Brooks Bands, Week of Dec. 19th-23rd

Congratulations to all of our Tuba & Euphonium players for participating in our annual Tuba Christmas events in downtown Oak Park and at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago. This year's Oak Park event included over 30 students from Beye, Brooks, Julian, OPRF and Glenbard South High Schools, along with parents, grandparents and siblings. Our students that continued to the Chicago event were a part of over 300 Tuba and Euphonium players from all across the U.S.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Saturday, Feb. 25th: BRAVO Annual Pasta Night and Music Showcase, 4-9 p.m., GBMS Auditorium and Commons (specific performance times TBA). Cadet &

Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble and select small ensembles

from Wind Ensemble. (Jazz Lab Band may perform as well, confirmation to come!)

*This event is the required performance event for 2nd trimester for all academic bands. Please contact Mr. Barnard in writing (email preferred) no later than two weeks before this event if there is an important family conflict.

ST. LOUIS MUSIC TOUR (7TH/8TH Graders)
All students that plan on participating on the 7th/8th Grade Music Tour to St. Louis, MO should have their "Letter of Intent" form along with $100 nonrefundable deposit turned into the BRAVO office or Mr. Barnard. If there is anyone that does plan on attending the trip and has not taken care of this must contact Mr. Barnard at jbarnard@op97 to guarantee a spot for the tour.

Information regarding the BRAVO scholarship has already gone out to students. Deadline for the BRAVO scholarship applications is January 23rd. Also please check out the OPRF Youth Township Financial Assistance program to see if your family qualifies for this program. Complete applications for the OPRF Township need to be turned into the BRAVO office as soon as possible. Funds for both financial assistance programs are very limited and it is important to have applications turned in on a timely manner.

Raffle Ticket Fundraiser:
We are still looking for donations for prizes to help our Raffle Ticket Fundraiser in January. If anyone would like to donate gift certificates or would like to help contribute to larger prizes can contact Mr. Barnard at jbarnard@op97.org.

HOMEWORK:

Practice Record Journals

Week 4 Due Monday, 12/19

All students should aim for a minimum of 150 minutes per week for an A on their practice records. Please make sure that the practice journal is also signed on the inside of the booklet as well as the front cover.

Students need to have the Practice Record (outside cover) Practice Journal and Weekly Assignments and Goals filled out for full credit. Parents need to sign two signatures, one on the outside cover and one in the Weekly Assignments and Goals is required for credit.

Practice records that are not turned in on time do receive a 10 point penalty each day it is late and will not receive credit if it is not turned in within the week. Make sure that both the cover as well as the assignments and goals page are signed to receive credit.

Week 5 Practice Journals along with the Winter Break Practice Journal (Weeks 6 & 7) combined, are due on Monday, January 9th. Practice requirements for for winter break will be a total of 150 minutes for both weeks 6 & 7. This will allow for student that may be out of town a portion of the winter break to complete their practice requirements. If any student is going to be out of town for the majority or whole winter break, please notate the days you are out of town on the practice record (outside cover) of your practice journal and students will be excused for this assignment. Parents will still need to sign the record to verify. As for the assignment & goals page, students will only need to fill out the Week 5 page for parents to sign. However, students still need to fill out the practice journal portion for each week of practicing (weeks 5, 6 & 7). The easiest way to do this is to make sure for each day they record their practice minutes on the outside cover they need to write down what they practice inside the journal. We will be going over this in class early this week to help students know what is expected.

Music Theory: All students need to have with them their Alfred's Music Theory Book in class so Mr. Barnard can check their work from this past week's assignments. All students should have the following completed in the workbook.

6th Graders: Unit 3 Ear training & Review, Lessons 14 & 15

7th/8th Graders: Unit 11 Ear training & Review, Activity Worksheets 11-1, 11-2, 11-3, 11-4.

All activity worksheets from last Thursday and Friday (12/15 & 12/16) classes should be turned in. There will be no music theory assignments or lessons this week leading up to the winter break.

JAZZ PROGRAM

Jazz Ensemble (7th/8th Graders):

Tuesday 8:00 a.m. rehearsal

NO REHEARSAL THIS THURSDAY

Regular Tuesday and Thursday rehearsals will start back up on Tuesday, January 10th.

Jazz Lab Band:

NO REHEARSAL THIS FRIDAY, we will start back up on Friday, January 13th

All jazz students, 6th-8th grade, will need to have the Essential Elements for Jazz Ensemble book which will be used all three years of their jazz experience at brooks.

If students or families have any questions or concerns please contact Mr. Barnard at jbarnard@op97.org.