We are excited to perform at the varsity football game on Friday November 13!

Click here to view the Friday (same as last Thursday) Game Day schedule for all sections that has more information about check-in, times, and more. Students and parents – please read through all of this before tomorrow as it contains a lot of useful information!

For Students participating online for the Friday Game – please login by 6 pm to rehearse/play. Families at home could watch this link to see the band at the game too! (see email or Schoology for Zoom link)

Last – here’s the info on how to order tickets:

• GET TICKETS
• In the promo code box, input the student’s ID number
• Proceed to purchase. **Band members are limited to 2 tickets**

Here is our Hybrid Learning Recording Project that we did this last week.  Special thanks to Lorcan Kelleher for his amazing vocals and to Tristan Van Dam for his amazing guitar solo.  Hope you have a safe Halloween!

Check out the great work our percussion and guitar classes have done this semester!

Check out this awesome Marching Band feature put together by Warren Cole at the Tempe Union High School District office. This video features marching bands around the district and how they have been working hard in these unusual times. It features many of our CdS marching band students and staff!

We have a new Boosterwear site! We are now using Sports Station for our boosterwear items. They are a locally owned company based in Gilbert. You can have your items shipped to your house or pick them up directly from Sports Station.

If there are items you’d like to see added to our store please let us know by emailing us at cdsbandboosters@gmail.com.

https://chsband20.itemorder.com/sale

We are so proud of our CdS students that just wrapped up their first week of school in this online format.  As teachers, it has been so great to see the students and start making music together again in the Concert Band and Percussion classes. We are excited to find new ways to connect with our students, even if we aren’t in the same location. 

We also wanted to inform everyone of our weekly Marching Band schedule, that we will start next week.  Instructors will be in touch with their groups on Zoom logins so that students can participate after school to continue to earn course/PE credit for marching band (we will also post links/times on our Schoology page for Marching Band). We will be meeting in an “after school” format, until it is safe to be back on campus. If, and when, we are back on campus – we will return to a “zero hour” before-school format.  
Our goal is to keep Marching Band an active, vibrant part of our school community and keep kids engaged in fun and meaningful activities. Our staff has been working “overtime” to make this happen and they are excited to get to work!

Marching Band 2020 Typical Weekly schedule

(if this changes, we will let everyone know at least a week in advance): 

MONDAY – 

• Band Council Meeting (3 pm – 3:40 pm)

TUESDAY – 

• Pit (2:30 pm – 4:30 pm)
• Drumline (3:30 pm – 5:30 pm)
• Brass/Woodwinds Visual Rehearsal (3 pm – 4 pm)
• Color Guard (4 pm – 5 pm)

WEDNESDAY –

• Brass Music (3 pm – 4 pm)
• Woodwinds Music (3 pm – 4 pm)

THURSDAY – 

• Sectional Time with Student Leaders and their sections (3 pm – 3:40 pm)

FRIDAY – 

• Brass/Woodwinds Ensemble Rehearsal (3 pm – 4 pm)

I hope everyone is doing well! Our staff has been working hard creating videos, doing zoom rehearsals, and checking in with students on various online platforms. I’m so proud of the work they have done to keep our students going with preparations for the marching band season, as well as the work the students have been doing to stay active.  It’s an unusual summer, but I applaud everyone for being flexible and adapting to the challenges in front of us. We have a few updates (please read all):

• Due to State executive order, in-person activities are halted for the time being. We will NOT be able to hold an “in-person” Band Camp as scheduled (Week of July 20 or July 27). However, we will continue to hold virtual rehearsal options. Please stay tuned for more details, as rehearsal times might be adjusted based on the availability of our instructors.
• Due to this change, we are delaying the first payment of Marching Band to August 17 (district course fees will still proceed as normal)
• Our next Band Booster meeting has been rescheduled to Thursday July 23 at 7 pm. 
• “In-person” school will be ONLINE starting August 3, and staying online until AT LEAST August 16. The plan is to resume in-person school on August 17, but the state government may extend the delay of in-person school and we may stay online for a while. My best guess is that students will follow their school schedules at home starting August 3 (i.e. – first hour at 7:25am, etc – get ready to wake up early again!). 
• Dr. Mendivil and TUHSD will be doing a virtual forum next Tuesday, July 14 at 6 pm to answer questions from parents, teachers, and students. Please see your email or tempeunion.org for more information. 
• The question has been asked if Tempe Union Online students will allowed to participate in extracurriculars such as marching band. We don’t have the answers yet but we are also asking these questions of our supervisors and will keep families in the loop.
• The district band directors are meeting with district/school admin next week to get a better picture of the weeks ahead. Any new details will be shared as soon as possible. 
• Any brass and woodwind players that are having trouble submitting assignments on SmartMusic on a computer or tablet are encouraged to check out a free district-issued laptop when they become available. We will be using this application more during the school year (for actual grades) and everyone needs to have a device that supports it.

Please stay safe, limit your contact with others when possible, wear a mask outside of your home, stay home if you’re sick, and keep washing your hands! In Arizona, there have been 108,614 confirmed cases as of today, and 1,963 deaths. Arizona is now the #1 hotspot in the world in this global pandemic. Let’s all do our part to lower the COVID-19 case numbers NOW so we can return safely to school sooner. Our State Superintendent has also released a statement regarding schools safely reopening here: https://www.azed.gov/communications/2020/07/07/superintendent-hoffmans-response-to-the-white-house-summit-on-safely-reopening-americas-schools/