March 2009 Rich Armstrong Director of Bands Reggie Cook Assistant Director of Bands Dan Francis Head Director, Howard 8th Grade Kendra Ray Director, Finley 7th Grade www.spiritofwaxahachie.com Donnie Owens Director, CMS Margie Owens Coordinator, CMS Waxahachie High School 1000 North Highway 77 Waxahachie, Texas 75165

Waxahachie Jazz Band 1st Place (Division 4A) - UTA Jazz Festival Outstanding Musicians Recognized Jonathan Polanco, Scott Tipton, Jeremy Quintana, Logan Bowers, Chelsea Kimberlin

Solo and Ensemble March 7 TCU Jazz Festival March 27 Winter Park March 31 April 5 ATTENTION SENIOR PARENTS: Just a reminder that we need baby pictures for each of our Seniors in Mr. Armstrong s office no later than March 26. This is your opportunity to select your favorite baby or toddler picture of your soon-to-be college student and show it to the world (or at least the WISD Band world!). For the convenience of your Senior, links are available on the website for Senior Wills and Senior Plans. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WAXAHACHIE SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS Derek Hayes - 1st Place Jonathan Polanco - 2nd Place There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering. Theodore Roosevelt If President Roosevelt was correct, then, the members of the WISD Band program will most definitely be remembered! It has often been said that the Band is the hardest working group of students and parents in the school, and I most definitely agree...and that hard work and extra efforts are continuing to pay dividends in a number of ways. Our successes this year have surpassed any previous year in the history of the WISD Band Program, and we re only a little over halfway through the year, with the concert contests still to come. The awards, trophies, and patches have been attained through what we believe is the core of the band program: a combination of talent, hard work, determination, accepting responsibility, and tremendous effort on the part of every individual student. These qualities are not only desirable in a band program, they are essential if that group is to be classified as award winning. At this time in the year, its always easy to ease up on the practicing and even miss a few private lessons...sometimes diagnosed as spring fever! However, it is even more important this year for us to remain focused as we continue our quest for excellence. The Wind Ensemble has extra listenings/ practices scheduled over the next weeks as we prepare for the Honor Band competition in addition to Solo and Ensemble and UIL. The Jazz Band will turn its focus to TCU Jazz Festival and Winter Park, while Symphonic and Concert bands intensify their practices. Excellence, and the success that it produces, is not easy...but that is our goal...to achieve what has previously been unattainable. Let s go for it. Rich Armstrong WHS Band News Rich Armstrong, Director, WISD Bands (rlarm@wisd.org) Reggie Cooke, Assistant Director, WHS Band (rcook@wisd.org)

Finley/Howard Band News Dan Francis (dfrancis@wisd.org) Kendra Ray (kray@wisd.org) Saturday, March 28 9 am - Buffalo Creek $5 per student (includes popcorn and drink) due by March 13 (Cash preferred) Chaperones Needed Please contact Edward Quintana at 972/935-8256 or indian305@hotmail.com The theatre is open for our group only - so, come and enjoy the fun! from the desk of Dan Francis & Kendra Ray Well, it is now confirmed - the future of the WISD Band Program is definitely promising! We have had a great time visiting the elementary schools, visiting with the students, and showing them the various instruments as well as demonstrating how to make sounds via the mouthpieces, and of course, the correct way to handle the drumsticks! We are looking forward to our first concert of 2009 - scheduled for March 12 at the Fine Arts Center. This will be our pre-uil concert, sort of a practice run for our performance at UIL contest April 16-17 at Cedar Hill High School. Excitement and anticipation are at a high level as the pressure is on to continue the tradition of straight I s, but we are confident in our students talents and abilities. Sweepstakes - here we come! Yes, we know we promised a party, and we always deliver on our promises! We re planning to go see Race to Witch Mountain on Saturday, March 28. The cost is $5 per student and includes popcorn and a drink. If you re planning to attend, we need your CASH by March 13th! from the desk of...donnie Owens CMS Band News Donnie and Margie Owens, Directors (dowens@wisd.org) It seems that everywhere you turn these days, there are CMS band students practicing - or selling World s Finest Chocolate. In fact, in ONE week s time, the Band has sold 81 cases - giving the band $2,000.00 profit - all of which goes into individual bank accounts! This is proving to be an excellent fundraiser for our kids, and we are very excited! In a separate e-mail, we will be bragging about our Solo and Ensemble Contest, but just as a side note: a great time was had by every student, and we are so very proud of every one of them! Also, a special THANK YOU to our AWESOME parents who helped by chaperoning and braving the lock-in! Monday, March 2, marks the first day that the band will see their full-band competition music for the first time. This only gives us a short time to prepare for Sandy Lake, but, as we all know - practice is the key! Aristotle stated, We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. And, CMS is actual proof of the validity of that statement! Because of the previous successes enjoyed by Waxahachie s Middle School Band program, we have been invited to make application for The Magna Cum Laude Award - an international award, based on achievements over a six-year time period, recognizing small, middle school concert bands of outstanding musical excellence. Internationally renowned Gladys Stone Wright (now eighty-four years young!), extended the invitation this past summer at the Texas Bandmasters Convention, with the final award decision announced at the Midwest National Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in December 2010. The possibility of receiving such an award is significant to CMS due to the fact that we would be the first beginning band program to receive this award...so, we ll keep our fingers crossed and continue our efforts. This serves to remind us that our success would not be possible without our parents - both past and present, our school administrators, our band staff - AND ESPECIALLY MRS. OWENS for seven years of full-time volunteering! We ll see what we can do to prove Aristotle s theory correct.

