JUNE CAMP (TRAINING CAMP)
Although the main purpose of June Camp is to introduce incoming freshman to marching techniques, the full band is required to attend. The older members are a tremendous help with the teaching process while building camaraderie with the new band members. The camp is held in the days immediately following school dismissal to prevent any disruptions in vacation plans. If you anticipate any problems with attendance, please contact one of the directors.

SUMMER PRACTICES
Specific days, during the summer, are designated for practice times for students to keep up to date on music and activities of the band. Please plan for your student to attend if he/she is in town. If they cannot make it, call or email one of the directors.

AUGUST CAMP (SUMMER BAND)
August is the beginning of our busy marching season. Attendance at this camp is mandatory so plan vacations accordingly. Speak to the directors with any concerns.

UIL rules dictate that a high school program cannot begin their marching drill until August 1. As you can imagine, this puts important emphasis on this camp. The dates and times vary, but get ready for 8+ hour days. Comfortable tennis shoes, light colored clothes, and a cap are the best type of attire. It also will be helpful to have a water jug, sunscreen, and sunglasses. Have your band member check with their section leaders for other good advice. Shortly, following the August camp, a dinner will be held for parents to attend. This includes a show by the band. You will see what your student has learned through the summer. Parents will have the opportunity to sign up at the volunteer tables for varies activities throughout the year.

WEEKLY MARCHING PRACTICES
Once school starts the practice schedule during marching season can be rather hectic. These practices can be held at the high school or at the Birdville Fine Arts/Athletic complex. Please watch the schedule for these locations. It will greatly aid your student to mark your calendar accordingly.

UIL rules dictate that Texas bands can practice only 8 additional hours per week beyond class time and performances, so attendance is crucial. Student calendars are distributed in early August and rare changes are made during the fall semester. Should it rain during one of the practices, the students will be brought indoors. The directors are very conscious of these risks and make every effort to ensure your student is safe.

PEP RALLIES
There are two pep bands and will be alternating the attendance of pep rallies on Friday. 

UNIFORM CARE
The uniforms are usually washed four/five times during the fall marching season. The current uniforms take special care and volunteers will be asked to help with this task. They should be washed with non-scented gentle detergent and no fabric softener sheets in the dryer. They should be removed promptly when dry. The uniforms are labeled with numbers that coordinate jacket and pants. This number should also be on the hanger.

MEDICAL INFORMATION
You will be asked to sign a Medical Release Form for each student. This form gives the nurses permission to take care of your child: administer over the counter medications, administer prescription medications, apply ice bags and band-aids during activities and trips. This form will be in the packet you will receive this summer. The completed and signed form should be turned in on the day of the uniform fitting.

FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAMES
Fridays in the fall trimester become pretty fast paced for the Richland Band. The students will not leave the school on Friday’s before a game. They will practice right after school then come in for a “meal deal” and preparation for the game. You will be asked to supply 24 “name brand” canned drinks for the season.

They should come to school on Friday with water jug, marching shoes, black socks, flip folders (if taken home), music, white v-neck t-shirt, RHS band shirt, bike shorts or tight fitting shorts, to go under the uniform and any other items they will need for the game performance and in the stands. The buses leave the stadium as soon as possible after each game. If you need to pick up your non-driving band member, you can wait in the band hall parking lot, but beware, there are many cars doing just the same thing. Note: the band stays after the game and plays the alma mater and fight song so you might want to stick around to hear them.

COLOR GUARD
The Color Guard is as much a part of the band as the marchers and enhances the visual performance of the marching band (much like the “twirlers” of yesteryear). Selection is based on tryouts in the spring. The group has their own specially trained instructors and may work with rifles and sabers as well as their flags. The Color guard should also remember to make sure their flags, rifles, sabers, t-shirts, shorts are brought to school on Friday for the game. You’ll find many interesting guards at various contests and be amazed at some of the things they can do. The majority of the color guard will proceed to winter guard at the conclusion of the marching season.

