Band Camp Chaperones Needed!

Band Camp is less than a month away and we want to make absolutely sure we have the correct coverage so that the camp can go ahead as planned.

We need two parents per each bunk plus one extra for each night in case there is a last minute emergency that prevents a parent from being able to do band camp. Our immediate needs: Right now we need two fathers for Wednesday and one mother for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.  This will give us just enough for two in a bunk and one extra female and male chaperone each night.

In addition, I need all the parents who have signed up to stay one or more nights at band camp to now verify with me those days. You can check what I have you down for on the chart at roslynband.com and then e-mail me to verify at pattersax@gmail.com.  I need to make absolutely sure that we have enough parents to do the away camp this year.

I will make your box green on the online parents sign up sheet once you verify with me.

As I stated last year, we need two parents per each bunk plus one extra for each night in case there is a last minute emergency that prevents a parent from being able to do band camp. It is exciting to have such a large group of volunteers already.  We are just not there yet.

Reminder: There will be a point bonus of 200 points per night for the band member of any parent who comes up with a cap of 1000 points. 

Please e-mail me to verify or if you can chaperone.

2015 Marching Band Season Schedule Announced & Explained

After careful thought, planning and consideration, we have now posted our season schedule for next year at the bottom of this first page of the roslynband.com website.  Please realize that we have to plug in the home games and homecoming in the middle of March when those are set.

We will be returning to the New York State Field Band Conference, the Carrier Dome for the New York State Championships, and the Long Island shows where we competed from 2002-2012.  This year we were moved to class Small School 3 by the NYSFBC.  This is very good news for us.  We are now in a class with bands that rehearse about as much as we do.  This will most likely bring us some better trophies than we have been receiving the past 8 years in the advanced class, with bands that rehearse 300-500 hours.

We will not be doing the Newsday Show or the Columbus Day Parade.  These are two non-competitive events that take away from our competitive season rehearsal hours. The following are reasons why we came to this decision: We need to spend an entire rehearsal of preparation for the Newsday show which has different rules and regulations, time constraints to a 10 minute total show including pit on and off time makes us have to prepare for it.  In addition, it is now at a different venue, Mitchel Field which is much colder, and it is a late school night.  Performing at the Newsday show gives us a really tough week, losing the Wednesday rehearsal to Newsday prep, having to work on the massed band finale, and not getting home until 11:30 at night makes this show tough so we have decided not to do it. 

The Columbus Day Parade also impacts our season taking away hours of preparation from our already very small 80 hour rehearsal schedule,and we will make that a weekend off. Again, these two events will be removed from our schedule.

There are two off weekends during the Fall, one for Rosh Hashanah and one for Columbus Day.

We will be going back to our 2002-2010 Championship Weekend format which worked very well for us with the exception of leaving after school on Friday.  

We will be leaving on the Saturday, October 31st morning at 8am, driving to Syracuse for a very important  rehearsal, and then checking into the hotel, and then preparing for our band Halloween Party.  We will be performing at the State Championship on Sunday morning, then go back to the hotel to change, then to the famous Carousel Mall, then to the Dome to watch the finals which end around 10pm.  The order of these events will be finalized as we get closer to the championship. On Monday we will travel back to Roslyn, arriving at around 3pm.  We stayed for the finals for 9 years, and the staff and I strongly feel that watching the National Class has a huge impact on our growth and education with the Marching Band activity.  

I also want to remind everyone that Marching Band does not impact even one other day of school.  Our February trip is entirely on the break.  Many clubs and classes at the high school do day trips throughout the year to events that the club or class deems important and worthy of missing a day of school for the educational value.  We, the marching band staff, totally feel that this watching the top 8 bands in the country,  in a live, climate controlled venue, is the opportunity of a lifetime. This is a great way for our entire band to stamp and end to our competitive marching band season, watching the best bands in the country, concluding our hard work and effort, all sitting together and watching the finals.  After asking numerous alumni in the 10 years that we stayed for the finals, I have been convinced that this was an important, positive way of closure.

