From the Director's Desk

A Note from Our Director of Bands, Dan McNally (8/11/09)

 

As the summer comes to an end and another school year begins, I hope this finds everyone well.   There are several important topics I would like to bring to your attention:

 

We had a very successful camp and we are excited for the competition season to begin.  I would like to thank everyone who helped in any way to pull off a great week of camp!!

 

We do have several students that have camp fees ($150.00) still out. Please remember if you are on fee waiver, camp fees are notcovered; however, the fall fee is waived.  The fall fee of $200.00 is due on September 1st. 

To have a nationally recognized program and consistently be competitive at State and regional competitions, it requires money.  Within the last year, I have had most of the universities in Tennessee call to ask about our program, and specific students in it.  We have placed at national competitions. We have had several calls to perform with and for universities such as Vanderbilt. We have received the highest rating for concert band that the state offers.  These are just a few of the many accolades we have received in two years.  One of the main reasons for our success:  I have been able to hire some of the best staff available for our students, but it is costly and requires everyone to help in some way. 

 

Please make plans to attend our booster meetings on September 7th at 7 pm.   We will be discussing many important items with regards to our band. If you have any comments or suggestions, please attend and have a voice. 

 

Other notes of interest:

• The students have been given a task of selling one sign sponsorship for the concession stand.  Each ad is $100.00, and is a tax deduction for companies and individuals.  We did not ask for t-shirt sponsors this year--we wanted the students' names on the back of the shirt, and we feel that the concession stand gives the sponsors more exposure.

• When school begins, the students will also be given 5 sonic cards to sell at $5.00 each.  Students who have not sold their cards by Sept. 12 will have the opportunity to sell them at  three Sonic locations. (Each card has many buy-one-get-one-free coupons and free items and should be a breeze to sell.)

Please take note of the updated schedule as we have made several schedule changes to the calendar:

• The Tuesday night rehearsal has been changed to 3:30-6:00, the same as Thursdays.
• We have added one rehearsal, October 19th (the Monday after fall break), but we are not rehearsing during fall break.
• The home football game on October 2nd, has been changed to away, and we will not attend
• Vanderbilt University has asked our drumline (battery) to play at a function on the night of September 25th. It will be a short performance, and we are being paid.  The University contacted us for this opportunity after hearing of our successes last year.

Thank you for your time, and what you do to help the Harpeth Band

~Dan McNally