Odem Bands Schedule – Week of 1/10/2022

Happy New Year!!!

I hope this message finds everyone healthy and well as we begin the New Year in Odem! We would like to begin by congratulating the students who competed at the Area Auditions this weekend! Savannah Beltran placed 12th and Evelyn Contreras placed 15th in the Clarinet sections. Martin Doria placed 7th in the F Horn section, and Jonathan Espinoza placed 6th in the Euphonium auditions. This event is highly competitive and we are so proud of their amazing performances this weekend! 

As tomorrow is the first day back after the break we ask that parents please help remind their students they need to bring their instruments back to school in the morning! We appreciate any help you can give us with making sure that we can rehearse with every student on this first day back.

Moving forward the next month stays fairly quiet for us with events as we switch gears to preparing for UIL Solo and Ensemble and UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Evaluation events. Students will need to sign up for UIL Solo and Ensemble no later than Wednesday of this week so we can make sure we have entries in on time. Those students must be eligible to compete at this event. For JH students they compete for medals only, while HS students may advance to the UIL State Solo and Ensemble Contest through this process. There was a slight date change from our initial calendar with the event being moved up one week by UIL this past fall. We will compete at the event with both JH and HS students on February 17th. (UIL State Solo and Ensemble is scheduled for May 30th)

Tuesday evening we will have our monthly Owl Band Booster meeting at 7pm in the HS Cafetorium (if unavailable we will meet in the HS Jazz Room). Of topics to be discussed will be minor information updates to the band trip and our Windi and Jazzi fundraiser which will take place on May 7th this year. We are looking for some new parents to join in our group of officers for next year with several ‘graduating’ officers on our hands here! Please consider volunteering for this organization that is invaluable for your students time in the Odem Bands! Membership is open to all parents of 6th-12th Grade Band students!

Odem HS Wind Ensemble Information

Next week we will begin having evening rehearsals for Wind Ensemble on Thursday evenings from 6:30pm-8:30pm. I will speak with students more about that in class this week. Typically, with Wind Ensemble music we perform longer music that needs additional rehearsal time. We generally do these in January until the end of Basketball season that seems to bring more events into students’ busy schedules. We also have tentatively planned to perform at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi with the group on Saturday, March 5thas part of their inaugural Invitational Band Festival. This is not one hundred percent certain, but I would ask students to please plan on this event sometime in that day. Getting an opportunity to perform in the hall at TAMUCC is an amazing experience as a musician, and I would like to take advantage of it for our students if we can! 

2022 Orlando Trip

A fourth trip payment should have be made this month. If you haven’t turned that in please do so! The link below will allow you to make payments directly to them.

https://www.toursandtravelpaytrip.com/Reservation/TripReservation/247

You may also pay the Owl Band Boosters via Check or Money Order turned into the Band Hall Office or brought to the Band Booster Meeting Tuesday night.

This Week’s Schedule:

Day:Event:Time:
Monday:Band Hall Open After School for Practice3:30pm-4:15pm
Tuesday:Band Hall Open After School for Practice
Band Booster Meeting
3:30pm-5:30pm
7pm
Wednesday:Band Hall Open After School for Practice3:30pm-4:00pm
Thursday:Band Hall Open After School for Practice3:30pm-4:30pm
Friday:Band Hall Closed after School 

Upcoming Events:

Day:Event:Time:
Monday, 2/74th Annual Odem Solo and Ensemble RecitalTBA
Thursday, 2/17UIL Region Solo and Ensemble Contest 
March 3rdMS All-Region Jazz Recordings Due 
March 5thOdem HS Wind Ensemble at TAMUCC 
March 28thOdem Bands Pre-UIL Contest Concert 

Thank you for your help and support of these amazing students! Please contact us if you have any questions!