Dear Students and Parents,

Our performance at Michie Stadium at the West Point Military Base is this Saturday. We will be performing the half time show Army vs. North Texas football game. The game starts at Noon and we should be performing around 1:15. We performed last year and it was an amazing experience! If you would like to chaperon this trip, please let me know by tomorrow. We need about 3-5 chaperons. Although it is a long day, it is sure to be a great memory for you and the students.

Parents, if you are interested in attending the game, please buy your tickets from this website. It is the October 22nd game vs. North Texas.

http://www.stubhub.com/army-football-tickets/performer/24088/?creative=117793754001&keyword=1493581_c&gcid=C12289x486

We had the parents sit with the band last year, but the seats weren’t that good. You are more than welcome to come and choose your own seats so you can enjoy the show and the game! If you do plan on coming, please get there early! West Point is one way in, one way out so the traffic tends to get pretty bad on game day.

Here is the student and chaperon itinerary for that day:

3:15am- Arrive at SHS, load truck with instruments and load buses.
3:45am- Depart for West Point
6:00am- Rehearsal with Army Band and other high school and college bands.
8:00am- Find our seats, get our tickets, eat, walk around campus.
11:00am- get dressed into band uniforms
12:00pm- Game Starts
1:15pm- half time show
1:45pm- watch the rest of the game
4:00-4:30- pick up at stadium, load truck and buses.
6:30-7:00- arrive at school, unload truck and buses.
7:15pm- pick up

Students must bring:

Band Jacket (I am hoping they are in by that time)
Tall Black Socks
Black Under shirt
20-30 dollars for food after the perfomance
Warm Clothing for the morning.

George Beratis
Band Director
Stamford High School
203-977-4306

Mr. Beratis is delighted to announce that the Stamford High School Band has been invited to play the National Anthem on Center Field at Citifield for the NY Mets vs. The LA Dodgers game on May 27, 2016!  This is a huge honor for us and a major fundraiser for the entire school, so please invite your family, friends, co-workers, and your neighbors to attend.  The ticket order forms are available from Mr. Beratis in the band room and the order forms and payments are due back by March 14th.  This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase our school on a national stage so please post this information on all your social media accounts and let’s try to have a huge turnout!

If you have any questions please contact Mr. Beratis or one of the band parents.

1st place:  4 Park Hopper Passes to Walt Disney World  —  Jen Scanlan

2nd Place:  The Sports Memorabilia Package  —  Diego Calderan

3rd Place:  $100 Gift Certificate to the Stamford Town Center  —  Sandra Garcia

4th Place:  DVD Player  —  Dick Swatland

5th Place:  $50 Gift Certificate to Hope Pizza —   Steve Garst

6th Place:  $50 Gift Certificate to Trip’s Restaurant —  Mario Archila

7th Place:  $25 Gift Certificate to Bull’s Head Diner  —  Patrick Baker

8th Place:    $12 Gift Certificate to John’s Pizza —   Robert Seekamp

Congratulations to all our winners and thank you all very much for your support!

Our Annual Raffle has begun.  The drawing will be at the Christmas Tree Lot on December 20th at 7PM.   Our top prizes are 4 Park Hopper passes to Disney World, a sports fan memorabilia basket with goodies from The Mets, The Giants, and The WWE, and a $100 Gift Certificate redeemable at the Stamford Town Center!

We are kicking our fund raising into high gear to prepare for our trip to Disney so we are asking every band member to sell at least 3 booklets (15 tickets.)

Dear Parents and Students,

The West Point game is about a month away, and next week I need to pay the deposit for our band. I received an email from the band director at West Point and he told me the game is nearly sold out which is very exciting.

I need to know if any of you would like to come to the game. I have reserved 100 tickets for us until I know a final number. If you are interested in driving to the game please let me know by Tuesday morning. The ticket price is $30 per person. I will pay upfront, and you can pay me back.

