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What: Valentine’s Swing Dance Concert

When: Saturday 2/9

Time: Dance Lesson 7-8pm / Music and Dancing 8-10:30pm

Where: YHS Gym

Cost: $10 for adults / $5 for students and seniors.  Tickets sold at the door.  YHS Band students are free.

WHEN STUDENTS SHOULD ARRIVE:

1.     Jazz Band – our sound check is at 5:45. Be early so you can be ready to play at 5:45.

2.     Students interested in participating in the dance lesson – please arrive at 6:30pm.

3.     Students NOT interested in participating in the dance lesson– please arrive no later than 7:30pm.

Upon arrival ALL STUDENTS should place their instruments/cases/coats/etc. in their designated warm up rooms. A reminder to respect these spaces – do not touch items that are not yours, and clean up after yourself.

WIND ENSEMBLE WU ROOM: Faculty Lunch Room

CONCERT BAND WU ROOM: Room 138

After students put their personal items in the warm up room, THEY SHOULD REPORT TO THE TICKET TABLE AND HAVE THEIR HAND STAMPED FOR FREE ENTRANCE INTO THE DANCE.

SWING ERA ATTIRE ENCOURAGED (For both adults and students!)

Get into the “swing” of things and have fun dressing up in 1940’s garb!

SWING CONCERT DRESS FOR STUDENTS

In lieu of the usual concert black, Swing Era attire is encouraged!  Here are some ideas. Photos were reviewed in class and are attached for your reference.

Boys 

Usual Concert Attire: Black pants, long sleeved button-down black shirt, black shoes, black socks

AND/OR Swing Additions: fedora hats, suspenders, solid color or pin striped shirts, colorful ties, spats, jackets.

Girls

Usual Concert Attire: Black top (appropriate neck-line, no spaghetti straps or sleeveless tops), black skirt or dress (appropriately below the knee), or black pants.

AND/OR Swing Additions: Girls are welcome to wear any color 1940’s style dress as long as it has an appropriate neckline, sleeves, and falls below the knee.  Other ideas are: swing-y skirts, polka dots, pin-curls, a flower in their hair, seamed stockings, saddle shoes, 1940’s style hat and gloves. 

STUDENT HELP IS NEEDED:

To help craft decorations, and help with tech-crew set up, on Friday 2/8 from 1:30-3pm

To help decorate the gym on Saturday 2/9 from 8:00am – 2:00pm.  PLEASE HELP!

To CLEAN UP from 10:30-12:00am.  PLEASE HELP!

PARENT HELP IS NEEDED:

The link for the sign-up form can be found here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0945adad2fa7fe3-yhsband3

Questions?  Please contact (Band Aid Core Helper) Margaret Serafin ([email protected]) or myself.

In case they haven’t shared, we have all been learning how to swing dance in class one day each week for the past 5 weeks.  ALL YHS band students are now equipped with about 10 stunning swing dance moves which I hope they will use at our event!  (All they have to do now is get up the courage to ask someone to dance :). This week, we are looking forward to welcoming and working with the professional dance instructors on Thursday during class!

A few video clips of your students dancing are attached J.

Everyone knows it takes a lot of guts to ask someone to dance!  (And, it doesn’t matter who does the asking…lady or gentleman).  The correct answer when asked to dance is Yes.  As we’ve been learning in class, you should introduce yourself to your partner at the beginning of your dance and thank them at the end of your dance.

Our next concert performance is Saturday 2/9/19 at 7:00, in the YHS GYM.  This is our 11^th annual Swing Dance and Concert.  All YHS Band students are required to attend.  It is both a concert, and a dance, and everyone is invited! This is a well-attended and fun evening for our entire Yorktown community (last year we had 300 audience members ages 2 – 92!).

What: Valentine’s Swing Dance Concert

When: Saturday 2/9

Time: Dance Lesson 7-8pm / Music and Dancing 8-10:30pm

Where: YHS Gym

Cost: $10 for adults / $5 for students and seniors.  Tickets sold at the door.  YHS Band students are free.

FLYER ATTACHED!

A flyer advertising our Swing Dance is attached.  Please feel free to post at your place of work, place of worship, or anywhere you think people would be interested. 

PARENT HELP NEEDED

As usual, many parent volunteers will be needed to make this evening a success.  Please look for an e-mail from parent organizer Margaret Serafin with ways you can sign up to help.  

As part of our Swing Dance, we hold a really amazing raffle.  Each year we ask families and local businesses for prize donations, which are then organized into themed baskets.  Are you interested in helping with the raffle?  Here is how:

1.     Each year we have a “grand prize.” For the past bunch of years, a local family very generously donated 4 Knicks tickets – but now that family has graduated and moved on.  Is there anyone in our current YHS Band Family that has a connection that could be used? Some ideas (grand prize, and otherwise) from our raffle committee are:

a.      Tickets to concerts or sporting events

b.     A weekend away at a timeshare

c.      Personal chef for an evening dinner party

d.     College essay help / tutoring help

e.      Any other business offering or idea

2.     If you do have a business contact that would be willing to support our event, a letter is attached (on official YHS Band letterhead) outlining the donation process.

3.     The raffle committee is also looking for the following basket wrapping supplies:

a.      Shrink wrap bags (L/XL, can be found at AC Moore, Michael’s, Dollar Store at JV Mall

b.     Bows

c.      Curling ribbons

d.     Crinkle cut paper shred (ex. “Deco Shred”, Wrap N Style”)

e.      Metallic foil shred filler

Any of the above items would be greatly welcomed and very helpful! Please send all items into school with your student by Friday 1/25. THANK YOU!

Get into the “swing” of things and have fun dressing up in 1940’s garb! For reference, some photos from last year are attached.

We have many homemade decorations planned for our event and will need lots of help to create them!  All students are invited:

1.     To help decorate the gym on Saturday 2/9 from 9:00am – 4:00pm. 

2.     To CLEAN UP from 10:30-11:30pm. 

Sign-up sheets for all above dates and times are available in the band room.  As always, students will receive extra credit for their extra efforts!  Thank you in advance for donating your time to make our event a success for our learning community, and our greater Yorktown Heights community!

Please be aware that the Swing Dance Snow Date is Saturday 2/16. 

On Friday, March 1st, the YCSD Band Program will hold its 6^th Annual Town-Wide Band Concert (a.k.a. BANDAPALOOZA!) in the YHS Gym.  All band students grades 5-12 will participate.  This is a wonderful experience for all of our students – fostering positive relationships between all levels, and allowing our youngest band students and parents to see the full progression of our band program. 

Parent volunteers needed!

If you are interested in helping us achieve this intensely logistical feat, we would love your help!  Please e-mail me.

Our unit on the music of the Swing Era is a quick 6 weeks. Professional recordings of the weekly lesson homework assignments are posted on the YHS Band Dashboard to guide at home practice.  Extra help sessions are available weekly after school.  Students should see me for an appointment. My goal is for all students to experience success – please let me know how I can help.

The recordings of our Winter Concert are now available for download or live stream at www.yhsbands.com. Click the “Recordings” link at the top of the page, and then click “Winter Concert 2018.”

Many thanks to student webmaster Ryan Serafin (class of 2019) for his work posting these audio files. We hope you and your family enjoy listening! To the band students – you should be so proud of your concert performance!

Many, many thanks to our army of parent and student volunteers who helped make our citrus delivery day run so smoothly! Whether you donated snacks, or your valuable time, it takes our collective herculean effort to organize and distribute all 1,500+ boxes. Thank you all so much!

Extra special thanks to the band dads who donated their time and labor unloading the truck, and especially Mrs. Theresa Ryan-Onatzevitch and Mrs. Adriana Beaudreault for masterfully organizing the parent volunteers and food donations.  We had both an abundance of help and food! And more thanks to Mrs. Ryan-O, Mrs. Beaudreault, and to Mrs. Laura Lee Milhaven, for donating their entire day to ensure that our logistics ran smoothly!

There are still boxes available in every size and variety. Please contact me if you would like to purchase. Boxes that are not sold by Friday afternoon will be given to charity.

Last Sunday 20 band students had fun caroling around Yorktown center businesses. Many thanks to these students for sharing their music with our community, and spreading holiday cheer for all to hear!