Please read the Newsletter in its entirety as I often make changes to information.

For the MIS Band Students, please be aware that much of the information contained in the Newsletters applies to MJH Music events. However, oftentimes I will include important information for MIS Music groups as well.

Musical Cast and Crew Members: Please check the Newsletter below for important dates and information. Parents please share this information with your student. Attendance has been a HUGE issue this year - the worst I have ever had. We cannot have a successful production if students are not in attendance at their scheduled rehearsals.

Solo/Ensemble Contest information is below!

The Winter Concerts will take place THIS Tuesday, December 10! Itinerary is below.

The December Dine and Earn is this Wednesday, December 12! See below for more information.

The pie sale fundraiser is still ongoing. The final DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 13. Thank you for supporting our music programs.

Also, the newest IFA fundraiser information - Fun Pasta - is below. This is a non-mandatory IFA fundraiser. All profits go directly into the student's IFA account for future music department fees/trips/purchases. DUE DECEMBER 19 or you can order ONLINE!

Students in Symphonic Band, Concert Band and Cadet Band should continue keeping track of their practice logs in Charms every week. Students in Symphonic and Concert band are responsible for practicing 100 minutes per week. And Cadet Band students are responsible for 75 minutes per week. Students should view practice time like daily homework. If you spend 15-20 minutes per day practicing, the ensemble as a whole will sound amazing, and your student will improve at a faster rate. Beginning Band students are not responsible for practice logs at this time.

Our next Music Booster meeting is Tuesday, December 17 in the Learning Center at MJHS. Please come out and see what the Music Boosters are all about!

Why cook when you can enjoy a delicious beef sandwich and support your child's music education at the same time!?!

See below for more information.

Your child should have brought home a fundraiser form for Fun Pasta. The forms are located in the band rooms and choir rooms if they did not.

This is our second IFA Fundraiser this year and is NOT MANDATORY. The profit to your student's IFA account is 40 - 50% depending on how much the group as a whole sells. Forms with envelope are Due back Dec. 19th, 2019. Please make one check payable to Mokena Music Boosters.

Also there is a link below for online sales. Every student has already been added to the list as a seller. When ordering, it will walk you through and then give you a choice on who you are supporting and you can find your child’s name under there.

If you have any questions please let me know. Email: kristenandlisa2019@gmail.com

Thanks and Happy Selling!

https://www.funpastafundraising.com/shop/mokena-music-boosters

Do you miss volunteering at the grade school?

Do you want to be more involved but don’t know how to because maybe your student is getting older and there’s not as many volunteer opportunities.

Come to the Music Boosters!

It’s a great way to stay involved behind the scenes

If you have a student in band or choir you are already a member!

We are in need of volunteers for the following areas:

Treasurer

(2 year term beginning June 2020)

Hospitality

Uniforms

Dine & Earns (beginning June 2020)

Dipping Dots’

Afraid you don’t have the time to commit to a position? Grab a friend and do it as a team! If you are interested, please contact one of the Music Directors

Please join us for our next meeting on Tuesday, November 19 at the MJHS Library

Cards already purchased will be available on Thursday, November 21 4:30 to 6:30 at MJHS. If you can't make that time, we will just send them home with your student on Friday. Or we can make other arrangements if needed.

NEW deadline December 13.

Please contact Sarah or Andrea with any questions. We can be flexible and get you the cards you need for your friends and family!

Thanks!

Sarah Ziesmer 815-703-3984

Andrea Dion 773-612-7317 adion@sbcglobal.net

We are at the time of year where have been talking to your child about Solo/Ensemble Contest. Solo/Ensemble Contest is an opportunity for students to perform either a solo (by themselves with a piano accompanist) or an ensemble (with a small group) in front of a judge. This music is something they work on outside of normal rehearsals.

Many students have requested music already. This does not mean they are committed to attending S/E Contest - this just means they wanted to look at some music so they can decide if it's something they'd like to do. If your child is still interested in obtaining solo or ensemble music, please have them contact their director or their private lesson instructor.