This year’s payments for Band Camp will be added to the Syracuse trip, since both are required to be in the marching band, I have put them together so that we have a few months off before taking money for the Florida Trip.  There will be four $250 payments, checks written out to Roslyn Band Fans, due in the middle of the month on February, March, April, and May.  As always, shoot for around the 15th of the month, but if you have to do it a little earlier or later, just drop me an e-mail to let me know. You can also pay it all at once, a total of $1000.  If you are on the school’s free and/or reduced lunch list, you receive a different payment amount, just e-mail me and I will let you know how much.  Please make sure that you are on that list, or we cannot give you that price.  If you are on free or reduced it is totally confidential so please only spek to me about it.  Our Band Fans Presidents will give me information about the Syracuse hotels for the parents, and I will tweet that on our twitter site.

The Florida trip will be from Saturday, February 13th, leaving at 8pm, to Saturday, February 20th, arriving home around 8pm.  We will perform at Disneyworld and stay on the grounds.  The cost of the trip is around $1500 total, includes food money and all costs involved with the trip.  The Florida trip is not mandatory. In addition, if you want to start paying early for it you can, just let me know so that the check is for Florida, not the season, so we can keep it in a part of the band fans account.  The free/reduced lunch price is also different, but you must be on the list and let me know via e-mail so I can get back to you with the price.  We will also be letting all the band parents know via twitter when the flights for the February break come online so that you can get the cheapest prices if you are planning on going to Florida to see the band perform. We will also be doing our traditional Epcot Fireworks dinner as a huge group, parents, family members and students on our Epcot day of the trip, all to be set up later. I will put up a detailed itinerary a few months before the trip so that you know where we are performing.  We will also be tweeting the hotel the parents are staying at. Our Band Fans group usually has a deal somewhere.  Remember, for security reasons all band members MUST go both ways with the band to Syracuse and Florida.  We need to know who is with us at all times and this is a steadfast rule.

This is an academic high school, one of the best in the country, with a competitive marching band.  Please realize that when we compete, we get scores and trophies and need to spend some time and attention to maximizing our rehearsal hours and involvement with the activity in such a way that we can start possibly winning some awards while impacting the academic schedule of our kids as little as possible.  We, the staff, look forward to your continued support and enthusiasm towards our entire marching band program especially if you are not in total agreement with the schedule as laid out above.

To get on the twitter site, just go to roslynband.com and go to the twitter directions page to learn how to get approved.  I have to approve you to get access to that site.

Any questions, as always, call, text or e-mail me.

Pat Patterson

pattersax@gmail.com

cell (text or call)  516-662-0206

Back to the Dome

Back to the Dome

Going back to our schedule and conference which we did from 2003-2012. Here are the dates so you can book hotels & airfare early.

Syracuse Trip

Friday, October 30, 2015  -  Busses Depart for Syracuse at 1pm, arrive at hotel at 7, dinner at hotel, pool & free time at hotel

October 31, 2015  -  9 am wake up, Phoenix (NY) Show at 1pm, Rehearsal in late afternoon at Central Square Stadium for 1 hour, Halloween Party at Hotel Ballroom (we may add family members to this party)

November 1, 2015  -  Carrier Dome State Championships in morning, late check out, Mall trip & Busses return to Roslyn by 10pm

Florida Trip

Saturday, February 13, 2016  -  Busses depart for Florida at 8pm

One day at each Disney park, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Studios, Animal Kingdom and one day at both Universal Parks, Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure

Saturday, February 20, 2016  -  Busses return from Florida between 5pm and 10pm depending upon traffic. 

Next Year - Leading you through the process

Next Year

In the next week I will be making the decision on where to compete next year and what events we will do as a competitive marching band. In order to lead you through this process I am listing the pros and cons of each possibility below so we can, together, make the right decision.

I love all the kids, parents, and staff members here at Roslyn; you are my family.  I believe we should all consider what is best for our band. Whichever competitions and events we decide to do, the kids will enjoy their marching band experience.

There are two conferences we could participate in next year - the New York State Field Band Conference or US Bands.  We took a few votes with the straw poll and Facebook page and it is very close to 50/50 on both, so I will obviously take into consideration the votes as well.  If you want to vote you can at http://strawpoll.me/2926881

We did the New York State Field Band Conference for 11 years and then tried the US Bands for 2 years. I am totally torn on going either way as you will see by reading on.  The end of our season in the New York State Field Band Conference is at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse which is always indoors; this event next year would fall on the weekend of Halloween. From my own view, my daughters cried when I told them that I might not be around on Halloween.  I realize that my job may take me away for Halloween, I missed many before, but have to put the program first sometimes. So I totally understand, there are pros and cons to each conference that we all must consider. 