FEBRUARY VOLUNTEERS David Allelo Sue Allelo Jennifer Ansell Ken Ansell Laura Kirton Kathy Louque Robin Louque Pam Maass Lisa Richardson Joyce Shepherd Chrissie Taylor Virginia Tipton GREAT MARDI GRAS PARTY! Rich Armstrong Mike Collier Patti Collier Reggie Cook Jennifer Dacy Lauren DeVore Laurie Donelson Rob Donelson Dan Francis Paige Gordon Rita Irwin Carol Kimberlin Ronnie McMahan Christi Nutt Donnie Owens Margie Owens Sharon Owens Woody Perry Tricia Peyrot Lisa Popp Perry Popp Edward Quintana Ronda Quintana Kendra Ray Gail Tobias WE LOVE OUR VOLUNTEERS! Welcome to our newest patron: FriTex Dairy! SATURDAY MAY 9 8 AM TO 2 PM A huge THANK YOU to the Donelsons for hosting a terrific party for the high school band students...to the Allelos for the awesome Louisiana Gumbo.to Robin Louque for his jammin Louisiana Jambalaya..and to the unbelievably dedicated volunteers who braved the frigid temperatures just to make sure our kids had a great time!! We have to say it one more time: BAND PARENTS ARE THE BEST! Booster Officers 2008-2009 President...Ronnie McMahan Vice President...Lisa Popp Assistant VP Concessions...Perry Popp Assistant VP Fundraising... Lisa Richardson Assistant VP Special Projects...Kathy Louque Assistant VP Communications...Carol Kimberlin Secretary... Virginia Tipton Treasurer... Laura Kirton Finley Rep...Tricia Peyrot Howard Rep... Edward Quintana Clift Rep...Joyce Shepherd Band Booster News WHS band students will be asked to work one 3-hour shift during this fundraiser. Prizes for the most pledges collected will be presented at the Band Banquet. Stay tuned for more info...and get those water hoses and towels ready! The Waxahachie Band Booster Organization provides support for all students in the Waxahachie Band Program. Every band parent and friend of the band is invited to join the Waxahachie Band Booster Organization. The Waxahachie Band Booster Organization meets on the first Monday of each month, 7:00 P.M. in the WHS band hall. BAND BANQUET MEETING THURSDAY, MARCH 5 6:30 pm WHS Band Hall

March 2009 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6:30 pm Band Banquet Meeting Solo & Ensemble Contest 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Happy St. 18 19 20 21 SPRING BREAK! Patrick s Day! Finley, Howard, WHS Pre-UIL Concert 7 pm 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 TCU Jazz Festival 29 30 31 Spring Trip! Finley & Howard MOVIE