Becky Hicks, Director

Lake Harbor MiddleBand

Becky Hicks, Director\

1/12/17

Dear Parents:

I am writing to let you all know of a very exciting event for our Lake Harbor Band members. Our Band students will have an opportunity to audition for the St. Tammany Parish Middle School Honor Band on Saturday, February the 4th. This honor band will be composed of the top 5th and 6th grade students from our parish. There are usually only about 60 students who make up the honor band each year. The students who are selected to the honor band will attend just three rehearsals and will then put on a concert which will be filmed by Channel 13. The students will get to work with a local high school or junior high band director and will learn about four to six new pieces of music over the course of just a few days. It has been my experience that the students who get selected for this honor band generally go on to be selected for the junior high and senior high honor bands (including the All-State groups), and many of them have gone on to receive music scholarships to college.

Lake Harbor was chosen again this year to host all of the events for the honor band, including the auditions, the rehearsals, and the concert! We have MANY exceptional Band students here at Lake Harbor that I know could make the band if they auditioned, but I also know that many of our wonderful students are involved in other extracurricular activities (as are many of the students from other schools). I just wanted to let you all know before you sign your child up to audition, that if they make the band, they will need to be able to attend all of the rehearsals from start to finish (some exceptions may be made for emergencies), as well as the concert. We will be working on the audition music in classes so that most of the students will be familiar with it, but naturally, most students will still be nervous about auditioning. This is only normal, so please encourage your child to audition if they can. The cost of the audition is $5, and your child will be given a certain time on the morning of Sat. the 4th that they are to show up for the audition. We ask that you get here about 20 mins before your child’s audition time to allow them to register and warm-up. The actual audition will only take 6 minutes, then you are free to go. The results will be posted the following Monday morning, and the first rehearsal will take place the following Saturday morning. If your child is selected, there is also a $10 participation fee.

Here is the schedule:

AUDITIONS: Sat. Feb 4th(Morning)--- Times TBA

REHEARSALS: Sat. Feb. 11th----9:00am-12:00pm

Mon. Feb. 13th-----6:00pm-7:30pm

Tues. Feb. 14th----6:00pm-7:30pm

CONCERT: Wed. Feb. 15th----6:00pm-7:30pm (Concert starts at 7pm)

If you would like for your child to audition, please send the $5 in an envelope with your child’s name on it labeled “Honor Band” . Please send in all envelopes by nextFriday, January 20th.

Thanks for the support!!!!

Take care-

Becky Hicks