Week of October 18

 

Fall Concert—October 28th

Our first concert of the year is almost upon us!  The students have been working hard and are excited to showcase what they have learned in the first two months of school.  Below is some pertinent information for the concert. Please note that there is no audience member cap this year. Each student may bring as many audience attendees as they like! Per district rules, audience members must wear a mask while in school buildings.

Call time is 6:00pm.  Students should be at West and ready to go no later than 6:00pm. We will be taking group photos at 6:00 and then following with fundamentals and tuning.

The auditorium seating area will open at 7:15pm. Please do not arrive earlier than 7:15 as the auditorium won’t be open until 15 minutes before the concert. Those who arrive early can wait in the lobby.

Concert time is 7:30pm.  All four of our bands will perform on this night. The concert should be no longer than one and a half hours and features 200 musicians! Students are expected to stay for the entire concert.

Concert dress is as follows:  

Men and students issued a tuxedo will wear their school-provided tuxedo jacket, pants, bow tie, and cummerbund.  They must also provide their own clean, white button-down shirt with a collar.  The shirt can be either long or short sleeve, as they will be covered by the jacket.  Men should also wear long black socks and all-black shoes.  

All other students should wear all black.  This provides some options, but please be sure to choose something that is dressier and will go with the tuxedos.  Options might include a black blouse, a black button-down shirt, a black skirt that extends below the knees, black pants, or a simple black dress.  Shoes must be all-black, but socks are not required.

Students with financial difficulties should contact Mr. Singer or Mr. Wilson for assistance as soon as possible. We can help, but we need time to plan. Students who come to the concert without proper concert attire may not be able to perform.

Concert Attire Donations

We are looking to create a “closet” of items to distribute to students in need for our upcoming performances. These items can be new or gently used. We are in need of all-black shoes, men’s white button-down shirts, black dress pants, and dressier black tops for concert performances. If you have anything that you would like to donate please have your student bring them to West. Thank you for your consideration.

HOLIDAY PARADES — NOVEMBER 18 AND 23

Each year, all students in our four bands combine to perform in the Oshkosh and Appleton Holiday Parades. This is a required performance for all students. Permission slips are due on Monday, October 25, for full credit. Permission slips turned in after the due date can still be turned in for partial credit. Students who do not turn in the permission slips before the performance date will be ineligible to perform.

The uniform for the parades is as follows:

All students will wear their marching uniform jacket, pants, and hat provided by the school. Students are responsible for providing long black socks and all-black shoes. Shoes that are not all-black will be made all-black. Expensive and/or fancy shoes are unnecessary! Find a pair of cheap all-black shoes that will last all four years at Walmart, Target, Goodwill, or your favorite local store. Students with financial difficulties should contact Mr. Singer or Mr. Wilson for assistance. (Students without proper attire on the performance days will not be able to perform.)

It will be cold! The band program provides clean black ear warmers to be worn underneath the marching hats. The uniforms were fit with a little room so students can wear thermals, sweatshirts, Underarmour, or the like. Please do not wear anything with a hood as that will make the jacket bunchy. It may be a good idea to bring hand and/or foot warmers as well.

Holiday Parade Volunteers

The next events that we need assistance with are the Oshkosh Holiday Parade (November 18th) and the Appleton Holiday Parade (November 23rd). We need both in-person volunteers and donations or dessert items and water. Please take a moment to visit our Volunteer Sign-Up page to contribute to your student’s success!

For the fall holiday parades, we need help with the following:

  • Pizza Pick-Up: 3:45pm

    • This position will pick up 60 pizzas from Little Caesars on Koehler near Walgreens.

  • Pizza Serving: 3:45-4:45pm

    • These positions will help serve dinner to students.

  • Uniform Distribution: 4:30-5:30pm

    • These positions will assist students in finding uniforms and hats.

  • Pull Band Trailer: 5:00-8:30pm (truck needed)

    • This position will pull our band trailer downtown so that students can unload their equipment.

  • Follow Vehicle: 5:00-8:30pm

    • This position will follow the band down the parade route in the event that a student has a medical need. We will supply a first aid kit. No medical experience is necessary!

  • Uniform Collection: 8:00-8:45pm

    • These positions will verify that students have hung their uniforms up properly and put the hats back on the shelves.

  • Dessert Donation (cookies, brownies, etc.)

    • We would like to provide our students with an assortment of cookies and/or brownies with their pizza. These items can be store-bought or homemade.

  • Water Donation

New Fundraiser

Today, we will be starting the second fundraiser (of three) of the year: OshPop Popcorn. Forms and payment are due no later than November 8th. We cannot accept late orders! If your student is absent, please make arrangements to get the form and payment to West by the end of the school day.

Every student can benefit from this fundraiser, as we will all be traveling at least once with the bands this year. Many students are traveling to Orlando in March and everyone will travel to Milwaukee to perform at a concert competition in May (cost will be $50-$75, depending on student voting outcomes in November — more info to come!).

Please take a look at the linked brochure! Some highlights are listed below.

Important Information:

  • Start Date: October 18, 2021

  • Orders and Payments Due By: November 8, 2021

  • Pick-Up: November 17, 2021, from 3:30-4:30 in the Kimbal Auditorium Lobby

  • Profit: 40%

  • Catalog: Click Here! (also available in class)

  • Order Form: Click Here! (also available in class)

Band-o-Rama — December 11, 2021

We are revamping the Band-o-Rama festival that has been held in the past. Beginning this year, Band-o-Rama will become a performance featuring all 700+ band students from grades 6 through 12!

The performance will be on December 11th at 6pm in the Oshkosh North Fieldhouse. Due to fire code, each student will receive 2 tickets for the event. Additionally, we will have a small lot of additional tickets that will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis via a form to be shared in late November. The event will also be livestreamed. We may look at doing multiple days in the future to allow for more audience members.

Due to the magnitude of the performance, we will have a required rehearsal in the fieldhouse prior to the performance. Below is the high school schedule for the day:

  • 12:40pm Arrive at North and report to homerooms

  • 1:00 pm 6-12 rehearsal

  • 1:30 pm 7-12 rehearsal

  • 2:00 pm Combined Wildcat, Spartan, and Concert Bands rehearsal

  • 2:30 pm Combined High School rehearsal

  • 3:00 pm Combined Wind Ensemble and Varsity Band rehearsal (Wildcat, Spartan, and Concert Bands students dismissed)

  • 3:30 pm Wind Ensemble and Varsity Band students dismissed

  • 5:30 pm call time to homerooms

  • 6:00 pm Performance

GRADING AND MAKE-UP PROCEDURES

Are you curious about how grades are determined?  Click here for more information!

Do you have to miss a pep band performance?  Students who have a school-related activity are excused from the pep band performance.  Students missing for any other reason must make up the performance to gain the points.  Students wishing to be excused for a school-related activity should fill out this form prior to the date of the performance.  

Do you have to miss a concert or parade performance?  All students missing a concert or parade performance for any reason must make up the performance to gain the points.

View make-up procedures here.  Please contact Mr. Singer or Mr. Wilson with questions.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

  • October 28 at 7:30pm — Fall Band Concert (All Band Students)

  • November 18 at 6:15pm — Oshkosh Holiday Parade (All Band Students)

  • November 23 at 7:00pm — Appleton Holiday Parade (All Band Students)

  • December 11 at 6:45pm — Band-o-Rama (All District Band Students)

Oshkosh West Bands