 2014 @ UIl Contest for Symphonic I at Cedar Hill HS

Stage Performance @ 4:00 PM

Sight-Reading @ 4:30 PM

***We will need at least 4 parent volunteers for this event to help percussion carry instruments and set

up risers on the stage for the students.***

April 16, 2014 @ Symphonic II to Sandy Lake Contest

Perform @ 12:30 PM

***This is the Spring Contest for the Symphonic II students. Students will be taken out to eat follow-

ing their performance before they return to school.***

April 30, 2014 @ Beginner Band to Sandy Lake Contest

Perform @ 8:30 AM

***This is an exciting time for the Beginner Band! We will be taking them to their first band contest!

We will need MANY chaperones for this event.***

May 16, 2014 @ Symphonic I to Peak Festival at Wakeland HS

Perform @ 9:30 AM

***Please be on the lookout for an itinerary for this trip. We will be taking the students out to eat and

the Allen Outlet Mall following their performance.***

If you would like to chaperone any of these events, please let Ms. Ray know as soon as possible so that

she can get you on our list.

All students (6th-8th grade) are expected to have their Korg TM 40/50 tuner and tuning cord with

them at every rehearsal. If a student does not have this item, please go to Ellis County Music Center and pur-

chase these items for your student as soon as possible. The tuning cords are very fragile, so please remind

your student to take care of this item.

We have had a few social events for the students since our last newsletter! The Symphonic I and II

students took part in the very first Finley Band lock-in. Organized by Ms. Ray and several willing parents, this

event was very successful! The students had a great time getting to hang out with friends, play games, and

watch movies. The Beginner Band students had a movie night on Friday, February 28th. The students watched

several different movies including The Avengers, Finding Nemo, and Despicable Me 2. This event gave the stu-

dents the opportunity to meet new students in the Beginner Band and make new friends.

Thank you for your support throughout this year! We only have 9-weeks of school left and much left

to do!

Ryan DeLaGarza Kendra Ray

Head Band Director Assistant Band Director

Ryan.delagarza@wisd.org kray@wisd.org

From the desk of ……..

Dan Francis……

Howard Band has several upcoming events on the horizon for all stu-

dents currently involved in the program and for future members this

month. Next Tuesday, March 25th all WISD bands will be performing

their UIL programs at the WHS Fine Arts Center. Symphonic I and II

bands are preparing for the Region 20 CC UIL band contest, which will

take place on April 9th through the 10th. The Howard Beginning Band is

getting ready for their performance at Sandy Lake, which will be on

Saturday April 26th.

The Symphonic I and II bands will have some extra rehearsals during

the first week of April after school in order to make up for missed re-

hearsals that will happen because of STAAR testing. We will be com-

municating that schedule to students during their classes next week.

The recruiting process has begun for next year’s band students. We

have already visited Felty, Clift, and Shackleford to introduce the fifth

graders to the program and have tried students out on mouthpieces.

We sent a letter sent home to all fifth grade students in English and

Spanish inviting them to be a part of the program. The Selmer Survey

is being administered by the 5th grade music teachers and we will begin

setting up interviews with 5th grade students and parents who have re-

turned the contact information form. Prior to the interviews, students

and parents are encouraged to visit the Future Members tab of the

Howard Band Website to explore the different instruments. You can

follow this link to navigate directly to the page:

http://www.howardband.org/p/future-members.html

These events have been placed on the Howard Band Website calendar.

For more information regarding upcoming events, please visit:

www.howardband.org

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April Booster Meeting

April 7 2014 WHS Band Hall

May Booster Meeting May 5, 2014

WHS Band Hall

April 2014 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

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