If Solo and Ensemble Contest is something they would like to try, they would be committing to finding a piano accompanist (and paying for that service based on the amount charged by each piano player), paying a fee of $9 for a solo or $6 for each ensemble member, attending Pre-Contest at MJH on Saturday 1/25/20, and attending the actual contest on either 2/15/20.

I have included more information below.

If you have any questions about solo and ensemble contest, please contact your director.

Forms and payments will be due NO LATER than Wednesday, December 18, 2019. Make checks payable to the Mokena Music Boosters.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Bussean or Ms. Beekman

Here is the tentative schedule of when we will meet. We will assign which set pieces we will be building later. Students will be assigned to Groups and will only need to attend when their group is scheduled. This will help alleviate students not having enough work to do at a given build time. The students chose their groups and came up with group names. More information on who is in which group can be found in the next section. Our December schedule is as follows:

Saturday, December 7 9:00 am - 3:00 pm - SEBASTIANS/AQUAHOLICS only

Thursday, December 12 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm - RATATOUILLE/BUDDY-CHUM-PALS only

Saturday, December 14 9:00 am - 3:00 pm - CANCELLED

Saturday, December 21 9:00 am - 3:00 pm - RATATOUILLE/BUDDY-CHUM-PALS/TURTLES/SEBASTIANS only

GROUPS TO BE DETERMINED...

Thursday, January 9 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Saturday, January 11 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Thursday, January 16 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Saturday, January 18 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Thursday, January 23 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Thursday, January 30 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Saturday, February 1 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Thursday, February 6 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Thursday, February 13 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Thursday, February 20 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Thursday, February 27 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Saturday, February 29 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Thursday, March 5 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Thursday, March 19 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Saturday, March 21 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Students should bring a sack lunch and drink to Saturday Crew meetings.

Please make sure to wear clothing that you don't mind ruining (we will be painting) and students must always have on closed toe shoes - no flip flops or slides. Students should bring screw guns if they have them and should ALWAYS wear eye protection (goggles).

Tech Week Mandatory Schedule

6:00 - 9:00 pm

Monday, March 23
Tuesday, March 24
Wednesday, March 25
Thursday, March 26

Students will be bused from MJH to LWC for these rehearsals. Students who have purchased dinners in advance will be fed. Students who did not pre-pay for dinners will need to provide their own dinners/drinks.

PERFORMANCES

Friday, March 27 and Saturday, March 28

These performances will take place at LWC. Times to be determined

Sunday, March 29

Time to be determined

MANDATORY SET STRIKE

Mandatory set strike and storage of equipment
We will start at LWC and then move things to MJH.

This is MANDATORY for all Cast and Crew members.

TonalEnergy Tuner is an all-inclusive, easy to use application designed for individual practice and/or large ensemble rehearsals that aides musicians to improve sound quality and intonation.

Tuning, volume, articulation, release, duration, and steadiness are the key elements of developing a beautiful tone quality. TonalEnergy Tuner is the first multi-purpose application that allows users of all ages to understand and improve every aspect of their sound.

This app is especially useful to young brass players who struggle to find the correct partial. Oftentimes they think they are playing the correct pitch, when in fact, they are not. This can be very frustrating. This app can help students learn where the correct partial is and to hear when they are not matching the correct pitch.

In addition to its tuner capabilities, it has a built in metronome to keep students rehearsing with a steady beat!

We highly recommend that all students in our band program invest in this application if they have access to a device. It is well worth the $3.99 it costs. This is much more inexpensive than a separate metronome and tuner device.

IFA Fundraisers usually occur once per quarter and are not mandatory. We are currently running the Popcorn Fundraiser. 50% of the proceeds will go into your child's IFA account.

DECEMBER

12/10 - MIS CONCERT 6:00 pm

12/10 - MJH CONCERT 7:30 pm

12/11 - NO MORNING REHEARSALS

12/11 - Half Day

12/17 - Music Booster Meeting 7:00 pm

12/19 - Choir Trip to see Phantom of the Opera

12/20 - Last Day of School Before Winter Break!

BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS HOME OVER BREAK!!! They get lonely!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3d0f8GoQhY