Florida Trip on

The Florida trip will be on no matter which conference we compete in, pending BOE approval. Last year we had the largest ratio of kids going, about 90 out of 115.  We traditionally bring about 60 kids.  There are two reasons why more kids were able to go on the Florida trip.  We eliminated the Syracuse Trip which saved about $300 per kid and a lot more for families who feel they had to go to the Carrier Dome.  Then some parents told me the reason so many families and band members went to Florida was the fact that I set the trip dates more than a year in advance; earlier notice greatly impacts the cost of airfare and hotel rates.  In the past when only about half the band went we proposed the trip and set the dates about 5 months in advance.

A Decision will be made very soon

Due to the fact that hotels in Syracuse and Florida will be cheaper earlier, and the fact that people set up their family vacations about a year in advance, I will be making the decision very soon.

Field Band Conference Pros

• Indoor venue for Championship
• All local shows must have an indoor site immediately available to run a show. Performing outside and getting rained on is a rarity
• Dates are set in stone, sometime in April, we know who is at each show, what time we are on, and this never changes.
• We are a part of the Long Island Marching Band Community.  Of the 15 competitive bands on Long Island, 12 compete in the Field Band Conference and 3 do US Bands.
• Band director run conference, this is not a money making group
• Ticket prices are cheaper for all venues, they have rules for this
• I would choose to have the Columbus Day weekend off in its entirety as we did for 10 years competing in the Field Band Conference.

Field Band Conference Cons

• It costs more money to go to the Championship in Syracuse, about $300 for each kid and a lot more for families to go to the finals.
• Judges place us below the same bands regardless of our performance level.
• The Championship is on the Halloween weekend this coming year.

US Bands Pros

• The championship does not impact Halloween, we will have a choice of which championship to go to, at MetLife or Allentown, the only problem is, we will not know their dates until August.
• Band members and family members save money by no Syracuse Trip.

US Bands Cons

• They give us dates very late, usually in late July or August  They do not let us know what time our band is on until the week before. They are cryptic about scheduling.
•  They do not let us know what bands are competing in our class until the week before
•  They frequently move dates of events. 
•  Met Life/Allentown Championships are all outdoors and will run in frigid temperatures, with rain, wind, etc.  The bands in this conference do it all the time.  The upstate bands don't.
• This conference is run by the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps as their fundraiser.  Ticket prices are very high at all events.  
• Classification should work in our favor since we are a larger band in Group 5A, This worked in 2013 however they didn’t do that with our scores this past year.  We are not getting the scores we expect in either conference.

Newsday or Columbus Day

I strongly feel that we have to do one of these high profile shows to let everyone in the tri-state area know who we are, the publicity is astronomical for either of these events.

Columbus Day Pros

• Televised if we get to the booth by 3pm (50% chance this will happen).
•  Obviously a great venue to march in NYC.

Columbus Day Cons

• Columbus Day is on a holiday, we lose a day off
• We do not get our report time until the day before, so we have to go in and wait for 3 hours to step off, busses must be ordered in advance.
• Finding a bathroom in the city after the busses leave is difficult. They will not let our busses stay with us at the beginning of the parade route.
• Band students carrying Bass Drums and Quints through this very long day, I am not comfortable with this. 
• This parade is as unorganized as it can get.  

Newsday Pros

• It is televised over and over again on Thanksgiving Day and other times on the Optimum/Cablevision channels all over the tri-state area. (We perform at Newsday in mid-October).  
• 70 Long Island Bands perform in this non-competitive event.  Since we skipped these two years we have not been a part of that community.
• It is close by, at Mitchell Field (used to be at Hofstra)
• We look amazing compared to these non-competitive bands.

Newsday Cons

• We have a double whammy week with a Wednesday night rehearsal and Thursday night performance.  We cannot cancel one of our 9 rehearsals for anything.
• It is a late school night.  Our kids have to stay till the end for the massed bands performance. They have traditionally done their homework and studying in the stands.

