Hudson Hawk Band Updates

Week of 12/5/2022

School-Owned Instrument Usage Fees

If your student is using a school owned instrument (or is a percussionist), the school-owned instrument usage fee has been added to your student's Charms account. Woodwind and Brass players will now see a fall and spring fee for $25 each, or $50 for the whole year. Percussionists will see a fall fee for $25.

Oboes, bassoons, bass clarinets, tenor saxes, bari saxes, French horns, euphoniums, tubas, and the few students who play a different instrument that is owned by the school will see that fee now and can pay it by cash, check (made out to Hudson Band Boosters), or through Charms (using Paypal).

This fee was originally supposed to be paid in Skyward, but we are adjusting the process for ease of charge and payment.

If you have any questions or have any issues logging in to Charms to check on fees, please let me know and I am happy to help!

Upcoming Events

Beginner Band After School Rehearsals

Due to the size of our beginner band class, we have to split the band into 2 for our holiday concert performance. We have split the band into the Hudson Beginner Band and the Hawk Beginner Band. There is NO DIFFERENCE between the two bands - we are strictly splitting the group because we do not fit on the stage at Sachse HS with all of the students together. The Hudson Beginner Band will have their after school rehearsal on Wednesday, December 7th from 4:15-5:30pm in the band hall. The Hawk Beginner Band will have their after school rehearsal on Thursday, December 8th from 4:15-5:30pm in the band hall. THE END TIMES FOR THE REHEARSALS HAS CHANGED DUE TO THE CHRISTMAS PARADE ON WEDNESDAY. You can see which band your student is in using this link.

The rehearsal is MANDATORY and a test grade will be given for their performance/etiquette during the rehearsal. Please make arrangements to pick your student up in the back of the school after their rehearsal at 5:45pm on their designated rehearsal day.

WS Tour & All-District Band Clinic/Concert

Wind Symphony students will travel to Lister & Armstrong Elementary on Thursday, December 8th to perform for the 5th grade students and get those students excited about joining band at Hudson next year. The detailed itinerary can be found here.


Students who earned a chair in the GISD All-District bands will rehearse on December 9-10 at Lakeview Centennial HS and will perform their concert at 4:00pm on Saturday, December 10. Details for the clinic/concert can be found at this link. Please pay close attention to the uniform requirements stated on the handout and make sure you have what you need for the concert in advance!

Beginner Band Holiday Concert

Monday, Dec. 12th, 6-7pm

3901 Miles Road

Sachse, TX

The Beginner Band will stay after school on the concert day, walk over to Sachse High School after school, and rehearse once more before the performance that evening. Students will wear their band t-shirt, jeans/dark PANTS, and festive accessories. Doors will open to parents and guests for seating at 5:45pm. Please make sure to adhere to the district's clear bag policy.

If you are a Beginner Band parent who drives a truck or a large SUV and you could help us transport large instruments at 4:15pm on Monday, December 12, please email Mrs. Becker to offer your help.

Beginner Concert Italian Dinner

**All meals MUST be paid for by the end of the school on Friday, December 9th.**


The Sachse Band Boosters will be selling italian dinners before and after our Beginner Band concert on December 12th. They will be serving meals beginning at 5:00pm and will stop serving at 7:30pm (I have confirmed they will still serve after our Beginner Band concert has concluded, contrary to what the flier states). Meals will cost $10 and can be paid with cash or check (made out to Sachse Band Boosters). Send payment in an envelope - on the outside of the envelope, include the first AND last names of ALL of the people you are purchasing meals for. You may also choose to purchase meals with a credit card through the Hudson Band website (use password HawkBD2223).

Advanced Bands Holiday Concert - TIME CHANGE

Tuesday, Dec. 13th, 6:30-7:45pm

3901 Miles Road

Sachse, TX

All Advanced Band students will need to arrive at Sachse HS at 5:45pm to warm-up. WS & HB students will wear their concert/contest uniform provided by the school. (Girls will need close-toed, flat-soled black dress shoes and boys will need a solid white button down dress shirt with a full collar and solid black dress shoes and tall socks). Symphonic Band students will dress up in fancy clothes (girls skirts/dresses must reach the mid-shin or wear leggings underneath if they do not and boys need a collared shirt and tie).

