Welcome to the YHS Bands!

A character education program within itself, the YHS Band experience is centered around three key components: musicianship, citizenship, and friendship. Through these, and the magic of music making, we strive to build community and musical excellence!

MUSICIANSHIP

We take great pride in our tradition of musical excellence and service! Daily classes include Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and weekly pull-out lessons. Jazz Band rehearses one evening a week, with a weekly sectional. Pep Band fires up the crowd at Varsity Football games, and Chamber ensembles rehearse after school. Major ensembles compete in regional festivals, and students shine at the NYSSMA Solo Festival. Highlights include our Winter and Spring Concerts; the Swing Dance Concert (students explore Jazz, improvisation, musical icons, and the pop culture of the Swing Era, learn to dance, and present a full community Swing Dance!); “Bandapalooza” (our district-wide band festival); and musical enrichment with local clinicians.

CITIZENSHIP

A pillar of the YHS Band program is character education; finding ways to make our community better through musical outreach, peer-leadership, and expressing gratitude are all lessons learned in the YHS Band Room. Highlights include: musically honoring our Veterans and First Responders, visiting with local nursing homes and children with special needs, hosting our community at our Swing Dance Concert, hosting 500+ students at our annual district-wide band festival, supporting our music programs through community fundraisers, using part of our fundraising to sponsor a needy child at holiday time, fostering a strong peer-tutoring program and a very active student executive board.

FRIENDSHIP

We strive to create a welcoming and supportive community for all students! Through team-building activities, social events, and the shared joy of making music together, we cultivate a true sense of Family within the Band and across our Music Department. Students form friendships, build leadership skills, and learn teamwork, dedication, and school spirit. Highlights include annual apple picking and ice skating outings, pep rallies, and celebrations. We also strengthen connections through mentoring and shared traditions that keep our community close-knit. Above all, we celebrate the countless “bandtastic” memories that make our program a place where everyone belongs and feels proud to share their talents!

YHS BAND UPDATE #7

Oct 18, 2026

Hello YHS Band Parents and Students,

It was a pleasure to see so many of you at this weekend’s Tag Sale – thank you so much for your support! Read on for this week’s Band update.

TAG SALE THANKS!

Thank you all so much for your help making this weekend’s 19th annual Tag Sale such a success! We so appreciate the hard work and time that goes into creating these events.  Part fundraiser, part social event, part alumni reunion, and 100% community building magic (!), our annual Tag Sale is always fun to be a part of! It was our best sale to date, earning over $6,000 in profit (last year’s sale earned $4,700)! WOW.  Thank you, sincerely to all who donated items, refreshments, or your valuable time!!

Special thanks to Ms. Rindone, Ms. Nocera, Mrs. Griffiths, Mrs. Jacobs, Ms. McGill, Mrs. Cabral, Mrs. Cassetta, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Conboy, Mrs. Cribari, Mrs. Kim, Mrs. Tobey. Mr. and Mrs. Giardina, Mrs. Lam, Mrs. Gagliano and Mr. Fallon for taking care of so many details behind the scenes to ensure that both days ran smoothly, to Mrs. Rindone for creating and managing our SUG, to Mrs. Jacobs and Mrs. Collins for their advertising expertise, to Mrs. Griffiths, Ms. McGill, and Mrs. Cabral for organizing our parent volunteers, to Mrs. Cassetta, for managing our bake sale, and to Mr. Newberger for his haggling help as our alumni-parent special guest volunteer! Additional special thanks to the First Nighters for hosting our tap-to-pay option!

STUDENTS SELECTED FOR AREA ALL-STATE

Congratulations to our YHS Band students who represented Yorktown as members of Area All State this week! 

Bravo to Amy Cross and Zack Rindone (clarinet), Miles Fallon (alto sax), Tyler Guarini (tenor sax), Damien Ruiz (bari sax), Tali Lyons (trumpet), Vincent Cassetta (trombone), and Ethan Gutierrez (tuba)! These students participated in honor ensembles made up of the best student musicians in Westchester.  Rehearsals began this past Wednesday, with a concert performance at New Rochelle HS on Saturday 10/24.

In all, 18 students from YHS Band, Choir, and Orchestra represented Yorktown!

EVENTS THIS WEEK:

OCTOBER LESSON SCHEDULE

See attached. Wind Ensemble students are group 1, Concert Band students are group 2.

PERIOD “0” JAZZ JAM!

Please join me before school (from 7:10…or whenever you get off the bus… until the first bell) to practice improvising. Help yourself develop your skills and a plan for success!

GUIDED PRACTICE / JAZZ BAND SECTIONALS

Offered weekly and hosted by our YHS Band elders (thank you!). Students who lead or attend a session receive 1 point of extra credit. Sessions are held period 9, unless noted otherwise. I am also always available for help by appointment.

Monday 10/19Clarinet and Bass Clarinet, JB Trombone
Tuesday 10/20Percussion, Horn
Wednesday 10/21JB Sax
Thursday 10/22Trumpet
Friday 10/23JB Low Brass, Trumpet

JAZZ BAND REHEARSAL #5 – Thurs. 10/22

Thanks for welcoming Mark McIntyre to our rehearsal! What a treat to work with him and build on our concepts of space, accents, and swing. Extra special that he shared his music with us, too! Your assignment this week is to finish learning both tunes. Listen to the recordings, use A-ccompany, and attend your sectionals.

Please arrive by 6:50 so we can be warmed up and tuned to start promptly at 7:00. Thanks!

CITRUS SALE ~ Thurs. 10/1 – Wed. 11/13

Please support our 23rd annual Citrus Sale! Ordering info was reviewed in class, is attached, and is available on Dashboard and Google Classroom. 

Each year, our Band, Choir, and Orchestra ensembles all participate in regional music festivals.  The monies raised from our Citrus Sale help students defray the cost of their personal festival participation. In 2019, our best sale ever, our music students SOLD 1,498 boxes and earned a PROFIT of $21,820.

PLEASE SAVE THESE CITRUS DATES!

1.     Wednesday, November 13th is the deadline for all orders.

2.     Friday, December 11th is FRUIT DELIVERY DAY

Our fruit orders will be delivered to YHS by truck.  Students are responsible for picking up their entire order and then delivering to their customers. Pick-up hours are 2:30 – 6:30pm.  Parent and student volunteers will be needed all day (7am-7pm) to help unload and sort our orders. Please save the date!  

Direct Link: https://floridafruitstore.com/YorktownHSBand

UPCOMING EVENTS:

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Ms. Ryan directs our YHS Symphony Orchestra, which meets every Friday from 2:20-3:15. Interested band students, please speak to Ms. Kluga for audition details.

ATTACHED FLYERS

For your review

APPLYING TO MUSIC SCHOOLS PRESENTATION – 11/8/26

Is your student interested in studying music in college? This informative online presentation is being hosted by The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, and Ithaca College School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. The link to register is here.

Please also see the attached flyer (which I offered at Back to School Night), with similar information.

Addendum:

PEP BAND THIS FRIDAY 10/23

Our final regular season home game performance is this Friday 10/23 vs. Harrison! Report at 5:30pm in the Band Room.  Bring your instrument and charged cell phone. Wear your YHS Band polo. Music and Snacks will be provided. The football game will run from 6:30-9:00pm. Join us! Band Officers are hosting a diner outing afterwards!

Ms. Kluga

Our Next Event:

YHS MUSIC: CITRUS SALE 2026

CITRUS SALE ~ Thurs. 10/1 – Wed. 11/13 Please support our 23rd annual Citrus Sale! Ordering info was reviewed in class, is attached, and is...

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YHS Band Lesson Schedule - OCTOBER 2026