By now, your student will have had a mouthpiece tryout kit to test drive each of the flute, clarinet, trumpet and trombone mouthpieces.  You will be receiving another email shortly letting you and your student know what instrument they have been assigned based on their responses to the Mouthpiece Tryout Forms.   Please watch for that email.
​If your student hasn't completed that form, they need to do that in order to be guaranteed an instrument of their choosing; please ask them to go into the Grade 7 Band Google Classroom to complete that form.

Do not buy instruments from Costco, Walmart, Amazon, or any other source aside from the approved source, Long & McQuade. Instruments from every other source are almost always of poor quality, and extremely expensive or impossible to repair.  EVERY instrument from that source that has come into school has been replaced within the first year by an instrument at Long & McQuade.

As parents of a music, theatre, art or new media student, you are members of the High River Catholic Fine Arts Parents Association.
After the Instrument Rental Night stick around for the Fine Arts Parents Association AGM.  It will begin at 7:00 PM sharp, and is an opportunity to find out how the organization supports your students in their learning.  Please stick around for this very important meeting!

After finding out on Monday that I would not be receiving the mouthpiece tryout kits like I expected, I rushed to put together as many kits from my own inventory as I could.  I then sent them home with students, and your students were fantastic about trying them out and returning them promptly the next morning so I could disinfect them and get them to the next group.  Your patience and attention to this was VERY appreciated.  Thank you for all your support of music education!  I look forward to "seeing" you on Wednesday!

Contrapuntally yours,
​Joel Windsor

Hello all!
You are receiving this email because your student is signed up for participating in the St. Cecilia String Ensemble on Tuesdays after school from 3:20 PM to 4:40 PM.

You're probably wondering "how do I get my student their instrument?"  I'll try to make it as easy as possible.

If your child has selected violin or viola, the best option is to rent from Long & McQuade. See the video below for a walkthrough of how to do it.

This year is going to be a great, unique musical adventure, and I'm looking forward to what we are able to produce together.  I've had a chance to meet each of your students, and am now ready to give you a quick orientation to the music department.  This message will not get to everyone's questions, but I'm hoping it helps you figure out how to find the answers.
I encourage you to view these videos, which I shared with students already in their Google Classrooms.  Then you can read on.

The High River Catholic Fine Arts Parents Association has their Annual General Meeting via ZOOM on September 30, 2020 at 7:00 PM.  This meeting will not be recorded, but provides you with an amazing opportunity to hear about the Fine Arts programs directly from the teachers themselves, as well as how you can support them easily through some of our amazing fundraisers, like the ones shown below.  Please join the meeting!

By September 30, 2020, your Grade 7 students will know what kind of instrument they want to rent.  We will be hosting an online Instrument Rental Night that you can attend from the comfort of your pajamas on September 30, 2020 including our guest Dan Bergen from Long & McQuade.  This event will be recorded, but if you want your students to have an instrument as soon as possible, join this event Live!

The Department Information Booklet
This document was handed out to each student to take home to families already.  It includes information about how bands will operate at NDC in 2020/2021, how to rent instruments, and other important information about the operation of music classes at NDC.  Read that first, as many of your questions can be answered there.

Renting Instruments
Notre Dame Collegiate heavily encourages instruments be rented from Long & McQuade (https://rentals.long-mcquade.com) whenever possible, as their rates are better than what Notre Dame Collegiate can afford, and their insurance program is unbeatable.  View the video above for an explanation of that process for students who are in Grades 8-12, or involved in the String Ensemble.  For students who are in Grade 7 Concert Band, you will have a special instrument rental night made available to you after your student has selected their instrument.
Tubas, Baritone Saxophones, Bass Clarinets, Steel Pans, Percussion and Electronic Instruments are instead rented through Notre Dame Collegiate.  Where possible, two instruments are made available to make transportation easier.  Mr. Windsor will connect with students who will be renting this equipment directly.

Instrument Maintenance
An Instrument Maintenance Checklist has been given to your students to ensure they have all the tools they need to ensure we meet not only regularly maintenance protocols, but the extensive safety protocols due to COVID19.  Please ensure your student has the tools their are responsible for, as this will count towards their Skills and Techniques mark.  You can again order them through Long & McQuade.

Students can sign themselves up for the various after-school ensembles, including Strings (rehearsing from 3:25 PM - 4:45 PM every Tuesday beginning September 22, 2020), Stage Band (rehearsing from 3:25 PM - 4:45 PM every Wednesday beginning in late September/early October), and Panorama (rehearsing from 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM every Wednesday beginning September 9, 2020).  To sign themselves up, they need to join the appropriate Google Classroom, whose join codes are available in the video above (they will not be posted publicly to protect privacy).  Join those Google Classrooms to be able to participate.

Instrument Rental information will be shared directly with those who need to rent instruments only when instrument rentals become available.  Currently much of our fleet is getting ultrasonic cleans completed at Long & McQuade, so once that equipment becomes available, individual messages will be sent home.

Now more than ever we need our individuals, our communities, and our greater society to be as prepared as possible for whatever comes next.  This means being able to work together (collaborative ability), build together (constructivity), think of improved solutions to both new and old problems (creativity), be kind and considerate to one another (community-mindedness), and full explore the human condition to the betterment of oneself and all around them (complete human development).