In Conclusion

Right now, as I write this, I am leaning very slightly towards the Syracuse/Newsday Track which we did for 11 years, in part because I am still upset at seeing the kids so cold this past Saturday night, not to mention my bones are still cold thinking about it.  In addition, the US Bands this year did two things that greatly concerned me.  They switched dates frequently, we were lucky we only caught it once with the moving of the NYS Championships, which cost us a “back to back” show weekend which I never do.  They also did not give out any information to us at all about who was at the show, what time we are on, and that drives me absolutely nuts.  I don’t think that this works out with any program and especially ours.  We are an organized bunch, with kids and parents doing a million things.  A date or even a time change is monumental.  For my first 10 years here we locked down the schedule by April 1st.  This year it was in flux all season.  In terms of Columbus Day, I did the parade with Mineola 10 times and it was a well organized machine.  It was short, less strenuous on the students and I received dates and times months in advance. During the last two years it was not this at all. In addition, parades are rough on bands, our bodies are not meant to carry these heavy drums for these long periods of time.  I know it only affects only the drumline but I look at the program as if every kid is my own child.  Also, after talking to many band directors who pulled out of the Columbus Day parade due to the same issues, the fact that I did not have a report time or even an acknowledgement of us being accepted; I had a bad feeling in my stomach about it all and decided to pull out.  My number one priority is the kids being happy, healthy and taken care of and when I cannot feel comfortable doing those three things I need to regroup and plan so that I can.  This is really what everything in this blog post is about, the kids.

I look forward to determining the best course of action to take for the band.  We run a child centered program and the kids are always the top priority!

Yamaha Cup Update for tomorrow

So for the first time since I have been here at Roslyn we have had two Wednesday night rainouts in a row, which means, we haven't had a practice outside for 17 days prior to the Yamaha Cup, our year ending event.  This totally illustrates how the once a week rehearsal can impact our season if the weather isn't cooperative.  In addition, we may not even get outside tomorrow to practice at 3pm due to more rain in the forecast.

The good news, it probably will not be raining tomorrow night at 10:04pm at MetLife, when we are on. Well, the really good news is that our band is smart, they know the show very well, and if it is raining tomorrow we will go through the drill with them in a meeting in the lecture hall at 3pm.  They will probably do an amazing show, as they did for the home game run through last Saturday.

The championship gets hit with rain one in ten times in these outdoor arenas.  If you are in a band the year it gets hit with rain, then you are impacted greatly, which might happen tomorrow.  This is the reason that many bands go to the Carrier Dome for the finals, they are guaranteed to be able to get the show off with no precipitation or weather impact at all.

Tomorrow, if it is raining at 3 we are in the lecture hall, any rain at all. We cannot get wet and sit all day in that condition.  We are going to the Yamaha Cup in any case.

If it is drizzling at 10 we might go on, we might not.  I will make the call with the staff and may wait until just before we go on to make the decision.  I will tweet updates to the twitter site.  In case we march at 10:04 and THEN get wet in the middle of the show, I am asking everyone to bring a towel and plastic bag to put their wet uniform in, and then they can change back into their street clothes, which they wore to the school at 3pm.

Thanks for your understanding and support.

Yamaha Cup Update

The band directors just received a video of the director of US Bands updating us on the Yamaha Cup.  We will be receiving daily updates which I will pass on to you here, on the blog.

The forecast is for 1/8 inch of rain over the entire day at MetLife.  It is supposed to be cold and windy. The weather is supposed to let up at night, when we are on. Hopefully this will change for the better.  They are opening up the Lexus Club for spectators to get warm and the first floor lounge for band members to get warm.  Both are huge areas.  In addition, they are going to get bands into the stadium basement to warm up before they go on.  In any case, we are on for the night.  We will be reporting to the HS at 4:00, no matter what the weather at that time.  We have to go to MetLife because we have no idea what the weather will be like when we perform.

As always, we will not perform and get everyone sick.  The call will probably be made at the stadium.  I will tweet updates.

In the event that we somehow do not perform at MetLife due to the weather at 10pm on Saturday, we are performing our final run through at 8:45 tomorrow at our field for parents, friends and fans.  There is a slight chance that this will be our last performance of this year so I would attend.

