ISSUE 1 u UPCOMING EVENTS 1 VOL. 6 2015 u INSTRUMENT SWITCHES...2-3 u Vista Heights ISO?...4 Band BETTER BECAUSE WE WANT TO BE! Vista Heights Band is starting off with great successes. This newsletter will let you know what is going on and how to access information. Please feel free to contact Mr. Lemen at any time if you have questions. I check email frequently (that is the best way to get hold of me), and try to get back within 24 hours (key word try!). Upcoming Events! September 21, 2015: Marching Band Family Night! Come support the amazing WHS Marching Band! October 24, 2015: Marching Band Field Trip! Open to all students! October 27, 2015: Band Bash at Westlake High School. Symphonic Band and Advanced Percussion only, but all are welcomed to attend!!!! November 4: Fall Band Concert. All Band students. Times TBA. November 9, 2015: Drum Line Audition materials will be available. November 16, 2015: Drum Line Auditions! Vista Heights Band Web Site Vista Heights band has its own web site. On this site, you can access our calendar, private lesson information, and several other items. Also, there is a link to Charms Music, which provides you with a great deal of information about our program as well. If you need to find dates of tests, concerts or any other information about the Vista Bands, www.vhbandrocks.com is the first place to go!
Mr. Lemen s been talking about other instruments Around this time of year, band directors all over are starting to try to make their instrumentation better. I have a philosophy that I will allow kids to play what they choose (some directors tell kids what instrument they are allowed to play not me). But I do strongly suggest some kids switch for a variety of reasons. The first reason is always balance. A band is like the pyramids in Egypt. We need a stronger bottom foundation sound or our overall sound will topple over! In order to accomplish this, we need more lower and middle voices, and fewer upper voices. This tends to be a problem, as the most popular instruments are always flute and trumpet! Can you imagine what would have happened to the pyramids if they had been built upside down? They would not have lasted thousands of years! Same with band. If we have too much top end, we will never sound as good as we want. So, I am always looking for students to move to lower instruments. Some options include Tuba, Baritone, Horn, bassoon, bass clarinet, regular clarinet, trombone. We need more of all of these (although I do have to add that if you want to play horn or bassoon, we strongly suggest private lessons those instruments are harder than the others). If you have interest in playing the low voices, please let me know! I have some of most of these instruments to rent if you want rental is $70 for the entire year. Some instruments we just don t have many interested in, but we need more. Mr. Mangelson was telling me the other day that he would like me to provide more oboes, bassoons and horns to his program. He is spot on right. Every band is looking for more of those instruments. The main reason most students don t play them, though, is because they are hard! You have to have a good ear and great practice habits to play them. Private lessons are a HUGE help as well, and I have some great lesson teachers that I can recommend. The other side of that, though, is that because they are not as common, when kids go to college, there are often very good scholarships available for those instruments (I call them a scholarship instrument ). Playing oboe is no guarantee of a scholarship, but it gives you a much greater chance to get one! Third is opportunity. As an example, in Mr. Mangelson s top band, he will take no more than 4 flutes. It makes it hard to get into that group on flute. Each year, there are some amazig flute players that are number 5 or 6 and can t make it in. However, he is always looking for more clarinets that can play well enough to make it into the group. Playing clarinet, low brass, horn, or double reeds gives you more opportunities. Finally, there are physical factors. Some students have a mouth shape that might lend itself to a different instrument. I was this way. I have larger lips. I wanted to play trumpet, but I couldn t get a good sound. When I played the baritone, I got a great sound right away. My lips were just made better for baritone that is where I had my success! Of course, the point of all this is to try to get all these things in line to have the best possible band program we can. If you play trumpet or flute, I am especially talking to you!!! If you have any interest in switching over to an instrument of need, please come talk to me. We can try to get you onto one right away if possible! Mr. Lemen Box Tops for Band! This year, the VHMS Band is looking to another idea for raising funds for the band. We are participating in the Box Tops for Education program. We are collecting box tops, and the money received from them will go directly to the VHMS Band program. Thus far, we have collected $125 worth of box tops for the VHMS Band, and that number is growing. If you collect box tops, and are looking for somewhere to donate them, please consider us! If you do not yet collect box tops, we would ask that you consider starting. Each box top contributes $.10 to our band. It adds up pretty quickly! Additionally, there are several retail sites that, if you purchase through the Box Tops for Education web site, box tops are donated to the band program. Many of these sites are common sites such as Itunes and walmart.com. We would ask that, as you are considering purchasing holiday gifts and expenses online, you consider looking at the Box Tops for Education web site to see if you can earn money for the band with your purchase. The pricing is the same but if you are directed to the retail site from BTFE, the box tops will be donated to the band!