BANDS OF AMERICA
Bands of America--BOA--is a premier national organization for high school music students. Based in Indiana, BOA hosts many excellent contests and symposiums. BOA is probably best known for marching contests held each fall. There are twenty-plus regional contests held around the US with three held in Texas. Each year the directors choose locations to fit our busy fall schedule. You will know in advance so that you can plan accordingly. Some parents choose to make reservations and stay at a nearby hotel.

Each year the schedule varies due to performance times. There is a preliminary performance and, hopefully, inclusion in the finals. There’s plenty of time to purchase T-shirts, patches, videos, etc. These contests require lots of parental involvement. The band is fed various snacks and meals during the day.

The Grand National Marching Contest is held each year in Indianapolis at the RCA Dome. It is not necessary to win a regional contest to attend Grand Nationals. This is not attended every year.

The BOA web site, www.bands.org  is full of information and will keep you logging on all year. You will be able to keep up-to-date on scores, news, etc.

UIL—THE ROAD TO THE STATE MARCHING CONTEST
The University Interscholastic League--UIL--governs the state marching contests. The UIL has strict rules concerning the conduct and procedures to advance to the state competitions. You are probably aware of the fact that schools in the state of Texas are divided into classes based on student population. Richland High School is “class 5A,” the class for the largest schools. In order to make the state competition more manageable, class 3A and 5A schools have their marching competitions in even numbered years, i.e., 2006, 2008, and 2010. The 2A and 4A schools hold their marching competitions in odd numbered years. The Richland High School Band earned the 4A State Championship in 2003.

The road to the state contest begins with the regional marching competition. This is held on a weekday at a local stadium. The bands are given a rating of Division I, II, III, or IV. There are not 1st, 2nd, 3rd places, etc. All bands receiving a Division I then proceed to the Area competition.

Division I bands from 2 –3 regions will gather at the area competition which has also been held at a local stadium in the past. The location of the area contest can vary based on the geographical makeup of the bands. It is during this competition that the bands advancing to state will be decided. All bands perform one time and then anxiously wait for their ranking. A predetermined number of bands (based on the number of bands receiving Division I ratings) will get to make the coveted trip to State.

You can already see that just a trip to state is very exciting and just to get to make the trip is an honor. We have always considered it a great accomplishment to get to board the buses. Any placement or championship is “icing on the cake”. You can get lots of information and see pictures and ratings on the UIL web site. The address is www.uil.utexas.edu .

BUS TRIPS
Charter buses are used for longer trips while school buses are used for Friday night football games. These bus trips are great fun for the band. Be assured that there will be volunteer adult chaperones on every bus.

Band members are usually permitted to bring water jugs, snacks, videos (should be PG-13 or cleaner), CD’s, blankets, and pillows on the longer bus trips. You will be notified if spending money is needed for additional meals for longer trips. You will receive itineraries with times, locations, and phone numbers for longer bus trips.

MARCH-A-THON
The march-a-thon has been one of the most successful fundraisers the band has ever undertaken. Each fall the band—and the parents—take to the streets in a “parade.” The route varies each year. During the march we stop at designated areas and perform. The band is given rest stops.

Each band member will be asked to solicit pledges for the band. We strongly urge band members to actively solicit pledges for this reason.

Many parents/volunteers are needed to make this fundraiser successful. Some of the jobs include distributing water available at each rest stop and walking behind the band with our donation buckets. It sounds like a lot of work, but you will find that this is a wonderful opportunity to meet other parents while getting your exercise for the weekend.

CONCERT SEASON
Because the marching band is so visible and performs so often publicly, concert season is sometimes “forgotten.” This is far from being true. Concert season is the time when most musical training takes place and each band’s performance rating during the UIL concert contest is the basis for evaluating the entire band program.

Band members will be placed in one of four bands based on the students playing abilities and grades.

Four concerts are presented at the high school and are open to the public. A winter concert is presented in December by the Jazz band and all performing bands and a spring concert for the Jazz band and all performing bands are held in early May. These are wonderful, well-attended concerts and you will hear challenging music. This is a great time to invite the grandparents, aunts and uncles and let them hear “what else the Richland Bands can do”.

