May Update

Good afternoon, Highwood Band Families!

As we head into the final stretch of the year, we wanted to give an update on all of the recent happenings in the program!

ABA Festival of Bands We had a very busy, tiring, but extremely successful day in Red Deer at the Provincial Festival of Bands. All 81 students from the Highwood Band Program in grades 9-12 performed and participated in adjudicated workshops at Red Deer Polytechnic with esteemed clinicians from around Canada.

Our combined Grade 9-12 Concert Band, formed specifically for this appearance, competed in the Grade 4 category which is typically reserved for bands in Grades 11 & 12, and received a Gold Award for their  “Superior Performance”, the highest grade a band can receive at the festival. While this is a momentous achievement in and of itself, it is also notable that our Grade 9 musicians might be the only Grade 9 students in western Canada performing at a Grade 4 level. To receive the highest possible grade in this category with Grade 9 musicians is truly remarkable, and a testament to the level of enthusiasm and grit this group has shown all year.

This achievement would not be possible without the continued support of band at Highwood by our school-based administration, our parent community, and our division as a whole! It also goes without say, that without the excellent instruction and support for band in our feeder schools at Senator Riley School, Cayley School, and Blackie School, our program’s success would not be possible.

SRMS Year End Concert (Tuesday, June 2nd) Our Symphonic Band students will be making their annual guest appearance at the SRMS year end concert to play alongside with future Highwood musicians and perform a few pop selections of their own! The concert will begin at 7:00 PM so students will need to arrive no later than 6:30 PM with their instrument and music. Dress is casual! This will be the final performance for Symphonic this year!

Jazz at The Venue (Saturday, June 6th)

Our Grade 9 Jazz Band and HJO will be performing their year end concert at the Venue on Saturday, June 6th. The concert will begin at 2:00 PM. Dress is casual, but please plan for the weather! We will require some parent volunteers with trucks to drive some equipment from Highwood over to The Venue, starting at about 12:45 PM. Any students needing to grab gear from Highwood should show up at that time. Everyone else should plan to be at The Venue for about 1:30 PM.

Fall Band Camp Save the Date

We are tentatively planning to return to Band Camp in the Fall at SABC. The dates are likely to be September 21st to 23rd. Please mark this in your calendars!

Instrument and Uniform Return All FSD38 instruments (school/home practice instruments) need to be returned by Monday, June 1st so that we can begin the extensive cleaning process. We will clean jazz band instruments after the performance on June 6th.

All materials including music folders, resource packages, method books, etc. also need to be returned by June 1st.

Grade 9 Uniforms (Black Shirt) should be washed and returned by June 1st as well.

Symphonic Uniforms of graduating/non returning musicians need to also be returned the week of June 1st. Please note that the tuxedos need to be dry-cleaned with a receipt attached.

Edsembli

Please ensure to be checking in on your child's Edsembli to make sure no NHI or INC grades still exist. After next week, those grades will become permanent. A drop box has been set up on Google Classroom for students to hand in outstanding assignments.

Thank you for your continued support of the Highwood Band Program. It has been a wonderful year getting to work with all of these fine young musicians and witnessing their growth of the last 10 months. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns!

-Dylan Wiest