What is an ISO? Band directors have a term that we often will not share with people but I think it would be a good idea. It is ISO. This means an Instrument Shaped Object. Basically, this is a band instrument that is made of such poor quality that it is barely functional. Unfortunately, each year, I see several ISO s wander into my band room. I am here to warn you about them, and tell you how you can keep your instrument in good playing condition. Think for a second about buying a car. You can get a car for $300.00, but it will be a lot of trouble. I personally do not have the mechanical skill to keep that car running (or the funds to have someone else do the work). If you spend a bit more, the car will be more reliable. Generally, the more you spend the better the car and the fewer problems you might have (although anyone who have ever owned an MG Midget will know that this rule is not always true!!!). Generally, though, you get what you pay for. The same is true for musical instruments. Some brands are, simply put, not of a good quality at all. If you see that amazing deal of a brand new flute for $100.00, you are probably looking at an ISO. Now, brass instruments are a bit more lenient than woodwinds, mainly because brass instruments are pretty much over glorified plumbing. While an ISO in brass might dent more easily and won t sound quite as good as a higher quality horn, an ISO in woodwinds will often be unplayable. Due to having many more moving parts, a woodwind instrument tends to be much more delicate. Poor construction will make them very hard, if not impossible, to play. If you are looking at a horn, or are curious as to what your current instrument is, please feel free to contact me. There are certain brands that I recommend Yamaha, Bach, Selmer, Eastman. There are some that I run away from! I can let you know if you have a dangerous ISO! Maintenance: Failure to take care of the instrument is the primary cause for frustration in young players. Very simply, an instrument is like any other piece of machinery. If it is neglected or abused, it will not work well. Make sure the valves are being oiled every day on brass instruments (the $15 you will spend on valve oil in a year is miniscule compared to a chemical clean or re-boring of the valve). Swab out woodwind instruments EVERY time they are played. Keep corks greased. Make sure all the screws on woodwind instruments are in properly. Small adjustments are easy. Major fixes are expensive. WW Instruments: For reed instruments, there are two very simple and relatively inexpensive ways to improve your sound. For all instruments, there is a general rule. The closer it is to your face, the more important it is to your sound. So, it stands to reason that the most important things on a woodwind instrument are those things that are actually put into the mouth. Make sure you are playing on quality reeds. My personal preference is Vandoren, but there are a few others that are good as well. Do NOT play on Rico reeds. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, get a good ligature. For only around $25 or so, you can get a Rovner Dark ligature, and it will make a world of difference. Not only will you sound better, but the Rovner ligatures are much, much harder to break. Dear Santa, As a VHMS Band student, I would like the following for Christmas this year! Ø A Step-up Instrument!!!!! o For those children who have been VERY good! Ø A Tuner/metronome Ø Private Lessons! Ø For Woodwinds: o o Reeds! Cleaning Kit. Ø For Brass o Valve oil o Slide grease o Cleaning kit Ø For Percussion o Marimba or timpani mallets! Ø Brownies for Mr. Lemen!!!!!!!! Ø A solo book to play out of! Any of these would be a great Christmas Idea! Do you want to help the VHMS Band? You can make a tax deductable donation to the VHMS Band program through the Alpine Foundation. Fill out the form on Page 4 and send it with your donation. Just indicate that you want the money to go to the Vista Heights Band program, and we will get it! On Page 5, I have listed some of our needs this year, so you know where your money is going! Thanks!
2015 Marching Band Field Trip "Black Tears" Presented by the Westlake High School Marching Band Come see what all the excitement is about. You will get to hang out and experience what it is like to be in the award winning Westlake High School Marching Band! This is OUR BAND! In the next few years, you will be in this band, so come see what we do! We travel with the marching band...watch the WHS Band warmup...eat with the marching band and celebrate at the end with the marching band!!! All the info you need: When How Much Where October 24th, 2015 2:00 PM-10:30 PM $10.00 This covers Buses, Ticket to competition We will meet at Westlake HS and bus to Pleasant Grove High School. We will arrive back at WHS for parent pickup. Parents! We want you to come too! Marching Band is more than just the kids! We need chaperones for our trip, and it is never too early to start finding out about the Band Parents' Association! Trust me. Once you start associating with the amazing kids that are in marching band, you will be hooked for life! Due to costs, we have to charge parents the same $10.00 fee as students. If you are planning on attending the 2015 Marching Band Field Trip, please fill out the permission form below and pay your fee at the accounting office. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I give permission for my student, to attend the 2015 VHMS Marching Band Field Trip on October 24th, 2015. Parent Signature: Will parents be coming to chaperone? Yes No If so, how many?
VHMS BAND
Vista Heights Band Needs: 2015-2016 The following is a list of items needed by the VHMS Bands for the upcoming school year (you can specify exactly what you want your money to go for if you like): Item Number Needed Cost (each) Yamaha 221 Bass Clarinet 2 $2200 Yamaha 321 Euphonium 4 $2600 Tuba Exchange ¾ Tuba 4 $1895 Sheet Music LOTS! Eastman 4/4 Tuba 2 $3000 Professional Recording 1 matched set $2700 microphones Other Recording equipment: $600 (Mixer, mic cables, etc.) Conference and travel expenses: This will help Mr. Lemen attend various conferences to improve his teaching throughout the year. $400 The list above is to show parents what money is going for. We don t spend frivolously, and I am always looking for ways to save a few bucks. Hopefully, we can find a happy medium between quality and price, and let our program continue to grow and thrive! If you are willing and able to donate, we are greatly appreciative! Even a $10 donation will help us on our way! Due to the size and success of our program at Vista, and the fact that we are a new school, we have had to make some difficult decisions. One of those was whether to get a small number of high quality school instruments, or to get a large number of low quality instruments. Upon opening, I chose to go with a large number of instruments, simply so that I could make sure that I have a horn in every kid s hands. Now that we are established more, I am wanting to start supplementing our instruments with higher quality (instruments that will last for 25-30 years rather than 5-10 years). Further, you will see above that sheet music is listed, but with no price. Our administration has been very generous the past five years in providing us money for our program, however with three levels of bands, two jazz bands (each needing different levels of music), two percussion classes (each needed different levels of large and small ensemble music) and a drum line, we are always looking for new and exciting musical opportunities! Additionally, there is always good, new, music being written, and we want to make sure our kids get the opportunity to play it! I figured we play about 50 pieces of music a year, among all the ensembles. With music costing $40-$100 per piece, that really adds up!