Once again, the game is in West Point, NY at 12:00pm on Saturday, October 10th.
Thank you,

Mr. Beratis

Our first fundraiser of the year takes place Friday at 7:30pm at the Dairy Inn on Hope Street.  The Dairy Inn has generously offered to donate 10% of the proceeds to the SHS Band.  Invite your friends and family to join us!

Click on the new student tab at the top of the page for all the Band Camp details and to download your paperwork and music!

Summer sessions for the Drumline and Color Guard will be offered on Wednesday afternoons beginning July 8th from 5:00 – 9:00pm at school.  The instructors will be Diane Zinicola, Stacey Palumbo, Matt Kravitz, and Eric Andrade.

The rehearsal dates are:

July 8, 15, 22, 29

August 5, 12, and 19

The sessions are not mandatory however we would like to see as many people attend as possible.  Please let Diane know if you are not available.

Our Annual Band Banquet will be held on May 28th at 7pm at Brother Jimmy’s BBQ located at 112 Bedford Street.  All students are invited free of charge as a gift for their hard work at the Christmas Tree Lot.  Parents are welcome to attend at a cost of $30/person.  Flyers were sent home via email so please complete and return them by May 21st so we know how many people to expect.

Our next Band Parent meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20th at 7pm in the band room.  Mr Beratis will discuss the final preparations for the overnight Concert Band  trip to Philadelphia and the itinerary and performance schedule at the Kimmel Center will be distributed.  We need at least parent from each family to attend.

• May 12th      Full Concert Band Rehearsal including Drummers
• May 14th      Rogers International School Concert — recruiting opportunity
• May 18th      A MONDAY Concert Band rehearsal
• May 19th      Dolan Spring Concert — recruiting opportunity
• May 20th     Color Guard rehearsal after school
• May 21st      Stamford High Spring Concert
• May 24th     Memorial Day Parade
• May 26/27   Concert Band Philadelphia Trip
• May 28th     Band Banquet
• June 10th     Scofield Spring Concert — recruiting opportunity

Come support our Winter Percussion Ensemble at the Mac Championships at Westhill on Saturday!  This is the last competition before we travel to the WGI Finals in Dayton, OH.

Our annual raffle took place on St. Patrick’s Day after Concert Band rehearsal.  Louise Montgomery won the Weber Gas Grill, Mr. Rossetti won the Samsung Tablet, and Marc Bagan won the Downtown Stamford Basket!

Dartmouth High School, 555 Bakerville Road, Dartmouth, MA

• Meet at SHS by the gym at 5:30am
• Depart SHS no later than 6:00am  Google maps says 2 hours 42 minutes to Dartmouth
• Arrive Dartmouth High School 8:45am  — Clinic is 9:00 – 10:30am
• 10:30am bring a snack, dress and unload the truck
• The warm up schedule will be handed out at check-in
• Performance time 12:00 noon
• After the performance, load the truck and change on the bus
• Lunch in the cafeteria
• Watch the rest of the show with the awards at 4:00pm
• Depart Dartmouth 4:45pm
• 6:15pm Dinner stop at the Crystal Mall in Waterford I-95 exit 82
• 8:15 return to SHS and unload the truck
• 9:00pm pickup

Our first meeting for the Legally Blonds Pit Orchestra will be this Friday, January 30th from 2:30 – 5:00pm.  The music will be distributed and we will watch the movie.

Our Winter Percussion Competition Schedule:

• Saturday, February 21st — Dartmouth, MA
• Saturday, February 28th  — Trumbull, CT
• Saturday, March 7th  — Newtown, CT  (we will also be marching in the St. Patricks Day Parade in the morning)
• Saturday, March 14th — West Hill and Shelton (double show day)
• Saturday, March 21st  —  no competitions scheduled
• Saturday March 28th — Norwalk
• Saturday, April 4th —  Mac Championships at West Hill
• Tuesday, April 7th —  leave for Dayton at midnight

We have a very big Winter Percussion show planned for this year with a lot of extra equipment and we need at least 6 chaperones per show in addition to our regular staff.   We need all Winter Percussion parents to volunteer to chaperone several shows, so please check your schedules and visit our Volunteer Spot page to choose your dates.