The entire itinerary is on roslynrehearsal.com and is also downloadable as a pdf on that page.

More updates to come!  

Leadership Positions Announced

The positions are posted. Congratulations to the new leaders which start after the February break, when we start the new music and drumline/colorguard auditions.

We will be posting the Drum Major results the afternoon of October 30th, after the drum major auditions are completed.

As I have stated, we use the following criteria for achieving leadership positions in the marching band.

1. Earning enough points to be placed in the final top 20 on the Marching Band Points Tally

2. Performing on your instrument or flag with advanced proficiency

We are starting the points from today to tally into next year's point totals.  There will be a column after the February break that will include all of the points accumulated from today through the Yamaha Cup.

Leadership Positions for 2015

Mr. Coffey and myself are currently working on the new Marching Band leadership positions for 2015. Only those in the top 20 at the end of the season are guaranteed some leadership position. This is the top 20 positions at the end. If you are 23 and there are 3 seniors in the top 20, then you are still not in the top 20 positions so please do not expect an automatic position. The top 20 positions are exactly that, the top 20. In addition, they can receive ANY of the positions.

In addition, superior musicians can jump right into a position due to their level of musicianship. This has always been the case.

Factors that will affect the position you receive are, if you have ever bothered one of the top officers or staff for a point bump, have ever grubbed, or have ever campaigned for points, expect to receive one of the lower level positions. I have made it very clear that the points are just to give rewards and incentives and not to get positions just to line your high school resume. We are looking for the great people who do it for the program and as altruists. 

In the years we have been doing this I have found that just about all of the people who grub for points, ask for points, or complain to officers on a regular basis do nothing after they achieve a position.  For this reason, those non altruist types will NOT receive one of the top positions. 

Acts of compassion and helping band members, and the obviously opposite acts of deflating people's morale with bad behavior choices are also in the mix.

Last year I posted the positions the week prior to MetLife Championships and may do that once again this year.  All of the new positions will start in the Spring, in February, when we start rehearsing.  I like to do it early so to minimize the stress when tests and other issues are impacting all of our lives in the Spring.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

We are not performing in the Columbus Day Parade on Monday

I still have not received any information about what street we are on, what our report time is, or if we are even in the Columbus Day Parade in New York on Monday.  I have called them numerous times as well. This is uncharacteristic from my dealings with this parade for the 10 plus years I have led bands in this parade. For this reason we have decided to pull the band out of the parade on Monday.

Rehearsal Cancelled due to band's greatness!

Hey band, yesterday you were incredible!  Two amazing performances and a parade all in one day.  It was long, very demanding and not only did nobody complain, you did exactly what the staff asked throughout the entire weekend.   The performances showed your greatness and I am not just  proud of how you were during the performances but during the whole day as well.

So I was thinking what would be the best way to reward you, I talked to Mr. Coffey and Mr. Downey and we have decided to cancel Tuesday night's rehearsal.  We can all recharge our batteries and I think we all can agree that a break is good.  

Mr. Behiri recorded both events and I will have it on the youtube site as soon as I get them.  Please, in the next week spend the 16 minutes watching each one and find some things you could make better.

We have a very special band this year, I have never seen anything like it.  Your resiliency, positive attitude, and competitive nature is truly magical and regardless of the scores, you are all winners.  When we were warming up, at the end of that long day, you all cared, worked hard, were bubbly (until I find a better descriptor) and even enjoyed running to the bathrooms, laughing when we got to the High School in New Jersey.

I was so moved by your drive and determination, for the first time ever, I was not the least bit uptight about the scores.  I honestly was so moved but how great you were all day that the subjective scores meant very little.  Thank you!

It was a nice bonus that we had our highest opening score and beat a bunch of bands with our number.  The judges loved the show, a few tweaks and we are good to go.  The judges are never so positive with anyone!  The concept, drill, music and everything went over very well with them.

I'd also like to give a "shout out" to the band parents that pulled our equipment around, carried heavy speakers when the wheels broke and especially the leader of the pit, Gordon Berger.  I honestly do not know how we could pull the show off without you.

Good job, I am so proud to be director of such an amazing band, parents, and a supportive administration!