Thank you for attending the meeting on 9/28/2021 for our Washington D.C. Trip! We will be touring D.C. from March 11-14, 2022!
Here is a link to watch the meeting video:
Here are documents that were shown during the meeting:
Please let me know if you have additional questions or concerns… I’m looking forward to a fun and educational tour!!
Due to delays in receiving uniforms and our program book production schedule, we will need to postpone our fall concert.
Unfortunately, our auditorium is heavily booked for the month, so I have decided to relocate our concert to an outdoor location on campus.
Our new theme will be “Symphony Under the Stars!” Bring your cushions, blankets, snacks, and enjoy an evening outdoors while listening to our amazing students!
Our new concert date is now Tuesday, October 19 and we will begin at 6:30 PM. Please mark this date in your calendar now. You won’t want to miss all of the orchestras performing for you.
Please also note our rain date of Wednesday, October 20.
Our Washington D.C. Trip is coming on March 11-14. It’s not too late to hop on and be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime experience. All orchestra members are encouraged to participate!!
We will have an informational meeting for interested students & parents on Tuesday, September 28 at 7:00 PM on Teams.
In the meeting, we will go over the itinerary, pricing, and answer questions you may have.
A link to the Teams meeting is here:
Dresses are in and will be distributed to those who have paid today and tomorrow. Please remember that most dresses will need to be hemmed to length. Please advise your tailor/seamstress to not cut the fabric, but to allow for further lengthening as students grow taller.
Tuxedos are scheduled for delivery late this week or early next week.
If you have not done so, please pay for your uniform online:
Our trip is set for Friday, October 29! More information and the itinerary can be found in last week’s newsletter on 9/20/21.
I can accept program book advertisements for one more week. The hard deadline is this Friday, October 1!
Please see this page for details:
Payments for the Student Participation Fee ($120) and Uniform ($67 dresses, $120 tuxedos) are overdue. Please remit payment online or in a check payable to AHSOA. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to Dr. Laux.
Last Friday we had a very fun movie night with pizza, snacks, desserts, and drinks. Thank you to the AHSOA for providing the pizza and to everyone who attended and brought items to share. It’s great to see the orchestra family!
We are looking for podcast episodes! Have some fun music you’d like to talk about and share? Want to do a promo for our upcoming Fall concert? Do you have another idea?? The stage is yours! Our podcast is on Spotify, Apple, and more!! Talk to Dr. Laux with ideas…
Our second social of the year will be MOVIE NIGHT this Friday, September 24 from 5:30 – 9:00 PM. We will have fun socializing and watching a movie together on the big screen in the orchestra room.
Students should RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5nyND5pdhDa1DyVFYx0ojebzoYHvME9wTjgOpmWsMYiWZAQ/viewform
Students should sign up to bring snacks, etc. using the sign-up genius: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e49a4a82da5f85-orchestra&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1632134864342000&usg=AFQjCNGycgbwJk1d485qwDf64ak0J1CSXw
Our Fall Concert is just two weeks away! Please don’t forget to mark your calendars for Tuesday, October 5.
One change — our 8th grade orchestras from WBMS and HMS will not be joining us for this concert so we will be moving our start time to our normal concert stat time of 7:00 PM. The 8th graders will be joining us for our Winter concert in December.
Uniforms have been ordered and will be in soon. Dresses may need to be hemmed to the appropriate length. Once we know everything is in place we will be scheduling a photo date to take group and individual orchestra photos.
Uniforms and SPF Payments for this year are now past due. Should you need to discuss payment arrangements, please feel free to contact me.
As stated in the previous newsletter, our Student Participation Fee (SPF) is $120 and is expected from each student.
Uniforms are $67 for dresses and $120 for tuxedos. For boys with fitting tuxedos, they will need a new, matching black tuxedo shirt ($25).
Also payable online are the KSU Trip Lunch and All-State fees. Payments are accepted online at https://www.alpharettaorchestra.org/paypal or cash/checks (payable to AHSOA) can be brought into the orchestra room and placed in the dropbox next to Dr. Laux’s office door.
Our program book advertisement fundraiser is overdue, but I’m still able to accept your advertisements! Do you know someone with a business or frequent a local business that may benefit from an ad in our program book? Please consider asking them to support us with an advertisement. I can accept ads for at least one more week. 🙂
Each year we accept donations above and beyond the amount requested for our SPF for patrons who would like to be “Friends of the Orchestra.”
Donations made to the AHSOA are fully tax-deductible as the AHSOA is a registered 501c3 organization. Please consider making an additional donation to the AHSOA. Any gift is accepted and more information can be found here.
We will be holding a meeting regarding our trip to Washington D.C. next Tuesday, September 27 at 7:00 PM. THERE ARE STILL SPOTS AVAILABLE TO TRAVEL WITH US. We will take as many as would like to attend! The trip will be from March 11-14, 2022. If you look at the calendar for that weekend students are off school on Friday, March 11, and Monday, March 14 which will allow students to travel without missing any instructional time.
Our meeting will take place on Teams and you will be able to find the link on our homepage at https://www.alpharettaorchestra.org. The link will be posted soon and I will send out reminders as we get closer.
In the meantime, please see the brochure about our trip with the proposed itinerary, cost, and more. I think it will be a very memorable opportunity for our students!
In addition, below is a document from our travel company, WorldStrides, and their safety protocols.
The Philharmonia, Sinfonia, Symphony, and Chamber Orchestras will be performing at the KSU Orchestra Invitational on October 29, 2021. This event allows us to have a wonderful performance experience on the Morgan Concert Hall stage at KSU and receive valuable feedback from adjudicators. This year we will have the great fortune to work with Dr. Kirt Mosier, award-winning composer and educator. After our performance, Dr. Mosier will work with students on stage for a clinic.
In addition to our performances, students will be able to eat lunch at the incredible KSU Commons dining facility (one of the highlights of the trip if you ask many!) and will enjoy a performance by the KSU Symphony Orchestra. You can read more about the experience here: https://arts.kennesaw.edu/music/concerts-and-events/orchestra-invitational.php
We will be taking charter busses to and from KSU. We are looking for chaperones to ride the busses and help out for the day. Lunch is included! Please let me know if you may be available to help chaperone our trip. We will need about seven parents to help.
Our itinerary for the day is below:
Friday, October 29, 2021
Students will all be eating at the KSU Dining facility and need to pay our discounted lunch rate of $10/student. Normally this lunch is over $13. Payments are accepted online at https://www.alpharettaorchestra.org/paypal or cash/checks (payable to AHSOA) can be brought into the orchestra room and placed in the dropbox next to Dr. Laux’s office door.
We have 21 students registered for All-State auditions! I’m excited to see how they will do. First-round auditions will be due in mid-October. Stay tuned for more details! In the meantime, practice your scales and etude.
Congratulations to Lia, Saisri, Shravika, Alazne, and Ito for participating in the North Georgia Honor Orchestra this past weekend at Kennesaw State University. We are proud of you for representing AHS so well!!
The FCS Honor Orchestra is an event where orchestra students in FCS come together to perform a concert under the direction of a guest conductor.
This year the auditions will take place at Centennial HS on Tuesday, November 2. The event will then be held at Chattahoochee HS on Monday, November 15, and Tuesday, November 16. Interested students should pick up the information sheet in the orchestra room with audition materials, etc.
Dear Students and Parents, It’s my pleasure to welcome you to another curriculum night! Please enjoy the video.
