We would like to begin by thanking everyone who came out to support us at our annual Marchathon last week! We raised just under $1,700 through the event! If you know of any business that would still be interested in sponsoring the band and receiving a shoutout at halftime as a thank you each week, please let us know! We’ll take those for a couple of more weeks. 

This week, our schedule changes due to teacher in-service, special events, and athletic practices. All outdoor activities for UIL are now required to follow the ‘Wet Bulb’ guidelines, and that is going to result in a few more conflicts of practice times than we usually have this week. All of our athletes should make sure they attend their sports practices, and then we ask that they please come straight from practice to the band rehearsals. We are planning a morning or two this week with our football players in particular to try to help cover their drill since their practices will be going on at the same time as ours. We’ll hopefully give them that final information tomorrow. 

As a quick update, beginning the week of August 24^th we are also planning to adjust our rehearsal schedule for the fall to only Monday and Thursday evenings, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm this year. We’re going to do that half hour later each of those nights in place of the Wednesday afternoon rehearsals. It leaves us a few hours for students to plan sectionals before/after school/during lunch and gives students a bit more time for homework/tutorials on Wednesdays. For the first week of school, leading up to Meet the Band on the 19th, we will continue nightly rehearsals to get the drill set before our first game.

This week, we begin setting drill for the show. We ask that students please arrive on time for rehearsals with their phones charged, a roll of duct tape, and a Sharpie to mark their sets. Our leadership team has set a goal of the first two parts of the show this week. If we have any students who don’t have cell phones or whose phones die, we will have printed versions of their coordinates available for use during school days once we start enforcing cell phone rules.

For rehearsal attire, please make sure students wear comfortable shorts/shirts and GOOD tennis shoes. NO SANDALS, FLIP FLOPS, CROCS, VANS, or CONVERSE shoes, please! All shirts must have sleeves and fully cover students’ midriffs per the OEISD dress code. Please also encourage good hydration!

Special Events Monday

Monday we have a number of special events that The Spirit of OHS will be performing for. At 1:45 pm, the drumline (including front ensemble) is scheduled to perform along with the cheerleaders for the District Convocation. A brass choir we’ve put together will then perform The Star-Spangled Banner for that event. Those students should arrive at the band hall between 1:00 pm and 1:20 pm, please. We’ll do a brief warm-up and then head over to the event. Then, at 5:00 pm, students should be at the Band Hall to get their instruments and flip folders so we can march to the new gym and perform at the Ribbon Cutting ceremony at 5:45 pm (begins at 6 pm). We’ll give them 30 minutes to make their way back to the band hall and rehearse inside until we can clear the parking lot around 7:30 pm. We will rehearse until 9 pm Monday so we can still get 90 minutes of setting drill in.

This Week’s Schedule

Monday	Percussion and Brass Choir at Band Hall	1:20 pm	Band Hall
	Drumline with Cheer	1:45 pm	OJH Cafetorium
	Brass Choir Star-Spangled Banner	2:00 pm	OJH Cafetorium
	All Students at Band Hall	5:00 pm	Band Hall
	Ribbon Cutting Ceremony	6:00 pm	New Gym
	Inside Music/Choreography	6:30 pm – 7:20 pm	HS Stage
	First Day Setting Drill	7:30 pm – 9:00 pm	Parking Lot
Tuesday-Thursday:	Full Band Music Rehearsal Inside	3:30pm – 5:30 pm	Band Hall
	Full Band Outside Rehearsal	6:30 pm – 8:30 pm	Parking Lot

Upcoming Events:

Day:	Event:
Monday:	Convocation/Ribbon Cutting/Evening Rehearsal
August 12th:	School Starts
August 19th:	Fall Beginning Instrument Rental NightMeet the Band
August 29th:	Odem vs Banquete (Owl Stadium)
September 4th:	Odem vs. Taft (Taft)
September 7th:	Labor Day (Evening Rehearsal 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm)

Thank you for your help and support of these amazing students! Please contact us if you have any questions!