Odem Bands Schedule – Week of 10/15/2018
This past week our high school students worked very hard in rehearsals and our clinic on Saturday to continue to prepare their show for the final stages of this marching season. Saturday we perform at the UIL Region Marching Contest at 6:45pm in Sinton. I will discuss that event in more detail below, but we are planning on a potluck luncheon for the students that day and need a significant number of parent volunteers to help us with the performance. Additionally we are going to be looking for several 7th/8th Grade Band students to help us on the field during the performance to help us with the final piece of our show, as well as a large number to help as our pit crew. If you can’t help with one of those areas we hope that you will help us to turn the stands Blue and Gold for our students and cheer them on!
While Saturday will be the bulk of our focus this week, we also have our Screeching Owl Jazz Band performing on Sunday at the Texas Jazz Festival! The group performs on the HEB South Stage from 3:45pm-4:30pm Sunday. Admission to the festival is Free and it would be a great event to take students to go hear great performances and enjoy the festival! I have a section of more information below for the students that are performing.
There will also be a pep rally for the Odem JH students on Thursday. We also have a long away game for us Friday night with the team.. All-in-all this is going to be a busy week for the Odem bands!
Odem vs. Monte Alto:
The game this week for the OHS students will be in Monte Alto which is about 10 miles away from Santa Rosa where we played last month. The distance to this game is far enough that we will be on the bus for a while. We’re going to feed the students before the game in Harlingen before heading to the game. Students should be at the band hall by 1:45 to prepare for the game. We will head to the game after students eat. It will be a long drive home that night. I am tentatively planning a return between 1:00am and 1:30am Saturday morning. We will have students call and provide an estimate when we leave. Please arrange for rides to pick students up when we arrive so they can get sleep before the Saturday’s contest.
Just as an FYI for anyone attending the game, seating is very limited in their visitor bleachers. The band will be seated on chairs on their track instead of in the stands. If you’re traveling to the game it might be a good idea to throw in a folding chair just in case.
Note: Weather forecasts for this week seem to be changing every time we look at them. Depending on weather conditions if we have any update on plans for this game we will provide them on Facebook and Remind.
UIL Region Marching Contest:
Saturday is the one of the biggest days students in the high school band have been working towards this year! We are going to try something this year and have a potluck luncheon before we begin to get everything in motion. Students/their food should be dropped off to the high school at 11:45am and we’ll begin the lunch at noon. We will need some parents to help serve/organize everything. Please let me know if you can help with that!
Woodwinds: Main Dish
Brass: Side Dishes
Percussion: Desserts
Guard/Helpers: Drinks
We will begin our traditional run-through, re-pack everything, senior speeches, etc. once lunch is finished and cleaned up. We plan to board buses about 4pm to arrive in Sinton by 4:45pm for our Warm-up and to get everything put together for our props. Announcement of ratings is schedule for 9:45pm for both 3A and 4A bands. Students will be allowed to go next door to Dairy Queen if they wish, or the Sinton Band Boosters have concession stands available as well. I anticipate we’ll return home around 10:30pm and be able to release students around 11pm after we unload the truck and trailer.
As I mentioned with the game above the weather forecasts are going back and forth on this weekend. UIL is monitoring the situation and we will be in contact with them on any decisions that need to be made with the contest. The Sinton site is a turf field so we are less likely to be impacted than the South Zone site in San Diego that occurs before ours. Any delays from their site though would likely trickle up to our site due to our using the same judges. Again please stay tuned to Facebook/Remind for updates.
Texas Jazz Festival:
The Screeching Owl Jazz Band was invited for the first time to perform at the Texas Jazz Festival this Sunday. This is considered to be one of the biggest Jazz Festivals in the State and it’s an honor to get called to come perform! Students will wear their black jazz band shirts and black slacks. We will receive our new shirts by Friday for the performance. Shirts are $25 and we need payment by tomorrow please. If that’s a problem we will do the best we can to work with students, just please let us know what’s going on. Students need to be at the Band Hall by 1pm for a quick warm-up before we leave at around 2pm to head downtown. Students may be picked up after we perform by their parents. We may stay a short while after we perform, we’ll determine that as we go through the afternoon since this will be our first time participating in the event.
Weather and Rehearsals:
Please note that unless we deem there to be a safety concern for students, we will have rehearsals this week even in the event of rain. We have the ability to still work on music inside if it’s raining. It is imperative that students attend all rehearsals throughout the week! It looks like the expected front will move through our area around the high school class time on Monday. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 50’s for our rehearsal time on Monday and are expected to be chilly the rest of the week. Please make sure students bring jackets or sweatshirts/layer to deal with the temperatures we’re not used to here.
Shoes that can get wet are also needed for rehearsals this week as we will have to get outside as much as we can to rehearse to prepare for Saturday.
This Week’s Odem Band Hall Schedule:
Monday: 6:30pm-8:30pm Evening Marching Rehearsal
Tuesday: 3:45pm-4:45pm After school Jazz Run-through (Tentative)
Wednesday: 4:30pm-6:00pm Evening Marching Rehearsal
Thursday: 6:30pm-8:30pm Evening Marching Rehearsal
Friday: Odem vs. Monte Alto
1:45pm – Students at Band Hall
2:30pm – Depart
5:00pm – Dinner
7:30pm – Game Begins
~1:00am – Arrive at Odem Band Hall
Saturday: UIL Region Marching Contest
11:45am – Students and their Food at HS Cafetorium for luncheon
Noon – Luncheon
1:30pm – Walkthrough/Pack/Senior Speeches
4:00pm – Board Buses
4:45pm – Arrive at Sinton
6:45pm – Perform
9:45pm – Announcement of Ratings
11:00pm – Students picked up at Band Hall
Sunday: Texas Jazz Festival
1:00pm – Odem Jazz Students at Band Hall
2:00pm – Depart Band Hall
2:40pm – Arrive at Jazz Fest and make way to HEB South Stage
3:45pm-4:30pm – Perform
~6:30pm – Return to Band Hall
As you have seen it will be a very busy week for us. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns!