Notes from the Podium- October 27th

The Benton Cardinal Bands are very blessed with a great, GREAT booster group. I, personally, am very humbled by the amount of time and care that our parents show to this band. I know that the students really appreciate everything that you do! I cannot put into words how grateful I am to have the amount of help from you. A special thank you to Warren and Nancy Ingram for spear-heading our outstanding parent organization. I know for a fact that you have established a group that is the envy of many of the band programs around the area.

All that to highlight the fact that the band boosters know how to throw a party. It was nice to have people in the bandroom on Saturday to unwind. I was impressed by all the creative costumes! It's always great to get the chance to see the students in costumes (other than their beautiful marching band uniforms...).

We are currently working on some pretty tough pieces with the concert band. If you haven't already, please encourage your student to bring their horn home to work on sections of our music.... Chair auditions will be coming up soon. There will be a list posted in the bandroom and on the blog.

Speaking on working to get better..... Did you know that there are low cost private lessons available for your student? We are trying to make sure that a majority of students in our band are involved in some sort of private or group lesson. Nothing will make this band better than everyone striving to make themselves better. We will always be as good as the bottom chairs of our group! I would love to see over 75% of the band in some form of lessons outside of the school day.... The best leadership is by example- I'm hoping more of the students take on that mantle.

All-District Auditions are coming up this Saturday at Central High School. This is not a required event for all musicians. We currently have 2 students playing the concert band audition and another 5 auditioning for the jazz band. I am excited for you! Just taking the time to work on the music and place yourself in the running to be selected is an accomplishment in itself. No one from Benton has played an audition for the All-District jazz band in at least 8 years!

NEW YORK TRIP ALERT!!
Please make sure that you are current with your New York Trip payments. We are hoping to have every student covered up to $500 by the end of November. Be on the look-out for raffle tickets to sell!!!