Sunday, January 10th, 2010
Dear RMBA Parents,
You are cordially invited to join us for a buffet lunch to celebrate a great season on Sunday, January 31 from 12:00-3:00pm at the Basking Ridge Country Club.
Please return the bottom portion of the ATTACHED INVITATION FLYER with your RSVP and check to Nina Reburn by Friday, January 22. Advance reservations are required and we will be unable to accept payments at the door.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Nina at (908) 221-1433.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Warm regards,
Your RMBA Board
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Winter Guard and Percussion Ensemble
The Winter Guard and Percussion Ensemble have been established to build on performance techniques from the fall and hopefully elevate them to new levels for next season. Most of the bands that beat us have active indoor guard and percussion ensembles during the winter, as do many other bands in our circuit. It is vital for our future competitive success that marching band students participate fully in these ensembles. Obviously, all wind players should be participating in the curricular ensembles and taking private lessons to hone their performance skills. For more information feel free to contact me.
Leadership Positions
Students who are interested in leadership positions will need to submit a formal application that I will provide in the future. It is important to begin thinking about building your leadership resumes now. The following is a list of criteria that I will be looking for in a leadership applicant.
- Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills
- Strong performance skills (marching, spinning, playing)
- Participation in other school ensembles (Concert Band/Wind Ensemble, Winter Guard, Percussion Ensemble)
- Attendance both past and future. Student leaders must be able to attend 100% of all rehearsals and performances.
- Recruiting new members
Band Camp
The dates for band camp are August 23-27. There will also be summer rehearsals scheduled including a mini camp specifically for marching technique, music memorization, and freshmen orientation. A tentative schedule will be done soon.
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
All Shakos must be returned immediately! They are being used by the dance classes in a Rockettes type routine.
Uniforms-Everyone should dry clean their uniform as soon as possible and store it in a safe place (not the bottom of your closet or in a random corner of the band room). We will be using the uniforms in the Memorial Day parade so everyone may keep them until then. We will be collecting the uniforms after the parade including all color guard uniforms.
Don’t forget about the Memorial Day parade (May 31)! This is a wonderful tradition and a great public relations opportunity for the band. Details about the scheduling of the parade and rehearsals prior to it will be posted at a later date. I plan on having at least two practices to ensure a quality performance.
Looking toward next year…We must build on our success so please spread the word amongst friends and recruit! We should have a prize for the person who brings in the most new recruits!
One thing that we can do from within the band is try to improve the balance in instrumentation. Although we did have a very successful season, our single biggest weakness was a lack of low brass. If anyone would like to switch instruments or knows someone who may be interested in learning a low brass instrument see me ASAP. In the off season it is vitally important that everyone maintain their skills through practice, private lessons, and participation in other school ensembles. If we are to improve as an ensemble, everyone must make it a priority to improve their overall musicianship.
Friday, December 4th, 2009
Practice tomorrow will begin at 11:00 (changed from 10:00) and we will be rehearsing at Lee field. Tickets for spectators will be 10.00 for adults and 7.00 for students.
Saturday, November 28th, 2009
As many of you know, the state championship football game is on Saturday December 5th at Kean University. Since we are the visiting team, we will perform the pregame show. In order to make sure that we have a representative performance, we will be rehearsing on Thursday from 3:00-4:00. The schedule for Saturday is as follows: 10:00-12:00 Rehearse
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00 Depart
2:40 Pregame performance
3:00 Game Time
Monday, November 16th, 2009
The competitive season has come to a dramatic and successful conclusion, and I am very proud of the students for their hard work and dedication throughout the year. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Ridge Marching Band as it is an outstanding organization of students, staff, and parents.
We do have at least one more opportunity to perform our show. Since the football team won the first round of playoffs (in dramatic fashion), we have a game on Friday, November 20th at home vs.
Woodbridge.
We will NOT practice on Tuesday or Thursday, but we will practice on Friday from 4:00-5:00.
If we win on Friday, we will have another game on December 3, 4 or 5th at Giants Stadium or
Kean
University.
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
It has been a great season and we are now in the final days. Here is the schedule for this week:
Thursday Rehearsal: Weather permitting we will be rehearsing on LEE FIELD until 6:00 PM.
Friday: Football @ Bridgewater HSRehearse 2:45-4:15Dinner: 4:15-5:00Depart: 5:00Pre-Game 6:40
Game Time 7:00
Saturday: Championship Competition in Allentown PA
Rehearse 2:00-5:00
Dinner 5:00-6:00
Depart-6:00
Perform 9:26
Awards 10:15
I will be selling tickets until the morning of championships. If you still need tickets please purchase them ASAP since we have a quota to fill.
Rehearse 2:45-4:15
Dinner: 4:15-5:00
Depart: 5:00
Pre-Game 6:40
Game Time 7:00