Odem Bands – Week of 8/3/2020
I hope this message finds you well! We will begin in person rehearsals this week, with evening sectionals that we alternate groups each night. With every part of our return to activities we make, we believe in taking the health and safety of our students as our primary concern. As such we are going to start smaller and work to larger groups as we feel procedures and the situation allows. If a parent/student does not feel like they can safely attend rehearsals we do understand that concern and will not penalize them in any way moving forward.
When students arrive, they will need to bring their instrument, flip folder/lyre if at home, filled water bottle or jug, a signed COVID form(Weekly), Pre-Participation Medical History Form, and be wearing a mask at all times except when playing. Students will not be allowed to attend rehearsal without a mask!!! For this first week we are planning on outdoor rehearsals for winds in order to allow for the greatest possible dispersal of any aerosol particles. Moving forward we have ordered bell covers for instruments and special face masks with flaps/slits in them that preliminary research from the University of Colorado is showing helps prevent aerosol particles from spreading as much. Social distancing is mandatory throughout our arrivals/rehearsals/transitions/departures, and students must always maintain a distance of 6 feet from each other and staff.
Upon arrival guard members will report to the Odem JH Band Hall, while all other sections will meet at the HS. Students will come into the high school through the side gate, walk back to the bus drop-off area and our back, Band Hall door. We will have students come in one at a time to turn in their COVID form and check temperatures. We will meet together with the section and discuss procedures before breaking up into sectionals outside. I recommend students bring bug spray, especially due to the recent rains.
These past few months have been very challenging and we’re not out of the woods yet. For everyone’s safety our procedures must be followed!
Schedule:
Monday: Woodwinds/High Brass/Guard 6:30pm-8:30pm
Tuesday: Percussion/Low Brass/Guard 6:30pm-8:30pm
Wednesday: Woodwinds/High Brass/Guard 6:30pm-8:30pm
Thursday: Percussion/Low Brass/Guard 6:30pm-8:30pm
The next week if everything goes smoothly we will move onto full band fundamental blocks to work on marching technique, and a least one evening of full band rehearsals. Our first football game is scheduled to be versus Ingleside, in Odem, on August 28th.
Mr. Bowers recently shared with the faculty the idea of just planning fourteen days at a time. Even within that there can be major changes within a matter of hours this year. As such we’re mainly going to just try and plan a couple weeks out, but will get an updated calendar to everyone around August 16th.
We hope that we do see students soon. Please note that if a student is feeling any sort of symptoms such as a fever, they need to stay home! We’ve all been guilty in our lives of going to school/work when we’ve been sick and gutting through our days because we felt like we needed to be there. This year please take the cautious approach with any symptoms!
Thank you for your help and understanding! Stay well!