(last update 8/29/10)

FREEDOM MIDDLE SCHOOL BAND CURRENT ANNOUNCEMENTS :

Seventh and Eighth grade band students will be playing at the FMS home football game on Thursday, September 9 and September 30, at Fred Lane Stadium at Freedom Intermediate School. The FMS band room will be open from 5:15 - 5:45 for students who need to pick up their instrument. All students should be in the home stands at the stadium at 6:00 p.m. The games last approximately one and one-half hours - parents should be in place at FIS to pick up their child as soon as the game is over.

Students should wear their white band logo polo (or a plain white polo if they have not ordered this yet - see the Activities and Information page within website for ordering info.) Band students do not pay admission - the band shirt and instrument in hand will admit them. Students may bring money for concessions during the third quarter. All students should have their own flip-folio for pep band music. These are available for purchase at our local music stores.

Stay tuned for plans for the band to travel by bus to the away game against Grassland on September 16 with supper on the way- more info to come.

Coming up:

The annual Williamson County Marching Band Exhibition - Saturday, September 18, at Centennial High School stadium. The marching band from every county high school will perform their fall show. All eighth graders feeding these schools are involved in a mass band performance at the end of the evening. While only our eighth graders are directly involved, we encourage all of the Freedom students and families to come watch the show. Freedom eighth graders will be guests of CHS and FHS bands in the afternoon and travel with them to the event. All the county eighth graders will rehearse together at 6:00, prior to the show. Exact details will be coming soon. Parents do be planning to attend this great show - you'll pick your kids up at the show when it is over.

Fall Plant Sale! The first of Freedom's three annual plant sales - mums and pansies - will begin in September. Make plans now to buy your fall flowers from a band student!

FREEDOM INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL BAND INFORMATION:

All FIS students made a selection for their Encore class on a form that came home on August 17 . Every student must choose one Encore class and will be scheduled into that class for the full school year. There are four choices: Band, Violin, Chorus, and Related Arts Encore. At this time, all students joining band should have had their instrument choice confirmed by a band director and the family should have made arrangments to secure an instrument, either renting from a local music store or by parent and director agreement to use a school-owned instrument. Students who still wish to join at this time may do so by having a parent contact a director.

There will be an information meeting for parents of ALL FIS band students on Thursday, September 2, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m., in the FIS band room. All parents are encouraged to be there, but especially, those who have never had a child in the Freedom band program should plan to have an adult representative there. Parents will learn about all aspects of the four-year program.

ALL FIS Band students will begin regular daily classes on August 30. Students should have their instruments and books by this time, and all students should watch the DVD that comes with the book. Upon arriving at school, students should leave their instrument in the band room before proceeding to their first class. Band takes place during the Encore class periods which are approximately 1:05-1:35 for fifth grade and 1:40 - 2:10 for sixth grade. Students who play flute, clarinet, saxophone, and (initially) percussion will be taught by Ms. Grooms, and students who play trumpet, French horn, trombone, baritone, and tuba will be taught by Mr. Garey.

Would you like to donate to the Freedom Band program? Our current wish list:

• Laptop computers for student use with Smartmusic software. See the Smartmusic website, under Support tab, for system requirements needed. (FIS has no computers, laptop or desktop, for student use with Smartmusic. FMS has five desktop models, but nothing portable.)
• Instruments in working condition of all types, especially those not traditionally supplied by the school - flutes, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets and trombones. (In recent years, the number of students who would not be able to participate in band without the use of a school-owned instrument has increased from about 10% to 50% of students in the program. Cash donations are helpful to pay for repairs of donated instruments needed to put them in tip-top playing condition before they are assigned to a student.)
• The recently renovated (and beautiful) FIS band room has no stereo system to play music for students and has no large TV or monitor with related equipment to show video from the front of the room.
• FMS band room is in need of a stereo sound system upgrade and an upgrade from our old 32" tube TV to a large, wall-mounted flat screen which can be used with a DVD player or as a laptop monitor, for better viewing by a large class.

A letter to document charitable donations at tax filing will be provided to anyone donating to the Freedom Band program.