September 3, 2023 Band Notes

Remember next Secret Buddy Exchange is this Friday.
Pick up Mums on Saturday, September 9th (See below for details)
Senior Parents- Fill out this form (Please see below for details) Due October 4th. Please also check for an email sent to you on August 31st from Karyn Baioni seniors@masonbandboosters.com. The email details another action item Senior Parents need to complete by September 16th.
Check out the volunteer opportunities found below.
New Member Parents Save the Date For The Next Coffee Talk; Tuesday, September 12th
Instrumentalists should have white undergarments at this point. If not, please CLICK HERE to order now.

NEW INFORMATION

Second Home Football Game This Friday Night!

The second home football game is this Friday night!

Mason Bands Football Primer--Key Things to know:

Ticket information, schedule, and other important information for Friday night can be found HERE.

Uniforms

Students will wear their Summer Uniforms this week. They should bring their summer uniform with them to school so they can change into it prior to the game.

Instrumentalist Summer Uniform/Equipment Requirements (Please make sure you wear the correct colors):

Black socks
Black/dark shoes
Black Shorts
Green Mason Band polo
Black belt
Rehearsal clothes
Water Bottle
Money for Concessions (If desired)

Color Guard Uniform/Equipment Requirements:

Spirit Uniform
M Flag/Poms (in flag bag/bag)
Practice Equipment (in flag bag)
Jazz Shoes (in bag)
Practice Skirt (in bag)
Water Bottle (in bag)
Money for Concessions (in bag if desired)

Feed the Band

All students will be offered food every FOOTBALL FRIDAY compliments of our sponsors and/or the Mason Band Boosters!

This Friday’s Menu, September 8th, will be sponsored by Mason Band Boosters and provided by:

Jet’s Pizza- 7916 Mason Montgomery Rd, Mason, OH 45040

The Menu* will be as follows:

Regular/Nut/Egg Allergy - Pepperoni or Cheese Pizza with multipack Lays/Frito Chips, Rice Krispies, Fruit Snacks, Cuties, Gatorade.

Vegetarian/Halal/Onion Free - Cheese Pizza, multipack with Lays/Frito Chips, Rice Krispies, Fruit snacks, Cuties Gatorade.

Vegan/Dairy Allergy- Jet’s Plain Breadsticks with marinara sauce, multipack with Lays/Frito Chips, Rice Krispies, Fruit Snacks, Cuties Gatorade.

Gluten Free - Gluten Free Cheese Pizza and/or Salad, multipack with Lays/Frito Chips, Rice Krispies, Fruit Snacks, Cuties, Gatorade.

Note: The special diet foods are ONLY for those who have declared a special dietary need as we only have a limited number of those meals. Everyone else is expected to eat the Regular Diet meal. Likewise, those that have declared a special diet are expected to eat their special diet offering. Thank you for your cooperation!

*If the above do not meet your dietary preferences or needs, you always have the option of having food dropped off or packing your own dinner!

Any questions can be directed to our Feed the Band Chair, Smita Ankola at smita.ankola@gmail.com. We thank Smita for volunteering her time and taking on this large task for us this year!!!

Marching Band Secret Buddies

Reminder: The next Secret Buddy exchange is this Friday Night!

Dates:

9/8- Home Football Game

9/22- Homecoming Football Game

10/7- Mason Invitational

10/20- Super Regionals

11/4- MSBA Championships

11/09- Grand Nationals

Heritage Day Parade And Rehearsal Schedule

The Heritage Day Parade is quickly approaching on Saturday, September 16th. Please see below for the schedule for the day. Please note the schedule is different than what had originally been on the band calendar due to the uncertainty of what time of the day the parade would be taking place. Students will need to be on the lookout for communication from the directors on what uniform they will be wearing closer to the time of the parade. Please note that road closures will begin at 12:00pm. You will want to keep that in mind when you consider lunch plans for your student. It may be more difficult to have food dropped off or delivered. More details on road closures and the Heritage Festival can be found HERE.

SEPT. 16TH HERITAGE DAY PARADE & REHEARSAL SCHEDULE
9:00-11:00am	Rehearsal
11:00-11:15am	Snack Break
11:15-1:30pm	Rehearsal
1:30-2:30pm	Eat Lunch and Change into Uniform (summer or classic TBD by weather)
2:30pm	Block in bus circle, then walk over to parade staging area (Foxfield Drive by the Municipal Center).
3:00pm	Parade! Starts at the Municipal Center, runs north on Mason-Montgomery Rd, then left on Rt.42, and runs downtown. Best pick up location will be St. Susanna parking lot.
3:30pm	Parade ends at the St. Susanna parking lot. Students dismissed.
3:30-4:30pm	Band Room open to return equipment

Information On Uniform Fittings Coming Soon!

We hope to start doing fittings for the white competition pants the week of September 18. Please be on the lookout for communication coming out soon with information on how to sign up for your fitting.

Pick Up Mums This Saturday-Volunteers Needed

If you ordered Mums, you can pick them up at the front of Mason Middle school on September 9th from 10:30am-1:30pm.

Volunteers Still Needed: If you are able to help the day of pick up, please sign up HERE.

The Current Date For Individual Portraits May Change

Instrumentalist photos are presently scheduled for Wednesday, September 27th. This date will most likely need to change due to the high likelihood that there is going to be a delay in when the new uniforms will be delivered. Presently we are hoping to reschedule the portraits to October 4th. Please keep that date in mind as you plan out your October schedule. We will communicate the new date to everyone as soon as we have confirmation from FJM as to when the uniforms will be delivered.

Color Guard Photos are still scheduled to take place on Thursday, October 5th.

Once we have the date for the instrumentalists confirmed, we will send out details on how to schedule an appointment and place an order. We appreciate your patience while we work around these unforeseen circumstances. We want to make sure our students look their best on picture day!

Grand National Tickets Now On Sale

Performances and Tickets

This is a ticketed event. Families and friends are encouraged to make plans in advance to see the band in action at Lucas Oil Stadium.

There are two days of preliminary competition and we know Mason will perform Thursday, 11/9/23 at 4:45pm. Pending scores, Mason hopes to perform a second time in the semi-finals on Saturday 11/11/23 during the day. Based on the results of the semi-finals, bands have the opportunity to perform in the finals Saturday evening.

PLEASE NOTE: Each round is a separate ticketed event! Mason's Preliminary performance is on Thursday, November 9th at 4:45pm. Any Semi-Finals or finals performance times will not be known until Preliminary competition has concluded. The links to purchase tickets are below:

Prelims - Thursday, 11/9/2023 - Mason Performs at 4:45pm!

Prelims - Friday, 11/10/2023- Mason does NOT perform this day, but plan is for students to watch bands and semi-finals announcement at LOS.

Semis - Saturday, 11/11/2023 - Mason Semis performance time TBD (announced Friday evening).

Finals - Saturday, 11/11/2023 - Mason performance NOT guaranteed. Performance and time slot contingent on score in Semi-Finals and results.

***Pro Tip*** If you plan to stay in Indianapolis at any point during the weekend, we highly recommend you make reservations/plans for accommodations now to ensure you have a place to stay.

STUDENT ACCOMODATION SCHEDULE
Thursday	Travel to Indianapolis and will Return to Mason later that night. (Sleep in own bed!)
Friday	Spend the night in Indianapolis
Saturday	Spend the night in Indianapolis
Sunday	Return to Mason

Please click here for more information. Additional schedule details will be released as it becomes available.

REMINDERS

Volunteers Needed To Help Sell Car Raffle Tickets

The Car Raffle is one of our largest fundraisers for the band. We are in need of parent volunteers to help us sell tickets during football games and to help build up some community interest and excitement. If you are interested in helping us with this simple but important task, please sign up at the links below.

Volunteers Needed-District Tailgate This Friday

The Spirit Committee is in need of volunteers to help with the band's booth during the District Tailgate. The Tailgate will be taking place on Friday September 8th in the rear Middle School parking lot. Volunteers are needed from 3:30 pm until 7:00 pm. Please sign up HERE if you are willing to help. Thank you!

If you have any questions, please contact Gina at spirit@masonbandboosters.com

Mason Bands Car Raffle

Only a few more weeks to sell and purchase Car Raffle tickets to win a 2023 Jeep Wrangler or a cash prize! Please help us reach our goal of selling 3000 Tickets before the drawing on October 7th.

Information on the Car Raffle can be found HERE.

If you have not yet done so, please pick up tickets to sell near rehearsal (either bus circle or stadium) on Tuesday from 8-9pm. Adults ONLY please! We are asking each family to sell at least 9 tickets. We welcome you to sell as many as you can! The three families that sell the most tickets will win a $100 gift card to Topgolf!!

Please Note: If purchasing a bundle, all tickets in the bundle must have the same name, address and phone number with them.

Questions? - Please direct those to carraffle@masonbandboosters.com.

Concert Band Schedules, Fees, and Attire

Last week all concert band students received two acknowledgement forms to be signed by a parent or guardian. The first was a date contract and handbook acknowledgement form. Please be sure to put all the dates on this form on your calendar. The second form was a class fee and concert attire form. Please note that concert band fees this year will be collected with other class fees, not separately as in the past. Fees will be posted on EZPay later in the fall. Information regarding class attire can be found at the following links. Please be sure you click on the link that matches the correct ensemble for your student to ensure you order the appropriate items. If you would like more information, please check the "Course Information" folder on Schoology for your student's concert band class for more details.

Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band Attire

Green, White, Silver, and Concert Winds Attire

Super Regional Tickets On Sale Now

Super Regional tickets can now be purchased at the links below.

Friday Prelims Tickets- Guaranteed to perform.

Saturday Finals Tickets - Will need if we proceed to finals. **Please note that the only tickets needed for Saturday would be Finals Tickets since our preliminary performance takes place on Friday. You do not need Saturday Preliminary Tickets (unless you are interested in watching other bands that are scheduled for their Prelims on Saturday.)

The most current details/information on the trip can be found HERE for your planning purposes.

Students do NOT need tickets. They get admission as performers. Those volunteering AT THE EVENT also do not need tickets. Only those who are NOT volunteering at the event and wish to travel and watch the Band perform need to buy tickets. Totally OPTIONAL for families as students will be bussed via charter buses to and from Indy. Preliminary performance time is tentatively between 4-6pm (we do not have exact time yet) on Friday, October 20th and Finals performance time is TBD on Saturday, October 21st pending preliminary results. You will need a ticket for each session you plan to attend...Friday Prelims and Saturday Finals would be the two sessions we would perform. More information can be found at https://marching.musicforall.org/event/indysuper23/

Marching Band Next Steps - Registration Guide

Marching Band Registration Guide

This linked guide below is a comprehensive guide on all of the remaining steps required for both Marching Band and the Rose Parade Trip.

2023 Marching Band Registration Guide

Next Up

Past Due- Pay $450 Student Experience Fee 2 to Mason Band Boosters. Invoice was sent July 17th via email from: quickbooks@notification.intuit.com
October 1- Rose Trip Payment # 5 of $575 is due. Payment can be made to Bob Rogers Travel

Please contact medicalsecretary@masonbandboosters.com with any questions regarding medications or physicals. If you have any questions regarding fees, please email Mr. Sleppy at sleppyj@masonohioschools.com.