After a long search over the past 3 months we have reached a decision. Camp Taconic in the Berkshires is the new camp we have chosen to go to. The price for camp will still be $615. The dates are August 15th through August 21st. A special thanks to Saul Waxman, Jed Schlacter, and Jim Downey as well as many other parents for helping me with the search. I will be proposing the band camp for approval by our Board of Education at the January 20th BOE meeting. Please remember, this is all subject to BOE approval.
Camp Taconic is state of the art, incredibly clean and new everywhere — great facilities for outdoor and indoor rain practices, delicious meal selections, wifi and full cell service for all carriers. The Berkshires are traditionally cooler than upstate New York, the mountains offer a scenic background to the beautiful lake that surrounds three sides of the camp. The price will be the same and all amenities will be what we are used to and MORE! The Berkshires offer a lot for our parents to see as well. Tanglewood, arts centers, museums, restaurants, shopping, and many of the nicest tourist areas in the country will make some great day trips for parents who are helping us to chaperone. Taconic will be taking care of the afternoon fruit snacks and all water so parent chaperones can avail themselves of some time to explore the area during the day. Travel is a bit longer, about 3 hours away from home however, there are multiple ways of getting home from there. We will have a variety of routes in order to avoid the traffic snarls that we experienced in past years. You only have to cross over one bridge to get back to Long Island. Overall this is a great choice for us. Just look at the two links below and you will see for yourself.
Check out Camp Taconic
Hit link below for the Camp Taconic Map. There are slides of each area, just click around the map.
http://www.camptaconic.com/Content/VirtualMap/VirtualMap.asp
Hit link below for the Camp Taconic video. It is their camp promotional video which shows just about all of the areas of the camp.
http://www.camptaconic.com/Content/Staff/Staff.asp?Link=Video
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Band Camp 2011
Our band has grown in leaps and bounds over the past 7 years. With that in mind, I have decided to take our band in another direction with our band camp venue.
For the past three months Saul Waxman, Jed Schlacter, Jim Downey, and myself have been looking for camps. I made two trips to three camps who have our dates available and we are now about to finalize our plans. In a few days, this Friday or Saturday, I will post a full update on where we plan on having band camp in 2011.
I will also be deciding on next year’s trip, either the Outback Bowl or a Disneyworld Trip. We will probably vote on it to see if there is enough interest.
For the past three months Saul Waxman, Jed Schlacter, Jim Downey, and myself have been looking for camps. I made two trips to three camps who have our dates available and we are now about to finalize our plans. In a few days, this Friday or Saturday, I will post a full update on where we plan on having band camp in 2011.
I will also be deciding on next year’s trip, either the Outback Bowl or a Disneyworld Trip. We will probably vote on it to see if there is enough interest.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Orange Bowl Plans Unveiled
Hot off the press! Ok, here we go! I have just received all the instructions from the Orange Bowl about the game, exactly what and when we are performing. This is very exciting. The Orange Bowl started this tradition of having a major artist perform at their game, many years before the Super Bowl copied their format which is now famous. Being a part of this game is a true honor, it is a top Bowl Game and we will be nationally televised. They could not formalize any of this until the teams were decided, which took place last night. The two teams are Stanford and Virginia Tech.
First let’s start with the parade on Sunday, January 2nd. This is the Junior Orange Bowl Parade, the official parade, which replaced the Miami Orange Bowl Parade which was stopped after 9/11. This is a huge parade in the town of Coral Gables and is part of the Orange Bowl Festivities.
For the Jr. Orange Bowl Parade on Sunday we will do the two new parade tunes “On Broadway and “Rocky” with the drum majors in their drum major uniforms, the guard with flags and the dancers with the yellow streamers. All the band members will play instruments with the exception of Keith Shapiro and Lindsay Wolfson who will hold the banner in front of the band. See what your assigned instruments are on the “Orange Bowl Info” page of the website. The captains will choreograph a simple routine and we will learn them during the three rehearsals before the trip (Wednesday December 15th, Monday December 20, and Wednesday December 22, with uniform and instrument and uniform check-in for the trip that last night). All band members must check in their instruments and uniforms on that night, we will lock them all in the bandroom for the trip.
Now the Game on Monday night. For the Pre-Game, all band members from the two High School Bands will unfurl and hold a 50 yard wide American Flag for the National Anthem, this will most likely be nationally televised on ESPN. This is one of those huge flags. We will practice this very involved unfolding at the rehearsals in Miami as well.
Now onto the halftime extravaganza. When the half time starts, a DJ will call the two bands out and have us play the 2 minute fanfare to begin the festivities while the stage is being set up, we will then be doing an additional special effect after our fanfare to introduce the GooGoo Dolls. We will practice this at the two Massed Band Rehearsals as well.
We will then stay near the tunnel after our segment to watch the GooGoo Dolls show from the field level and then move back up into the stands to watch the second half of the game.
There will be no pit or drum majors in the half time show, I have assigned everyone to instruments. Guard and Dancers will have flags and will learn their routine together with the other guard at the Miami Massed Band Rehearsals. They will all do a flag routine with the band during the fanfare.
All music is up on the 2nd page of the website entitled “Orange Bowl Info.” There are music links to download your parts to practice as well as audio links to listen to the music. Please learn everything and learn the part you are assigned to.
Keep looking to this blog for more information and an update on band camp which I will post this Thursday or Friday.
First let’s start with the parade on Sunday, January 2nd. This is the Junior Orange Bowl Parade, the official parade, which replaced the Miami Orange Bowl Parade which was stopped after 9/11. This is a huge parade in the town of Coral Gables and is part of the Orange Bowl Festivities.
For the Jr. Orange Bowl Parade on Sunday we will do the two new parade tunes “On Broadway and “Rocky” with the drum majors in their drum major uniforms, the guard with flags and the dancers with the yellow streamers. All the band members will play instruments with the exception of Keith Shapiro and Lindsay Wolfson who will hold the banner in front of the band. See what your assigned instruments are on the “Orange Bowl Info” page of the website. The captains will choreograph a simple routine and we will learn them during the three rehearsals before the trip (Wednesday December 15th, Monday December 20, and Wednesday December 22, with uniform and instrument and uniform check-in for the trip that last night). All band members must check in their instruments and uniforms on that night, we will lock them all in the bandroom for the trip.
Now the Game on Monday night. For the Pre-Game, all band members from the two High School Bands will unfurl and hold a 50 yard wide American Flag for the National Anthem, this will most likely be nationally televised on ESPN. This is one of those huge flags. We will practice this very involved unfolding at the rehearsals in Miami as well.
Now onto the halftime extravaganza. When the half time starts, a DJ will call the two bands out and have us play the 2 minute fanfare to begin the festivities while the stage is being set up, we will then be doing an additional special effect after our fanfare to introduce the GooGoo Dolls. We will practice this at the two Massed Band Rehearsals as well.
We will then stay near the tunnel after our segment to watch the GooGoo Dolls show from the field level and then move back up into the stands to watch the second half of the game.
There will be no pit or drum majors in the half time show, I have assigned everyone to instruments. Guard and Dancers will have flags and will learn their routine together with the other guard at the Miami Massed Band Rehearsals. They will all do a flag routine with the band during the fanfare.
All music is up on the 2nd page of the website entitled “Orange Bowl Info.” There are music links to download your parts to practice as well as audio links to listen to the music. Please learn everything and learn the part you are assigned to.
Keep looking to this blog for more information and an update on band camp which I will post this Thursday or Friday.
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