Week of November 2, 2026

Holiday Parade — November 19th

Each year, all students in our four bands combine to perform in the Oshkosh Holiday Parade. This is a required performance for all students.

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 will not board the bus or be able to perform without the proper attire.)

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.

Clarinet and saxophone players may wish to purchase plastic reeds for the cold temperatures. Plastic reeds have strengths in quarters (2.5, 2.75, 3, 3.25, 3.5) rather than halves (2.5, 3, 3.5) like cane reeds. We recommend ordering a quarter stronger than you typically play. So, if you typically play a 2.5, order a 2.75 (though we should consider moving you up to a 3 cane reed). If you typically play a 3, order a 3.25. If you typically play a 3.5, order a 3.75. We recommend using the Légère Signature brand. Légère has other cheaper models, but this is definitely a “you get what you pay for” situation. From our experience, we do not recommend other brands at this time.

Brass players may wish to purchase a plastic mouthpiece for the cold temperatures. Please get a clear, white, blue, gray, silver, or black mouthpiece. Below are links to recommended mouthpieces. You can purchase these through many sellers, including: Amazon, at Heid Music, through the Kelly website, or other online music retailers.

• Trumpet Mouthpiece (choose 3C, 5C, or 7C based on your metal mouthpiece)

• Horn Mouthpiece (choose the MC model)

• Trombone Mouthpieces

  • Double-check your instrument for small or large shank (or ask Mr. Singer)

  • Straight Tenor Trombone Mouthpiece (choose the 6-1/2AL model)

  • Trigger Trombone Mouthpiece (choose the 5G model)

• Euphonium Mouthpieces

  • Double-check your instrument for small or large shank (or ask Mr. Singer)

  • Yamaha Euphonium Mouthpiece (choose the 6-1/2AL model) small shank

  • King Euphonium Mouthpiece (choose the 5G model) Large shank

• Tuba Mouthpiece (choose the KellyBerg model)

Holiday Parade Volunteers

The next events that we need assistance with is the Oshkosh Holiday Parade (November19th). we still need lots of help for both parades. Please take a moment to visit our Volunteer Sign-Up to contribute to your student’s success!

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

• Water Donations

  • These positions will donate 24-36 bottles of water for dinner.

• Dessert Donations

  • These positions will donate 24-36 dessert items for dinner. These can be homemade or store-bought.

• Pizza Pick-Up: 3:45-4:15pm

  • This position will pick up our pizza dinner and deliver it to school.

• Pizza Serving: 3:45-4:45pm

  • These positions will serve pizza, dessert, and beverages to students. We’ll also need help at the end of dinner to clean up.

• Follow Vehicle: 5:00-8:45pm

  • This vehicle will follow the band down the parade route and carry our first aid kit with the potential to transport a student for the remainder of the parade if necessary.

• Pull 26 foot Band Trailer (Need large truck -- F150 or similar): 5:00-8:45pm

  • This position will pull our band equipment trailer to and from the parades.

• Uniform Distribution: 4:30-5:30pm

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

• Uniform Collection: 7:45-8:30pm

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

BAND-O-RAMA — DECEMBER 12

We are excited to continue our tradition of having all 800+ district band students perform at Band-o-Rama!

This year’s performance will be on December 12th at 6pm in the Oshkosh North Field House. Due to fire code, each student we are asking each student to bring only 2-3 audience members. Please let us know if you’d like to bring more, as we may be able to accommodate that as well.

Students will have combined rehearsals (with North and middle school band students) during the day on Saturday, December 12th. Full schedule coming soon (will be very close to last year’s rehearsal schedule).

More information to come soon!

BASKETBALL PEP BANDS

Basketball season will be starting next month and that means we begin our second pep band season! Call time in the West band room is 6:30, and we’ll move to the gym around 6:45, and we’ll begin playing before the Varsity games around 7:00, depending on the timing of the JV game that precedes the Varsity game. For most games, we expect to play for pregame and halftime. We expect the halftime performance to be over between 8:00 and 8:15.

When we play halftime, students may sit in the student section or pep band section during the first half but should be back in the pep band section with two minutes left on the clock before halftime to prepare for the second performance. The uniform for these games is West or blue and white gear or the student section theme.

There are two A games, two B games, two C games, and two D games. Each student is required to perform at minimum of one of each letter. Students will choose one A, B, C, and D. As always, students are highly encouraged to come to more than the minimum! The more students we have performing at each Pep Band event, the better (and louder) we sound.

Each performance is a demonstration of musical skills by the students.  Since band is a class and performances are a part of the learning process as well as graded public demonstrations of skills learned, attendance and participation at each performance is expected, required, and graded.  If a student must miss a performance, we do have opportunities for students to make-up the missed points.  The procedures can be viewed on this page on our website.

Students who are participating in a school-related activity (game/match/meet/etc.) during BOTH pep band performances of the same letter (both A games, both B games, etc.) are excused.  This may include being on the team playing while we perform or on a team that has an away event during our performance.  To be excused, students must fill out this form on our website prior to the beginning of the performance.  

Again, to be excused, students must have SCHOOL-RELATED (clubs, athletics, other...) conflicts for BOTH options. If they aren’t SCHOOL-RELATED conflicts for BOTH events, they are not excused.

If you have to miss BOTH games of the same letter for a non-school-related conflict, you can view make-up procedures here.  Please contact Mr. Singer with questions.

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 earn the points.

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

Upcoming Events

Click on each event for more complete information!