London Update
Issue #3
January 26, 2016
We fly out of Chicago in exactly eleven months. I hope you are
starting to think about some of the details you need to take care of
in advance.
One of the most important tasks you need to focus on is the
upcoming solo/ensemble festival. This is your best chance to improve
your playing skills before you go to London and play for a half-million
people. Take advantage of this time to get better sound, better range,
play more in-tune, read rhythms more accurately, and become a better musician.
Mr. Janssen
SPECIFIC TRAVEL DATES
Here are the exact travel dates for our trip to London (times will be announced later).
December 26 – final rehearsal, luggage inspection, lunch, board busses at MHHS;
transport to O’Hare Airport via Tri-State Tour Motorcoaches; fly
to London that evening
December 27 – arrive in London around 8:00 a.m.
January 2 – depart London, arrive at O’Hare Airport, takemotorcoaches back to MHHS in early
evening
FRUIT SALE!
We are starting our last major fundraiser for this school year – our annual fruit sale. Students will get order forms and other materials in class this week. All orders and payments MUST be turned in to a band director by Tuesday, February 9. Fruit will be ready on Tuesday, March 1 for pick-up. We are working directly with Miller and Sons Supermarket this year as the supplier.
GARAGE SALE
A group of parents is organizing a garage sale to be held in conjunction with the village-wide garage sale in April. Proceeds will go toward the London Trip. If you have any items you’d like to donate, your first chance to do so will be at the middle school commons on Saturday, January 30 between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. in conjunction with our annual “A Taste of Jazz” concert. Volunteers will be in the commons to take your donations. Other chances to donate items will be announced in coming weeks.
CULVER’S NIGHT, VERSION 2.0
Following our very successful Culver’s Night in December (over $1,000.00 raised), we are headed for the second night of the year to help support the London Trip. February 8 will be the next evening you can support us at Culver’s. Please let people know about this!
ANY MORE INTERESTED IN JOINING US
We have a little more time to have band members and/or chaperones join us on this adventure. If you might be interested, contact Mr. Janssen (email is on the next page) for more details.
TIME TO GET YOUR PASSPORT!
If you haven’t started working on getting your passport, time is getting short. It will take several months to get the actual passport once you have submitted all the required materials. You need to do this ASAP so you can be sure of getting an airline ticket next fall (otherwise, it is a LONG walk).
You will need to provide the following documents (among other requirements) when you apply:
A legal United States birth certificate
A photo ID card
Start at this website as soon as you can:
A TRIP HIGHLIGHT . . .
Many of the newsletters will now include a special look at one of features of the upcoming trip. This time, I want to share a little information about a 'day tour' we will take outside the city of London.
One of the places we will visit will be Oxford, England. Oxford was founded sometime in the 800's (about one thousand years before Mount Horeb was started), and is home to Oxford University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world. It is also a popular place to make movies. Nearly all the Harry Potter movies have portions that were filmed in Oxford.
Famous authors with a connection to Oxford include J. R. R. Tolkien (think “Lord of the Rings”), Lewis Carroll (now think “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”), and C. S. Lewis (“Chronicles of Narnia”).
For an easy start, just look up “Oxford, England” on google and choose ‘images’. You will quickly get a sense of what kind of place it is. Look for the buildings that seems ‘Harry Potter-esque’ – the main dining hall in the movie is based on a college campus building at Oxford University.
Oxford isn’t far from London (an hour or so by motorcoach) so it will be an easy destination for us to travel to. You might even go to a website that tells you a bit about the city but I guess that sounds a little like homework . . .
Now - get that solo/ensemble music ready! :)
Contact information:
Mr. JanssenMr. Dorner
437-2400, ext. 2102437-2400, ext. 3297