Doors will open to parents and guests for seating at 6:15pm.

Fall 50 Day Practice Challenge

All students should have received the Fall 50 Day Practice Challenge paper in class the day before Fall Break. If students practice for 50 out of the 63 days on the paper (beginning Sunday, October 9), they will be invited to the Pajama Elf Movie Dodgeball Extravaganza Party on December 14. Parents need to initial each box on the days the student practices and a practice session must be at least 20 minutes long.

WS & HB Boys Uniform Info

Due to supply chain and cost issues, we are having a very hard time getting our boys tuxedo shirts for their concert/contest uniforms this year. We have made the decision to forgo the tuxedo shirt and instead have the boys wear a solid white, button down, full collar dress shirt under their vests for concert/contests. Please make sure your Honors Band or Wind Symphony boy has this shirt by our holiday concert on December 13th.
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Repeat Information

Advanced Band Supplies

Please make sure your student in the Wind Symphony, Honors Band, or Symphonic Band have their required supplies for this year. We are using the Foundations for Superior Performance book in all band classes and many students do not yet have the book. We are also beginning to work on tuning and if your student does not still have their tuner/metronome from beginner band, they will need one ASAP.

Switching to BAND app over Remind

Because our band has grown so big, we can no longer use Remind. We have reached the maximum participants in multiple classes and do not have space for more unless we upgrade our account (which costs more than we wish to spend). We will be switching messaging services to the BAND app (which the Sachse HS band also uses) to align our cluster. Please sign up for the appropriate class(es) for your student. We will NO LONGER be using Remind, so if you were just signed up for band, you will not need that app/number any longer. Thanks for understanding!

22-23 ALL HMS Band Students/Parents

Beginner Band

Symphonic Band

Honors Band

Wind Symphony

22-23 HMS BAND PARENTS ONLY

Band Fees

Because our school band budget is so small, we have to charge a band fee so that we can provide the best music education experience for all our band students. This band fee covers all instructional materials (band binder and all its contents), band shirt, contest entry fees, solo accompanist fees, performance music, music theory subscription, transportation, meals before performances, incentive days, and so much more. We set up our band fees to be collected up front (or split into payments), so that we are not constantly asking for $5 here, $7 there, etc.


This year, you can pay band fees through cash or check (made out to Hudson Band Boosters), Paypal through Charms (watch this video to walk you through the Charms system), and for the first time - credit card through the band website. Visit the band website and enter the password HawkBD2223 to enter the secure page and pay online. Please consider adding the optional donation to your cart to cover the credit card fees we incur using this convenient service.


If you have a financial hardship, please communicate with us so we can help you. We never want a student to be unable to participate due to finances and will do everything we can to work with your family and ensure your student is included.

Private Lessons Filling Up

Our private teachers are THE BEST and their schedules are starting to fill up. If you are going to sign up for private lessons, DON'T WAIT - TURN IN THE ENROLLMENT FORM ASAP.


The single biggest investment you can make in your student's musical advancement is signing them up for private lessons. Return the private lesson enrollment form to get your student started ASAP. Lessons are $20 each week and the fee is paid directly to the instructor.

Log in to Charms

Please take a moment this week to log in to Charms. www.charmsoffice.com

Log in as a parent/student/member

The school code is hudsonsoundmachine

The password for first time users is your student's GISD ID number (should be 6 digits)

For non-first time users, your password should be your student's ID with their capitalized initials in front (i.e. HB123456) unless you've changed it to something else.

Please update contact information (add adults as necessary), check your student's birthday ID, instrument, etc. and make changes as necessary. If you have questions or have difficulty logging in, please contact Mrs. Becker.

About Us

Heather Becker - Director

Dan Urban - Assistant Director