Odem Bands Schedule – Week of 1/11/2021

I hope everyone has had a safe break and this message finds you all well and healthy! The next few weeks traditionally are some of the least busy for us as we transition seasons with the high school band, and begin preparing for Solo and Ensemble and UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Evaluation with the 7th-12th Grade Bands. The schedule for this spring is going to look quite a bit different for everyone though.

First, we will have our OJH Winter Concert on January 19th at 6:30pm in the shell of the old Elementary Cafeteria and the surrounding lawn. The students will perform underneath the shell, and we will be marking out socially distanced spots for parents and families to bring blankets or lawn chairs to sit out on during the concert. As per all OEISD events masks are required while on campus. We anticipate the concert will be completed by around 7:30pm, and will need the students to help us bring all of our equipment back to the band hall before they depart.

Normally our next event is our Solo and Ensemble recital. We will be planning to host that again this year, now that we have more information about Solo and Ensemble I will be finalizing our plans for the recital this week. Solo and Ensemble with UIL is being done virtually via recordings this year, so we have a deadline date of Friday, February 19th for those recordings. We should know results, and who will advance to the UIL State Solo and Ensemble Contest to be held Memorial Day Weekend somewhere in the Austin area. (Usually we perform on that Monday)

The OJH 7th and 8th graders then will have their All-Region Band Auditions held virtually the last week of February. This event is normally held in December, but our region chose to wait and give directors more time to get students caught up before pushing forward with their auditions. Again this will be held virtually and we plan to make recordings at school during students classes and after school. More information will be available about that when we approach. 

In April we will have our Concert and Sight-Reading Evaluation. UIL is still finalizing the process, but I believe we will most likely be hosting the students and judges in our own Cafetorium for this event. I hope to have more information and arrangements determined on this within the next week or two as well. We are also hoping to work Windi and Jazzi in during April or May as well.

The second to last weekend of April the HS All-Region Bands will have their Clinic/Concert in Alice, and the last Friday/first Saturday of May will be the Junior High All-Region Bands also in Alice. The region has chosen to push the events to the end of April in the hopes that we can have a chance at as normal of an event as we can get to. 

After that we have our spring concerts and State Solo and Ensemble, as well as the All-State Clinic being planned in June. 

As you can see it’s going to be a busy semester if we can make it through everything as planned! We appreciate the fact that our students have been very diligent in following our procedures throughout this fall. Please note that if students lose their musician mask they need to either purchase another online (several sites have them available) or one can be made by cutting a small slit in a 3-ply medical mask as well. The slit should only be wide enough to slip their mouthpiece in, and the mask should only be used while rehearsing. We invested heavily in purchasing them for the students for safety, but do not have the funds to replace lost masks. Please check in with your students on these periodically. 

This Week’s Schedule:

Monday:              Band Hall Closes at 5pm (Later if needed for Area Recordings to be made)
Tuesday:              Band Hall Closes at 5pm (Later if needed for Area Recordings to be made)
Wednesday:         Band Hall Closes at 5pm (Deadline for Area Recordings is today)
Thursday:            Band Hall Closes at 4pm
Friday:                 Band Hall Closes at 4pm

Upcoming Events:


Sat. 1/9- Wed. 1/13:                  HS Area Audition Recording Window
Tuesday, January 19th:              Odem JH Bands Winter Concert 6:30pm
February 2nd or 9th:                    4th Annual Solo and Ensemble Recital
February 19th:                          Recordings due for UIL Solo and Ensemble
February 27th-March 3rd:             Recording Window Open for JH All-Region Auditions
March 22nd:                              Pre-UIL Contest Concert (JH and HS)
April TBD:                                UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Evaluation
April 17th:                                Windi and Jazzi Fundraiser
April 23rd-24th:                          HS All-Region Band Clinic/Concert
April 30th-May 1st:                     JH All-Region Band Clinic/Concert
May 17th:                                 JH Symphonic Winds and HS Band Spring Concert
May 18th:                                 JH Beginning Band and Concert Band Spring Concert
May 28th:                                 Graduation
May 30th-May 31st:                    UIL Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest



Thank you for all of your help and support, please let us know if you have any questions!