Tag: winter concert 2021

Newsletter, 12-14-2021

We are halfway through the school year!  It is really hard to believe.  I want to express my gratitude to all of my students!  You make coming to “work” not really work!  I appreciate you all!

Thank you to all of our amazing orchestra parents for their support, especially our AHSOA board for going above and beyond to help provide the best experience possible for our orchestra students.

I want to wish all of you a happy holiday season and a safe and relaxing break.  I’m looking forward to 2022 and next semester!

Here is our news…

Winter Concert Wrap-up

Well, that’s a wrap!  What an amazing Winter Concert the students presented last week.  I am so proud of each orchestra and the progress they have made this semester.  It has been fantastic being able to make music with them daily and face to face.  I’m excited for where we are heading!

Winter Concert photo/video request

If you have videos or photos to share, please share them with my Google account at [email protected]

Band Concert

Congratulations to the AHS Symphony Orchestra for their amazing second performance last night at the AHS Band concert.  This was the first time they have performed at the band concert and it was nice to be able to present our orchestra to the band parents and community.

“Secret Santa” Gift Exchange

We had our gift exchange this morning, and it was a lot of fun seeing everyone interact. This year we decided to mix classes and allow students to get to know some people from other ensembles.  It was a great way to bring in the holiday season and get ready for break!  Check out our Instagram for photos!

Holiday Gifts – an app!

Consider “gifting” my favorite metronome/tuner app – TONAL ENERGY.  It’s under $5 and is an amazing tool that every musician should have.

https://www.tonalenergy.com

Finals

Great news!  None of our orchestra students will need to report for final exams!!  Students can enjoy their extra three days off!

LGPE

Our LGPE is “Large Group Performance Evaluation” and essentially our orchestra’s “standardized test” each year.  Some time the week of February 14 at Roswell High School, each of the orchestras will perform for three judges who will evaluate us using a standard rubric.  Each orchestra will receive scores based on their performance and must also sight-read a piece for a score.  We will be working hard in January to prepare for this performance.

Our Pre-LGPE concert will be on Thursday, February 3 at 7:00 PM in the Auditorium.  This will allow us the opportunity to perform our LGPE selections and then have a few weeks to make some tweaks and changes before the actual event.

College Admissions Article

Parents – with recent college admission announcements coming out this week, please reference the following article.  I think it is well-written and worth the short read… https://www.forbes.com/sites/brennanbarnard/2021/12/03/handling-college-admission-decisions-a-sidecar-parents-guide/

Newsletter, 11-29-21

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving holiday break and have had a chance to relax and refresh.  I ran the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon and whipped up a great Thanksgiving meal to celebrate with my family and some friends.  I want to express my gratitude to all of our orchestra students and parents, our AHS faculty and administration for their love and support.  I’m so thankful for all of you!

Hot Chocolate Social

Our first Hot Chocolate Social will be this Friday, December 3  before school from about 7:40 to 8:15 AM in the orchestra room.  Come warm up with some yummy hot cocoa and socialize with your orchestra friends from all of our classes!

Students should RSVP for the Hot Chocolate Social using this link: https://bit.ly/alpharettahc

Winter Concert

Our winter concert is just around the corner.  Be sure to mark your calendars for Thursday, December 9 at 6:30 PM in the AHS auditorium. Each orchestra will perform including the AHS Symphony Orchestra, our first time putting this ensemble together since February 2020. In addition, we will be joined by the 8th grade orchestras from Webb Bridge and Hopewell Middle Schools. It will be an evening of great music and will help bring out your inner holiday spirit!

For students, a dinner provided by AHSOA will be served around 5:00 PM.  There will be an RSVP form that will go out this week, so stay tuned. 

Holiday Gift Exchange

This week students will be signing up for and drawing names for our annual “Secret Santa” gift exchange. The spending limit is $10.  We will hold our gift exchange on Tuesday, December 14.

SPF – Student Participation Fee

It is expected that each orchestra student pay their fair share toward the orchestra program.  Like any other activity that has activities outside of the school day and provides services and opportunities for students, we must charge a fee in order to make everything happen.  

This year the fee is $120 per student.  If you have not paid your SPF, please do so as soon as possible.  You may pay online at https://www.alpharettaorchestra/pay or via check made payable to AHSOA.

Compared with other orchestra programs across the county, state, and country, our fees are nominal.  Some examples of things that SPF funds are the KSU Orchestra Invitational, LGPE Entry Fees, our pre-concert dinners, orchestra socials, the orchestra t-shirts, orchestra room supplies and accessories, sheet music, and more.  To date, less than half of students have paid this fee.  Our annual budget is constructed with the anticipation that we will receive these funds from every student and we may be unable to continue to provide the goods, services, and experiences to students for the remainder of this year if we do not receive the remaining funds.

Please let me know if you have any questions and do feel free to reach out if you have extenuating circumstances or would like to divide the SPF into smaller payment increments. We are happy to work with you on this.

Thank you for your help and understanding.

Washington D.C. Trip

There are still openings for our trip to Washington D.C. on March 11-14, 2022!  We would love to have you travel with us! We will explore D.C., experience an orchestra clinic with a nationally-known clinician, and perform a public concert.  These experiences don’t come around often and I know many of the students have not traveled since before the pandemic. An orchestra trip like this can be the highlight of a student’s high school experience!

Our Itinerary and trip details: https://www.alpharettaorchestra.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Alpharetta-HS-Washington-DC-March-11-14-2022-LOW-1.pdf

How to register: https://www.alpharettaorchestra.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/How-To-Register.pdf

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!!

AHSO on Social Media

Don’t forget to check out the AHSO on social media!

The AHSO Podcast

Alpharetta High School Orchestra