Announcements 3/4/2021

We have a few quick announcements for this semester:

1. Students need black and white concert attire before they perform at the Cisco Festival on the 17th.  This is either black socks, black slacks, black belt, black dress shoes, and a white collared shirt or black/white dresses.  If there is a financial need, please contact me and we will help.

​2. There will be a mandatory band parent meeting on April 19th at the stadium at 6:00PM. Boosters will be providing food and we will be going over everything you need to know for the coming fall marching season.  We will keep it around 30 minutes.

3. Our Spring concert that was previously on the calendar for April 4th which, as it turns out, is Easter.  We’re rescheduling for March 28th.  1:30PM for the concert band, 2:30PM for the Wind Symphony.  I apologize for the misplanning on this one.

4. UIL has changed locations.  It was previously at Tarleton University, but is now going to be at Mineral Wells high school.

5. The Banquet is scheduled for May 13th at the Lyric.

6. The school has lifted the mask mandate.  This will mean that we will be moving towards normal looking rehearsals (regular band set up) and travel for the remainder of the semester.

These students are working so hard and they are sounding amazing.  I can’t wait for you to see and hear their work.
If you have questions, please reach out to me.  Thank you for working through this extremely unconventional school year so far.  We’re all looking forward to what promises to be a regular fall.

Stephen Cox
scox@eastland.esc14.net
Here is an updated calendar:

We have a few spaces left open for Social Distanced Christmas caroling tonight.  We are knocking on the door and then moving 20 feet away and playing "Jingle Bells" when the door is answered.

We will be going from 4:00-6:00 this afternoon and if you would like to be on the list sign up below.  Depending on how many people request, we may or may not make it to everyone.

I’ve got to brag on the band students! This year has been the hardest year in every regard. Students have been in and out of class, we’d changed plans dozens of times and we’ve had to shift, cancel, or change so many things this semester.

We started this year without knowing if there would be a season, if we would get to travel, or if there would be in class learning. We’ve had masks, social distancing, and not a single indoor rehearsal with the full band.

It would be really easy for bad attitudes to develop or for the students to stop working, but they haven’t. They have had a fantastic spirit and done so much incredibly hard work.

I’m so grateful that we’ve had this opportunity when so many others have not and I’m so impressed by the young men and women of the band that have preserved and worked so hard throughout the passed 7 months of a global pandemic.

A couple of quick updates moving into this next week:

1. We are looking at changing our Christmas concert to December 5th. This is the day of the Eastland Christmas Parade. We will be marching the Christmas Parade (actually leading it!) and then immediately set up and perform our concert in the lyric. This is a really neat opportunity that we don’t normally get to do because it is the same day as all-region. This year all-region is online so we can do this parade. Students will need to wear jeans and dress up “Christmassy.” (Santa hats, red and green, etc)

2. We will continue to perform our Machinations 2.0 show for the next couple of games, but we will put a stand tune performance in front of it (like we usually do for playoff games). This will fill in where we have been featuring various groups throughout the semester.

3. In our continued attempt to feature as many seniors as possible this year, we will have an opportunity for the seniors to form a national anthem senior ensemble to play at the next pep rally as well as the Christmas concert. That music will be available on Tuesday after school.

4. We’re organizing canned food drive and Christmas caroling soon. Stay tuned in.

5. The band is going to be helping with lighting up the square on November 21st at 9:00am. This is voluntary but going to be a really cool community oriented service project. (We’ll also be participating in the first lighting of the square this year at the end of the parade route on December 5th.)

6. The first playoff game is going to be on Thursday against Callisburg in Decatur, TX. I will have details as soon as possible. We are going to push our “Eastland Band Film Festival” one week forward to Tuesday November 17th.

Morning rehearsals: We begin at 8:00AM this week and going forward this semester.  Please be outside ready to begin at 8:00AM.  Be at the band hall no later than 7:50AM to be ready on time.

Filming this week: in Band Show Tops (the ripped ones), jeans, and black/white shoes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.  You will have time to change after class on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tickets for families on Friday:
 Tickets will be available for parents starting tomorrow Tuesday the 3rd at 8am. The link is https://www.eastlandisd.net/.../east.../page/ticket-sales--3 The parents need to use their child's student ID number, example 59999, for the presale code and they will be able to purchase up to 4 tickets. The general public will be able to start buying tickets starting at 8am on Thursday the 5th.

Schedule on Friday: (Seniors have a different schedule for the beginning of the game).
Be in uniform tops/jeans/black and white shoes.  Jackets will be coming off during halftime, but you can wear black or white thermals under your show top.  Jackets can be worn in the stands.

6:00PM - Be at the stadium
6:30PM - Warm up in our stands section.
7:00PM - Game time

We still need four student volunteers for Thursday and 3 parents / adults for Friday

Here are links to the sign ups:

Student Sign up for Thursday:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d49afa82aa3fe3-band1

Adult sign up for Friday:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d49afa82aa3fe3-concession4

I'm putting resources here for the clinic entitled

Here is the slideshow:

Please Enjoy this video made by the Eastland HS band students to give advice to incoming freshman:

Please Enjoy out all digital Spring concert.  The videos have been separated by song and the audio is better, but you can see the full concert as originally aired at the bottom of this post if you prefer.