Here are the details about the Veterans' Parade on November 6th. This is a Sunday performance. Students will need to be dressed in their band uniform and at the town green on Jeff Davis no later that 10:30am. I will need some parents with trucks to help me move some of the larger equipment like stands and the bass drum down to our site. I will be arriving at the middle school band hall at 10am to begin loading my truck. We will begin our performance around 12:15 or 12:30pm and play till 1pm. This is when the parade will start. As soon as all of our equipment is loaded and returned to the band hall we can dismiss. Anyone who can lend a hand unloading would be appreciated!

Thank you again for allowing me to use your students on a Sunday. I know many of us have church or use the day as a family relaxation day, but without our veterans we would not have that freedom. 

The Jazz and Symphonic bands are doing a benifit concert on October 13th at 6:30pm in the LBMS Gym. Admission is canned food and other non-perishable food items. We will be donating all received food to a local food pantry. 

This is your friendly reminder, symphonic band members, to be selling pizzas. The more we sell the cheaper our trip to Atlanta, GA will be. Everything is due back to me this Friday. You will turn in everything first thing in the morning so you aren't walking around with gobs of money.


8th Graders!!!! We will be playing with the High School Marching Band at their October 28th football game. We will meet at the high school band hall at 5:45pm to warm-up with them. We will march to the stadium with them and play the stands tunes with them for the first two quarters. They will then perform their halftime show for us and you may either stay and continue having a great time or head home from the game after half time. A letter will be sent out with more details on this sometime this week or first of next.

I think we are starting to hit a stride as far as classes and performance dates. There has been confusion on the Veteran's Day Parade in Downtown Long Beach. This is my fault for getting two performances mixed. The parade will be Sunday November 6th. We will meet at the Harper Amphitheater at 10:30am and begin our concert at 12:15pm. I know many people in the band attend religious observances on Sundays and apologize for cutting into that time. Because we are kicking off the festivities we have to be there early enough to be in place when everyone begins to arrive. Students will need to wear their band uniform for this performance. When we finish our concert and play the national anthem, students will be allow to leave. You may stay for the parade if you wish but students should be checked out with me in person no later than 1:30pm. 

I know many of you take pictures of your students as they perform. We are in need of pictures for our website as well as some press releases we are working on. If you have pictures of the band you would like to share, email them to me. longs@lbsdk12.com 

We have completed our first full week back at school. We have just under 3 weeks until progress reports go out. Please keep up with your assignments and remember to turn in your homework for all of your classes. Don't let yourself get behind this early in the year. 

To remind you of some tests that are coming up: Concert Band will have a test on Friday on their one octave Concert F scale in quarter notes. Symphonic Band will have a written test over key signatures on Friday also. 

We have calendars for sale! The calendars came in today and I have 200 in my office for us to sell. We are selling them for $8 a piece and will have some sort of form available next week for you to use in selling them. 

I don't know about you, but I thought tonight's meeting went very well! I was pleasantly surprised to see so many parents in attendance and appreciate the sacrifice each of you made to be present tonight. As I said tonight, feel free to email me or call me with any question. The pep band is getting ready for our first after school rehearsal on September 6th right after school from 3:30-5:00p. This is where we work with the cheerleaders to find out what tunes they will dance too and what procedure the pep rallies will follow during the school year. This is a mandatory practice for all Symphonic Band members as well as members of the Concert Band that wish to participate in the Pep Band.

I feel we have gotten off to a great start! I appreciate everyone being patient and flexible with the new scheduling this year and how we have to make things work. This is a lesson we all need to remember. Things don't always work out exactly as we plan and we must make the best of what we are given. 

Don't forget about our meeting on Monday night at 6:30p. This is also the first Middle School Band Booster meeting. We have many things to talk about.

Hello Bearcat Band!!! I hope you are all still having a great summer! It has gone by too fast. I was able to visit family and friends back in Georgia right after school let out and catch a Atlanta Braves game. Of course they lost, but it was good to be back at Turner Field for Memorial Day!

As I am starting to get ready for your return to the Band Hall, I wanted to update our page with information as I had it available.  This webpage is going to be SUPER important this year. We will be keeping our important dates on here as well as some resources you will need as you practice at home. If you are reading this, please pass along the word to others that there is new information about next year on our website.

Because the year is about to get started, I want to remind you to dust off your instruments and stock up on reeds and valve oil. Make sure everything is working on your instrument. Now is a great time to put your instrument in the shop to be fixed. You can also practice it as well. :) Hint Hint! The High School Marching Band will be having camp the week of July 18 and the week of July 25th from 7:30am-5:30pm. Come by and check it out. I would love to say hello to you!

That is all for now! Leave me a post of what you have been up to this summer and maybe it can count for some sort of grade when we get back to school.

- Mr. L

Don't forget, like you could, this week is MCT week. Make sure to go to bed at a reasonable time and come to school with the proper materials. Monday morning we will be going through the routine of our testing schedule for the week. This is so you know which room you will be in for the three testing days. Make sure to eat a good breakfast each morning. Breakfast allows your brain and blood vessels to wake up. Don't forget, you will need your instruments this week. 8th graders are preparing for playing at the High School Graduation. 

I want to thank each of you for a wonderful End of the Year Concert! Thank you for putting in the hard work it took all year to make it to this point. Thank you to the Flutes for their signs and to the band for the sunglasses. I heard some chuckles from the audience when we all put on our sunglasses. The 6th graders played very well and the 7th and 8th grade beginners fit in wonderfully to the Advanced band. Joy worked better than I imagined and the jazz band was fantastic! It was all around a great way to end the year. If your parents took pictures of our concert, please send me some or bring in a CD. I would like to have more pictures of you all doing what we do best, make music.


The next two weeks are some of our busiest. Friday is your scale test and Monday I will start listening to students who would like to be in Jazz Band next year. After that, I will be enlisting your help to complete a full inventory of our instruments and music in the music library. 

Make sure you get a good night's rest before your testing days and don't stay up all night playing the new COD Black Ops maps or checking FaceBook. I know the year is almost over, but it isn't over until it's over.