Merry Christmas!

The Bands of Holy Spirit School would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all of those who helped to make our busy month of December a great success.

To our parents and families: Thank you for listening to us practice, driving us to extra events and for making it possible for us to have such wonderful programs at our school. Thank you for sending us to a school where we can openly and enthusiastically praise God through music.

To all of the faculty, and staff of our school and To our Principal, Mrs. Simonsen: Thank you for helping us through all of the schedule changes, extra rehearsal times and your constant support. Thank you for everything that you do to support the fine arts at Holy Spirit.

May your Christmas Season be filled with Many Blessings! See you in the New Year!

Making a Difference!

The Varsity Band is greatly looking forward to participating in the Salvation Army's 2009 Red Kettle Campaign. On December 22nd we will be "Ringing Bells" with Christmas Carols at the Darboy Festival Foods. Come and hear some music and help us to raise money for a great cause!

More Information on this event will be delivered shortly!

How to Get an 'A' in Band: Responsibility and Respect

Welcome to a New School Year!

Together we will work to not only present fabulous concerts but to also grow as musicians and people. We accomplished great things last year and we will do even more in 2009-2010.
So that we can hit the ground running, I would like to give you all of the secrets to a good band grade right now.

Our theme for the Bands of Holy Spirit this year is "Responsibility and Respect." These values should be applied to everything you do in our classroom.

Be Responsible:

• Come to your band lessons. Seven band lessons will be required each quarter.
• Prepare for your lessons. You are in charge of how well you can play. You choose to be a better player every time that you practice. 75 minutes of practice time is required each week to earn an 'A' 60 minutes earns a 'B' and 45 minutes earns a 'C'.
• Bring your practice log to every lesson Your practice log will be worth 50% of your lesson grade. No practice log means you can only earn half of the credit for the lesson. No exceptions.
• Bring your instrument, music and a pencil to every band rehearsal. Your time is valuable and we want to spend every minute of our time together on music.
• Turn assignments in on time. Late work will not be given full credit.

Be Respectful:

• We will strive to only create beautiful sounds in the band room. Using your voice or instrument to purposefully create not-so-beautiful sounds is not a respectful choice.
• When Mrs. Barnhill is on the podium it is your cue to listen and be ready to play.
• Our time together is limited and valuable. Please choose behaviors that allow us to use this time well.
• Treat your classmates well.

In this new year, we will have new opportunities and many chances to experience great things. I am truly blessed to work with such a fantastic group of young musicians.

Together we will make beautiful music!