Odem Bands Schedule – Week of 8-17-2026
It was great last week to welcome all our students back from summer break! All the classes have started, and we’re looking forward to a great year! Some key points for this week:
- Band Handbooks/Forms were sent home. Please make sure those forms are returned for all students in Grades 6-12 by tomorrow!
- Band Fees for high school marching band students should be paid at this time, and 7th/8th Graders should be paid within the next week and a half, please. We accept checks or money orders in the band hall and can now take credit cards online. Please go down to the ‘Presto/Online Payments’ section below for more details on those. 6th Graders do not pay band fees.
- Beginning Band Fall Instrument Drive is scheduled at the JH Band Hall from 4 pm – 7 pm on Wednesday.
- Meet the Band is Wednesday at 8 pm for the HS Marching Band at Owl Stadium.
For HS students, beginning the week of August 24th, we plan to adjust our fall rehearsal schedule to 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. We do have one Tuesday planned for September 15th to accommodate the schedule of someone coming to help adjust our sound system.
Our full Fall and Spring Calendars are available for download here: https://tinyurl.com/OdemCal2627.
Beginning Band Instruments:
Beginning Band students will need to bring their instruments here by August 26th if they are not on order with a company that will deliver them to us. We will hold another instrument drive night with Music and the Arts on Wednesday from 4 pm – 7 pm in the JH Band Hall. South Texas Music Mart is in town and a reliable company that provides quality instrument rentals. Hillje Music out of San Antonio also calls on us each week and can be contacted. We do ask that parents please stick to the recommended brands listed in the welcome letter; the list will be included in the handbook students receive on Wednesday. It’s imperative that we have a good instrument in each student’s hands.
If there is a financial concern, please contact Mr. Williams (williamsn@oeisd.org) so we can help! Our philosophy is that every student deserves the opportunity to be in band, and we will do all we can to help by connecting with former students and used instruments, or by providing a school instrument when possible!
Presto and Online Payments
We have used a system called Presto for a number of years now to send weekly emails, track our inventory, and track fees, etc. This year we have been able to link online payments for those fees. There is a video here with details on how to create accounts and use the system: https://support.presto-assistant.com/articles/getting-started-guide-students-and-parents/ You should have received a welcome email about 11 am on Sunday. If you don’t see it in your email, please check your spam folder and have your student log in to their OEISD email account, as it may have gone there.
If you have completed both of those steps and don’t see it, please email rashs@oeisd.org with your name, the student’s name, your relationship to the student, your email address, and the student’s grade. The login page is here: https://app.presto-assistant.com/
Alumni Band
We began spreading the word on Friday, but please tell any older students, relatives, or – even yourselves if you are an alumnus of The Spirit of OHS, we’re looking to ‘put the band back together!’ This year, for the 2026 Odem HS Homecoming Game vs. Aransas Pass, on September 11th, the right dates have aligned for us to host an Alumni Band Night! We are looking for any alumni from Odem HS who have graduated from the band program (ANY YEAR!) to come join us for this special event! We plan to have a special performance of some of the ‘classic’ songs the band has played over the decades before the game, after the Homecoming Court Coronation, together with the current band students. You can find more information on this webpage: http://www.odembands.org/uncategorized/alumni-band-at-homecoming/ Registration is available here: https://tinyurl.com/26SpiritAlumniBand
This Week’s Schedule
| Monday: | HS Band Evening Rehearsal | 6:30 pm-8:30 pm |
| Tuesday: | HS Band Evening Rehearsal | 6:30 pm-8:30 pm |
| Wednesday: | Beginning Band Instrument Drive HS Band Evening Rehearsal Meet the Band (Owl Stadium) | 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm 8:00 pm |
| Thursday: | No Rehearsal | |
| Friday: | Band Hall Closed |
Upcoming Events:
| Wednesday: | Fall Beginning Instrument Rental Night Meet 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) |
| September 9th: | In Town Alumni Band Rehearsal 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm |
| September 10th: | Homecoming Parade and Burning of the ‘O’ |
| September 11th: | Homecoming Game vs. Aransas Pass |
| September 12th: | All-Region Jazz Auditions |
| September 15th: | Tuesday Evening Rehearsal with Audio Team for HS |
| September 16th: | All-Area/State Jazz Recordings (If Students Advance) |
| September 17th: | Clinic with Mr. Santos at Thursday Rehearsal |
| September 18th: | Odem vs. Victoria St. Joe at Victoria Memorial Stadium |
| September 25th: | Odem vs. San Antonio Memorial (San Antonio) |
| September 26th: | 5th Annual Owl Marching Invitational |
Thank you for your help and support of these amazing students! Please contact us if you have any questions!