Odem Bands Schedule – Week of 11/2/2020

This week the HS Band will begin making our final preparations towards Region Marching Contest on November 21st. Please note that UIL Region Marching Contest is a required and graded event that date, even with it being on the break students must be in attendance! We received our preliminary performance time for the event this week. The Spirit of OHS will perform at 2:20pm that day as the final 3A band performing. There are supposed to be a number of COVID-19 procedures to be sent out to us soon for the contest. Among the ones we do know is that we will be unloading, go straight to warm-up, straight to performance, then straight to loading the buses and departing for home. We will receive our contest results as we depart. Seating is most likely going to be limited, and there may be some advanced ticketing. I will pass that information on as soon as I receive it! 

Our big event this week with the Odem Bands will be the Mock-Contest we are going to run at Owl Stadium on Saturday. This will be open for parents to attend their performance at 12pm if they wish, and then stands will need to be cleared immediately afterwards. Masks are required at all times while in the stadium and we plan on performing temperature checks to be in-line with our district events policies this year. Following students’ performance, we will allow students a couple minutes to hang up their marching coats and prepare for a clinic that we will have with the judges afterwards at the stadium. Our goal is to give the students a full run-through in uniform prior to their contest, as well as to get feedback from some amazingly experienced adjudicators/band directors. (One of which is judging the 2A/4A State Marching contest this year!) This event is a mandatory graded performance that we must have every student in attendance at!

Late last week we learned that due to additional unexpected entries, UIL is splitting the 3A Area Marching Contest off from the original date. The Spirit of OHS looks to have a performance time in the late morning on December 12th for that contest. With that schedule change we needed to adjust our planned Winter Concert for Odem JH, as well as it will unfortunately make it impossible to plan for a Winter Concert for the HS this year. Due to the change of dates we will be moving the Odem JH Winter Concert to Tuesday, December 15th at 6:30pm. With concerns of an indoor performance, we are planning on having that concert in the old Odem Elementary Cafeteria shell, with socially distanced seating marked in the grass going towards the Elementary School. Should weather not cooperate we do have a weather plan that we will switch to. Our goal is for the amazing junior high band students to still get an opportunity to perform live for an audience though! 

For all juniors we will have a letter jacket fitting day this Thursday in class. We passed out packets last week, and I apologize for my confusion on the date. Please contact me if you have any questions. Herff Jones is the vendor for the jackets, and may also be able to make arrangements in town in case students are absent this day. The school pays for the jacket and the letter for the award for the student. Additional embroidery/patches are left up to the student. Herff-Jones can do them, or you may find it more cost effective to find a local company to add those. 

Finally, a reminder that students should be at all of our rehearsals/performances as they are mandatory graded events.

Odem High School Mock-Marching Contest Details:

Students need to be at the school by 11am Saturday morning. We will need them dressed and in uniform no later than 11:10am so that we may go through all procedures of warm-up and walking to the stadium together. They should wear their Odem Band shorts and the new Code of Samurai shirts that we will pass out this week under their uniforms. Students should make sure that they have a full gallon jug of water with them! We will have a brief break after their performance at noon and then proceed directly into a clinic with the judges until 3pm. 

I am aware that Fall Festival has been rescheduled for this date. The organizers are aware that the band will be in the stadium until 3pm and that students are expected to attend this event. They should have plenty of time to still make it over and help with setup as needed after our event. 

This Mock-Contest does count as a performance grade for this six-weeks!  

This Week’s Schedule:

Monday:              6:30pm-8:30pm HS Marching Rehearsal
Tuesday:              Band Hall Closed After School
Wednesday:         No Rehearsal – Student help needed with Making headbands for show
Thursday:            6:30pm-8:30pm HS Marching Rehearsal
Friday:                 Band Hall Closed After School
                           

Upcoming Events:


Saturday:                                Practice Contest (Taking place of Pre-UIL contests this year) See section above for details.
Saturday, November 14th:          Possible Rehearsal with Guest Clinician
Saturday, November 21st:            UIL Region Marching Contest at Calallen HS
Saturday, December 12th:          UIL Area Marching Contest at Calallen HS
Tuesday, December 15th:           Odem JH Bands Winter Concert


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