Instruments Have Arrived, Jazz Band, and when emails don't work

Instruments have arriveD!

Many of your instruments arrived today!  So tomorrow we will deliver each of these instruments to you.  Mr. Windsor is here to give you some tips.

Don't pack more than you can handle tomorrow

Students are going to be likely to want to carry their instruments home, or take them on the bus.  They are of course encouraged to do so (unless they have tubas).  But plan for it.

• A flute can go in a backpack.
• A clarinet might fit in a backpack, but only if there aren't lots of other books to take home.  It's Friday, so it will likely be carried by hand.  On busses, they can easily sit on someone's lap, but should never be opened on the bus (things will fly everywhere).
• A trumpet will be carried by hand, and sit in laps on busses (again, don't open them so you don't lose any pieces).
• A trombone will be carried by hand, and will fit in between a student's legs on the bus while their backpack is on their lap.
• Tubas have already been assigned their secondary tuba.  Parents need to come to the school sometime soon to bring the secondary tuba home.  Students should have a pocket of their backpack reserved for their tuba mouthpiece.
  

what if my instrument didn't arrive?

Then you didn't get your order completed in time.  That's okay.  Mr. Windsor is going into the city on Saturday.
If your student doesn't get their instrument on Friday morning, please call Long & McQuade when your student gets home.

• Call 403-244-5555 and ask for the Band Department.
  
• Ask about the status of your instrument.
• If your order just needs to be sent to the school, ask them to set it aside for Mr. Windsor.  Let them know I'm coming on Saturday.
• Send me a message (on the Discord is best) to let me know to look for it.

With any luck, everyone will have an instrument by Tuesday morning's class.

Now That you have your instruments, what about jazz?

Students are encouraged to join the Jazz Band (sometimes called a Stage Band).  Trumpet and trombone players are normal instruments in such a group, and flute players and clarinet players can learn saxophone as a secondary instrument in Jazz Band.  NDC has these saxophones available for a very reduced rental cost of only $50 for the whole year.  Aside from having the right instrument, there is no cost to being in Jazz Band.
We play rock, swing and latin music.  Last year we played "Gimme Some Lovin'", "Everybody Have Fun Tonight", and "In the Mood" as examples.  We'd love to have more Grade 7s join our group!
The Woodshedders, NDC's Jazz Band, rehearses on Wednesdays after school until 4:45 PM.  If your students are also involved in after-school sports, we make arrangements so that they can keep both commitments.
If your student is interested in joining, please ask them to contact me on the Discord, or just bug me in class about it tomorrow!

When PowerSchool Fails, Discord Can Help

Earlier this week, PowerSchool had a province-wide outage.  When it came back, my ability to email families was gone.  It's back now (obviously), but I want better communication with my families than PowerSchool can do.  That's why I'm asking parents to consider joining our Discord.  This video explains how.

With Instruments come COncerts

Now that instruments are here, we'll be teaming up Grade 7s with older students to help them learn the basics.  The only logical next step after that is for them to show you, the families, what they can do!  More announcements about that will be coming soon.

Thank you For Your Support of Your StudentS!

We can't wait to start making music, thanks entirely to your support!  God bless!