Friday, March 20, 2009

Post Concert Wrap

Last night the junior high bands shared the stage with the junior high choirs at our March Concert. All of the groups did an outstanding job and played to an overflow audience where the custodians even had to set up folding chairs! I can't comment too much on the concert as students will need to complete a post-concert evaluation next week and I don't want my opinions to influence theirs. For now, I will say that I think everything went really well and I hope they felt good about our efforts. I hope their parents, grandparents, and siblings enjoyed it as well! The word is concert.

Friday, March 13, 2009

BAND CONCERT

The junior high bands will share the stage with the junior high choirs on Thursday, March 19th at 7:30 p.m. in the East Auditorium. Students will be presenting a wide variety of musical styles throughout the concert.

The band students have been working hard to put the final touches on their pieces and it should be a great concert! We hope to see you there. The word is concert.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Great Performances

It has been a busy few weeks. On Saturday, February 21st students from Mankato East Jr. High participated in the 2nd annual South Central Minnesota Band Directors Association regional honor band festival held at Mankato West High School. As the honor band chairperson for the region it was a super busy time for me, but I was able to watch our students combine with the other students and do focused rehearsals and present an outstanding concert! Students from East who participated were Nhi Nguyen, flute; Katie Karkoska, oboe; Ryan Kotthoff, trumpet; Sam Iverson, trombone; and Michael Zellar, tuba. Great job!

This past Monday our department hosted the region Large Group Band Contest. Bands from East, West, Waseca and New Ulm performed on stage and then received a clinic on their performance in the band room. It was great to see a few junior high students there listening. Congratulations to the East Cougar and Concert Bands on their outstanding performances! The word this time is outstanding.