Instrumental Music Awards Night – May 19th

Awards Night

Tuesday, May 19th
Orchestra: 7pm
Band/Guard: 8pm

The instrumental music awards are going virtual this Tuesday! Many of the awards arrived at houses over the weekend (thanks to Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Munday, and Mr. Stone too), so come and celebrate the end of the year with each other.

Orchestra starts at 7pm and Band will begin at 8pm. Zoom links below! Can’t wait to see you all there.

Orchestra:

https://zoom.us/j/94372882969?pwd=c2I3dVRvNlc1VWxFWlVZSEs5YS83dz09

Meeting ID: 943 7288 2969
Password: 4g3GVQ

Band/Guard:

https://zoom.us/j/97650001891?pwd=UThhVy94Umt6V2JUM2ZZOWQyVjIwdz09

Meeting ID: 976 5000 1891
Password: 1Awd3W

MPA Business and More

  1. As with all non-profits and families alike, this time has become somewhat financially stressful. Thank you all for your donations throughout this year, but we still have some obligations to cover moving forward. If you have outstanding donations due for Band, Orchestra, 7/8, Drumline, and/or Color Guard, please consider still contributing. We know that the seasons for some was cut short, but expenses still remain. Thank you.
  2. We would encourage each of you, the next time you shop online from Amazon – which is pretty often these days – to use AmazonSmile. Amazon will donate a small percentage of each purchase to our Music Parents Association. (Look for La Canada High School Music Parents in the list.)
  3. Also, gift cards are another way to raise funds. All the information is below for purchasing them. Contact Ceci Nava if you have any questions.
  4. Booster Raffle Tickets are still available and can still be sold. Boosters are willing to still contribute the funds to our program for all tickets sold. Please contact Elizabeth Bohannon if you would like additional tickets.
  5. The New York trip has been rescheduled for March 5-9, 2021, provided we’re back to “normal” by then. Today is the deadline to fill out the google form. See this post for full information.

Ms. Munday’s News & Notes…

Here we are in April! I hope that everyone is safe and well and keeping their spirits up! I hope everyone has been able to watch the great video of the Band remotely performing the Alma Mater! Time and togetherness has taken on a new feeling and meaning for all of us.

As school starts up again after Spring Break, we are moving to graded assignments, so I want you to know what that means for Orchestra.

The students are tasked with practicing their instrument at least 30 minutes a day. As it would be impossible for me to monitor this, at regular intervals, they will be required to record a video of themselves showing me what they have practiced and upload it to the Orchestra Google Classroom.

Each morning at 7:30 am, I send a “Good Morning” text to the students. Later in the day, I post on Classroom. Your child should check Remind and Classroom each day for assignments and info.

My goals for the students with distance learning are to keep them playing their instrument and to have a daily practice become a comforting habit for them.

Please email me if you have questions or need to talk.

I don’t want Orchestra to be a burden for you or your children. I see it as a wonderful addition to the students’ lives. We will also have opportunities to be creative with music. As much as you can, encourage them to play, listen to them and be cheerleaders for them!

Be well.

New York Trip Information

Dear New York Trip Students & Families,

I hope everyone is safe in these crazy times. I know in my house we are all good, and completely crazy as our house gets smaller and smaller, but we are good and happy to see more of each other than we normally get to at this time of year.

Thank you all for your patience in trying to resolve the financial aspect of the New York trip. As I said earlier, it’s been a work in progress as Encore worked on our behalf with the airlines, who were not being flexible at first, and with all other aspects of the tour. The reason we continue to travel with Encore on our long trips is due to their professionalism and longevity in the travel game. I’m happy we are working with them as I know there are going to be some travel companies that won’t survive this unexpected situation.

Here are the two options that I need you to now choose from:

Option 1: Roll over to the same New York trip on March 5-9, 2021, $400 which will show as a non-refundable credit. Students will miss Friday, Monday, and Tuesday of school, but will be able to make up any missed work and such by Monday, March 15th (as per the State Education Code which will be backed from Mr. Cartnal).

Option 2: Refund the money for the trip. Refunds will be in cash, less a $400 travel voucher with Encore/ACIS, which is transferable to new participants. We will try to broker deals for vouchers to incoming Freshmen who will have the opportunity to join the trip in August. We will work through Seniors first, and then work down through Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen to cover vouchers either on the 2021 New York Trip or the 2022 Ireland Trip. Payments to Encore that were paid from the MPA student accounts will be returned directly to the student’s account as these funds were all from fundraisers and can not go back to an individual.

Please fill out the same form as before, but I need everyone to redo the form under these new conditions. Please have this filled out by Monday, April 13th. I will then send out a list to confirm that you are placed in the correct Option, prior to sending the lists on to Encore.

Thank you all again for your patience! I can’t tell you how much that has helped with this process.

If you have any questions, please email me and I will try to clarify any questions you have.

Thanks and Be Safe!
Jason Stone

A Note from Mr. Stone Re New York

Dear New York Trip Students & Families :

I hope everyone is in good health and good spirits during this crazy time. I would have much preferred to be writing you a final checklist like email rather than this email of “What’s next? What’s happening with the New York trip?”.

So here is the line from Encore as it sits today.

“As it currently stands, $1500 is non-refundable however we continue to work with Carnegie Hall to lower that for any participants that need to cancel. Those that cancel will receive all funds back in cash less $1500 which will be sent as a travel voucher that can be transferred to a new participant entering the ensembles in the Fall.

For those that can roll to 2021, we will transfer all of the monies in their account of which $1500 will show as a non-refundable credit.”

We are planning on rolling the trip to next year, with the most likely date, at this time, being February 12-16, 2021. Our spring break 2021 begins with Easter Sunday, so that and the trip planned by the Choral Department, makes the February date the best time to go with the least amount of missed school. I am checking on all the needs to clear everything with the district, but I am optimistic that it will eventually go smoothly.

Seniors (and senior parent Chaperones), we are still working out the details for your use of the $1500 voucher at this time. Please be patient. The initial idea is to try and transfer that to new participants entering in the fall who wish to go on the trip. By what mechanism, that is yet to be determined.

In order to help Encore, please fill out this form letting me know what your desired intentions are for the trip.

Thank you all for your patience in this matter. It will all get resolved soon, hopefully like all the other insanity going on around us.

Take care,

Mr. Stone

Ms. Munday’s News & Notes…

I hope all is well with all of you and your loved ones. This is a trying time, and I believe it is especially trying for parents. Suddenly, children are at home and every age has its unique set of challenges. You are all on my mind and in my thoughts. If you have any questions, contact me.

This coming week, the orchestra students have been asked to upload a video to Classroom of themselves playing. They are playing what they worked on last week.

Encourage your child to use playing their instrument each day as part of their daily schedule. Maybe they would like to do a FaceTime duet or trio with their friends. Maybe they would like to write some music. There is so much music online. One student told me that they downloaded some video game music to play. Brilliant!

Yo Yo Ma has started #songsofcomfort. There are some really nice videos on YouTube that regular people have made. I have enjoyed listening to them.

My goal for the students is to have them keep playing and to enjoy what they’re doing. I’m going to attach a banjo video from Steve Martin, it’s wonderful to hear.

Take care!

9-12 Orchestra Info – Distance Learning

I hope this message finds all of you well and coping with our new challenges. We are moving through uncharted waters, and I want to keep the lines of communication open between us.

Please feel free to contact Ms. Munday with any questions or concerns that arise.

As school is still in session, although not at a physical place, this brings up a very specific challenge for a performance class, such as Orchestra. After much thought, Ms. Munday feels the best way to address this is for each student to practice, on their own, for at least 30 minutes per day. Many already do this, and they will continue! Many, however, are not able to manage daily practice because of their classes and activities, and this time at home opens up practicing possibilities to those students.

Parents are important to this assignment. Please encourage (nag) your child to accomplish this. Ms. Munday has asked the students to practice the scales and solo they will play for their jury/final in May. They need to fill out a Google form on Classroom by Tuesday telling Ms. Munday the name and composer of the solo they have chosen. After next week, they will be directed to upload a video of what they have worked on to Classroom so I can see their progress.

Make sure they have their instrument at home to practice. There is also lots of music at school for all instruments, solos and etudes, if your student needs that. Ms. