Winter Concert

Thursday, December 3rd, 7pm

The J.E.B. Stuart High School Orchestra Department
is pleased to offer its
Annual Winter Concert!

The students have worked extremely hard on the music literature that they will be presenting to the public. The concert is free and all are invited to attend! There will be a small reception after the concert in the Little Theatre. Here are some orchestra reminders for the students:

♫       Please take your instrument home over the Thanksgiving break to practice. There are only two rehearsals left before the big concert.

♫       The following are “call times” for the students. Please arrive at SHS no later than your selected time. Bring black socks/tights and black shoes to wear.

§  Symphonic Orchestra – 5:30pm

§  Chamber Orchestra – 5:50ppm

§  Concert Orchestra – 6:15pm

♫       The concert counts as a summative grade for the class. All students are required to attend.

We are asking for food and drink donations from students for the reception immediately following the concert.  Drop off items at the Little Theater on your way into the school. If your last name begins with: 

     A to K – please bring bottle water, cans of soda, juice boxes
     L to Z – please bring cookies, brownies and other dessert items to share

Thank you for your tireless support. We may not say it often enough but your continued commitment to orchestra is greatly appreciated and does not go unnoticed.

Help Needed for District Orchestra Auditions

Please see below for a volunteer opportunity for this coming Tuesday, November 17^th. Stuart is hosting the district orchestra auditions and many items will be needed for hospitality. Please consider and if you can help – please drop off items no later than  2:30pm on Tuesday in the orchestra room. Thanks so much, it is greatly appreciated!! 

The link for the signup genius is:

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/60B0549ABA92AAA8-district 

On a side note – many students from Stuart will be auditioning on that day, so wish them good luck J Registration opens at 3:45 and closes at 6pm on that evening if your child is auditioning.

Fall Concert – note start time @6:30

Fall Concert

October 22^nd (Thursday) 6:30pm in the Stuart Auditorium

Call times for all groups is 5:30pm

This Thursday will be our joint concert with Glasgow Middle school.

We wanted to start off the year with a casual performance so formal uniforms will not be used.

Some sections are deciding to dress up for this fall concert in costumes –
check with your section leader to confirm!

Join us after the concert for a pizza reception provided by the JEB Stuart Orchestra boosters.

Please consider donating some items or your time to make this event especially memorable!!

Here’s how you can help:   http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0549aba92aaa8-fall

TAG DAY September 19th: Volunteers Needed

Please mark your calendars for TAG DAY, Saturday September 19. It is the most important fundraiser for the JEB Stuart music department in that it benefits all students in Orchestra, Band and Chorus. It is an annual September event in which music students canvas the neighborhoods to request donations for Stuart’s fantastic music ensembles. Every year the students raise over $30k in one day of fundraising. The funds are then divided between the 3 music disciplines depending on the hours of participation from the students/parents in that music discipline.

Orchestra parents are needed to make this fundraiser a success. We need parents to act as drivers for the day. Each parent driver takes 4 students in their vehicle and drives a designated route through the community. Parents' hours are also included in the division of the funds so please volunteer for this very important event. You may sign-up as a parent driver at this link:

http://www.jooners.com/guest?l=d9edd784-0fcd-4412-8aeb-ba8e6473199b

All orchestra students are expected to participate Saturday September 19^th from 8a to ~3:30p. This fundraiser provides the money for yearly expense of uniforms, instrument purchase and repair, transportation to festivals and performances, scholarships, guest clinicians, and participation fees in competitions and festivals.  Please wear comfortable shoes, nice jeans, and your orchestra t-shirt.

The Orchestral Department thanks you in advance for your support of this very important fundraiser!

Spring Concert and Awards Ceremony, Orchestra Auditions, & Congratulations!

Spring Concert and Awards Ceremony

May 28th (Thursday) 7pm in the Stuart Auditorium

Here are the call times for the Spring Concert - 

the time the students need to arrive at the school):

Concert Orchestra – 6:15pm

Symphonic Orchestra – 5:45pm

Chamber Orchestra – 5:15pm

Orchestra Auditions

Auditions will be held for the upcoming 2015-2016 orchestras in June. The students have been given the dates, the requirements and the music needed. Please see below for the dates of the auditions. There are different requirements for each orchestra. All auditions will take place during class time EXCEPT Chamber Orchestra Auditions.

Chamber Orchestra Auditions are June 5^th (Friday) at 3:30pm in the orchestra room. Auditions will be blind. All students planning on auditioning for Chamber should prepare to attend this date.

Congrats!!!!

The J.E.B. Stuart Combined Orchestras traveled to Orlando, Florida in April and received a Superior Rating and also First place.

There were 12 orchestra performances at the recent Solo and Ensemble Festival. 8 received a Superior Rating and 4 received an Excellent Rating. Congrats!!

We look forward to seeing you all at the May 28^th concert!

Mandatory Reheasals for Spring Trip Participants

In preparation for our spring trip there will be 3 required after school rehearsals:

Thursday, March 26th from 2:20-3:20

Tuesday, April 7th from 2:20-3:20

Thursday, April 9th from 2:20-3:20

You must be present at all 3 rehearsals in order to go on the trip.

Once again-- you must be present at all 3 rehearsals in order to go on the trip.

I can be flexible to a point with sharing the time between sports/play practice/TOK (obviously), but there are no fully excused absences. Learning these two pieces for competition is part of the requirement for attending the trip. 

Pre-Assessment Concert – Tuesday, February 24th. 7PM

This concert is designed for the students to perform their VBODA Assessment pieces in front of an audience  and other orchestra directors for feedback before they perform at the actual assessments. 

 Arrival times: Symphonic @ 5p; Chamber @ 5:30p; and Concert @ 6p:

Concert Orchestra --- arrive at SHS 6pm

-          Tuning starts 6:30pm

Symphonic Orchestra – arrive at SHS 5pm

-          Tuning Start 5:30pm

Chamber Orchestra – arrive at SHS 5:30pm

-          Tuning Starts 6pm

VBODA Orchestra Assessment – March 6^th and 7^th @ West Potomac HS

Chamber Orchestra – Friday March 6^th, 2015

-          no bus will be provided. Students will need to arrive no later than 4pm at West Potomac High School

-          Warm-Up: 5pm

-          Performance Time: 5:30pm

Concert Orchestra – Friday March 6^th, 2015

-          Students will need to be at Stuart HS no later than 5:30pm. Busses will leave right after.

-          Students will need to be already dressed in their uniforms before they get on the bus.

-          Warm-Up: 7:15pm

-          Performance Time: 7:50pm

-          Estimated Time Back to SHS: 9:15pm

Symphonic Orchestra – Saturday, March 7^th, 2015

-          Students will need to be at Stuart HS no later than 10:30am . Busses will leave right after.

-          Students will need to be already dressed in their uniforms before they get on the bus.

-          Warm-Up: 12:10pm

-          Performance Time: 12:45pm

-          Estimated Time back to SHS: 2:15pm

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement to the students in the next couple of weeks. They are working hard on their music and being challenged in their artistry. I look forward to their performances.