Parent Information
| marching_band_dos.pdf |
What to expect…A PARENT INITIATION… ( and photos if you make it to the end)
Welcome to Cherokee Marching Band season! For those of you who are new to marching band - you are in for a treat! The Marching Band Season can seem overwhelming at times, but can also be one of the most rewarding things your child can participate in at Cherokee.
Marching Band consists of Performances and Competitions. Performances are at home and away football games (usually on Friday nights), parades, pep rallies, etc. Competitions are usually on Saturdays—some are local, some are not. Parents generally attend both the performances and competitions whenever possible.
At home football games, the band performs their annual show at half time and the band parents sit all the way to the right, near the band, up high in the stands. At away football games parents will sit in the competitors stands, and our band performs facing the home team's stands prior to the start of the game. At competitions, the Cherokee band boosters tend to wear Cherokee orange and sit together near the 50 yard line, up high in the stands. Buses always transport the kids, so parents either carpool for long distance competitions or drive themselves for the more local events. The competitions are what these kids are working hard for, so they want parental support at these events!
Each week of Marching Band Season, Mr. Lynch, via the Band Boosters, will email an itinerary for that Friday and/or Saturday that will include times for reporting to school, practicing, breaks, travel, and others. The Saturday itineraries will include Cherokee's rough performance time for that week's competition. Our band could be scheduled to perform at 10am, or at 10pm—each competition is different. Sometimes we won’t know our time slot until late the night before, but they are typically published by Wednesday of that week. However, the time slot we are given in advance is only an estimate—plan to arrive at least 45 minutes before our time slot to allow for parking, purchasing tickets, findings seats, etc.
Competitions have entrance fees—usually about $10. In addition, students will often bring money to buy a snack after their performance. For the big competitions, such as the Yamaha Cup in Giants Stadium or the State Championships, tickets might be sold in advance but all other ticket purchases are at the gate. Even if parents are present at a competition, band members must ride to and from competitions on the bus provided. When they arrive back at Cherokee after competitions they are to help unload instruments, have a post competition meeting, and hang up their uniforms prior to heading home. Some of these nights can get late!
We are a Group 4A school competing in the USBands organization. That is one of the larger sized bands – but not the largest—we will be at competitions with group 1’s and with group 6’s. There are 2 divisions – A and Open.
Scoring at competitions is very confusing! There is a 400 point maximum in various categories and then that gets converted to an overall score out of 100. This breakout is from the USBands website:
Music Performance - Individual 400 x .050 = 20.000
Music Performance - Ensemble 400 x .050 = 20.000
Visual Performance 400 x .075 = 30.000
Overall Effect Judge 1 400 x .0375 = 15.000
Overall Effect Judge 2 400 x .0375 = 15.000
Total possible Score 100.000
At competitions you will see things like air grams and candy grams sold. Air grams are typically about $1 and are simply messages that you've written to your student that the event announcer reads over the loud speaker as the band marches onto the field. Usually you will hear things like—“have a great competition John” or just silly inside jokes. You write the message, so feel free to get creative! Candy grams are just that—candy that you can buy, write a message that is then attached to the candy, and is delivered to your child after they compete. They are also typically about $1.
Now—the only thing you have left to do…at competitions the announcer will say… “Drum major, is the band ready?”…and as a Cherokee parent it is your obligation to yell back--- THEY’RE ALWAYS READY!!!!
What is Expected of Parents….
Now that you know what to expect, what is expected of you?
All Cherokee Band parents are expected to attend monthly meetings, participate in a minimum of 2 band events and 2 band fundraisers throughout the entire year. The requirements are consistent with every other booster organization in Cherokee.
WE CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU and YOU WILL GET MORE OUT OF THIS THAN YOU GIVE!! This is a terrific way to be involved in your child’s life as they become young adults!
Welcome to Cherokee Marching Band season! For those of you who are new to marching band - you are in for a treat! The Marching Band Season can seem overwhelming at times, but can also be one of the most rewarding things your child can participate in at Cherokee.
Marching Band consists of Performances and Competitions. Performances are at home and away football games (usually on Friday nights), parades, pep rallies, etc. Competitions are usually on Saturdays—some are local, some are not. Parents generally attend both the performances and competitions whenever possible.
At home football games, the band performs their annual show at half time and the band parents sit all the way to the right, near the band, up high in the stands. At away football games parents will sit in the competitors stands, and our band performs facing the home team's stands prior to the start of the game. At competitions, the Cherokee band boosters tend to wear Cherokee orange and sit together near the 50 yard line, up high in the stands. Buses always transport the kids, so parents either carpool for long distance competitions or drive themselves for the more local events. The competitions are what these kids are working hard for, so they want parental support at these events!
Each week of Marching Band Season, Mr. Lynch, via the Band Boosters, will email an itinerary for that Friday and/or Saturday that will include times for reporting to school, practicing, breaks, travel, and others. The Saturday itineraries will include Cherokee's rough performance time for that week's competition. Our band could be scheduled to perform at 10am, or at 10pm—each competition is different. Sometimes we won’t know our time slot until late the night before, but they are typically published by Wednesday of that week. However, the time slot we are given in advance is only an estimate—plan to arrive at least 45 minutes before our time slot to allow for parking, purchasing tickets, findings seats, etc.
Competitions have entrance fees—usually about $10. In addition, students will often bring money to buy a snack after their performance. For the big competitions, such as the Yamaha Cup in Giants Stadium or the State Championships, tickets might be sold in advance but all other ticket purchases are at the gate. Even if parents are present at a competition, band members must ride to and from competitions on the bus provided. When they arrive back at Cherokee after competitions they are to help unload instruments, have a post competition meeting, and hang up their uniforms prior to heading home. Some of these nights can get late!
We are a Group 4A school competing in the USBands organization. That is one of the larger sized bands – but not the largest—we will be at competitions with group 1’s and with group 6’s. There are 2 divisions – A and Open.
Scoring at competitions is very confusing! There is a 400 point maximum in various categories and then that gets converted to an overall score out of 100. This breakout is from the USBands website:
Music Performance - Individual 400 x .050 = 20.000
Music Performance - Ensemble 400 x .050 = 20.000
Visual Performance 400 x .075 = 30.000
Overall Effect Judge 1 400 x .0375 = 15.000
Overall Effect Judge 2 400 x .0375 = 15.000
Total possible Score 100.000
At competitions you will see things like air grams and candy grams sold. Air grams are typically about $1 and are simply messages that you've written to your student that the event announcer reads over the loud speaker as the band marches onto the field. Usually you will hear things like—“have a great competition John” or just silly inside jokes. You write the message, so feel free to get creative! Candy grams are just that—candy that you can buy, write a message that is then attached to the candy, and is delivered to your child after they compete. They are also typically about $1.
Now—the only thing you have left to do…at competitions the announcer will say… “Drum major, is the band ready?”…and as a Cherokee parent it is your obligation to yell back--- THEY’RE ALWAYS READY!!!!
What is Expected of Parents….
Now that you know what to expect, what is expected of you?
All Cherokee Band parents are expected to attend monthly meetings, participate in a minimum of 2 band events and 2 band fundraisers throughout the entire year. The requirements are consistent with every other booster organization in Cherokee.
WE CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU and YOU WILL GET MORE OUT OF THIS THAN YOU GIVE!! This is a terrific way to be involved in your child’s life as they become young adults!