CONCERT ETIQUETTE
While attending a concert several courtesies should be remembered. Cell phones and pagers should be turned off or to silent. Entering and leaving the concert should be done between music pieces not in the middle of the performance. There should be no shouting at the students during the concert. Applause should be held until the directors hands come down to his/her side. This indicates the music piece is over.

PRIVATE LESSONS
Private lessons are offered on every instrument, pending instructor availability. Our instructors are professional players or advanced-level university students who are contracted through BISD. A set price per lesson is set. Students with the benefits of private lessons have a history of becoming top players in the program, and sometimes become private lesson instructors themselves while in college. In some instances, financial aid may be available to assist families with lessons. A bill will be mailed to the home.

DISTRICT, REGION, AREA & STATE CONCERT BANDS
Individual band members are strongly encouraged to tryout for these bands. Preselected tryout music is available to all students during summer band. The region band tryouts are held in early December in two phases.

Band members who become All-State musicians are highly praised and honored. These students assemble in a specified location in February to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association convention. The bands and orchestras made up of these wonderful musicians represent the top 1% of the high school band members in the state of Texas. Advancing to All-State is the highest individual honor a high school musician can achieve.

SOLO AND ENSEMBLE CONTESTS
These contests are sponsored by the BISD school district. Ensemble contest is usually held in February. Solo contest is held in May. Your child will be given plenty of time to prepare a solo or ensemble performance. The music us usually assigned by the private lesson instructor or the band director.

WINTER GUARD
Richland High School color guard/winter guard has become one of the most prestigious groups in the area. Those in color guard for the marching season and marching members who want to perform in a different environment enjoy this winter activity.

Winter guard performs a routine to recorded music. Not only is there an effort to perform well for winter guard, but this activity helps strengthen the color guard for the upcoming marching season.

Richland Area Band Boosters has recently begun hosting a winter guard competition in the area. This is an excellent fundraiser and again gets the Richland Band great recognition. The competition requires lots of parents from selling tickets at the door to helping out in the concession stand. We hope that you will be able to lend a hand even though you may not have a student in winter guard.

JAZZ BAND
The Richland Jazz Band is an elective class. The jazz band performs at various events in the area and competes in jazz band contests. A concert is held near the end of each semester. Be sure to mark you calendar for this extraordinary performance.

UIL CONCERT & SIGHTREADING CONTEST
The UIL concert contests are held in April. The concert bands travel to local high schools where they perform and are critiqued and graded by UIL judges. Each band performs their concert music followed by the sight reading portion of the contest. If you have never been to the contest, you will stand in amazement during sight reading. Any recording of this activity is prohibited. The band is given music they (or the directors) have never seen or heard and have approximately 8 – 10 minutes to talk their way through the piece. They then receive a “one-time-shot” at their performance.

SPRING TRIP
A spring trip is taken at the director’s discretion for the concert bands. Additional information will be distributed if a trip is planned. Of course, the directors’ objective is to compete in a contest, but the main goal is FUN for the band members. This is usually a 3-day chartered bus trip.

BAND BANQUET
A band banquet is held each spring near the end of the school year. This special evening brings the band together one last time to review the year and wish the seniors a fond farewell. The location varies from year to year but it is usually held at a nearby hotel banquet room and is considered a semi-formal evening. Male attire is a suit or sport jacket and Female attire is an informal to formal dress. Some students bring dates, but many prefer to come with their group of friends. Tickets are sold prior to the event. Parents are welcome to attend also at the normal ticket price.

GRADUATION
Symphonic and Honors band (not seniors) will be expected to perform for this ceremony. It is not necessary for parents to attend unless they desire.

SPRING TRYOUTS
Late April and early May are very busy times for all band members. Tryouts for drum majors and color guard are all held during this time. Selection of section leaders, band officers and color guard captains also take place. Your band member will be able to get information from the directors if they choose to tryout for any of these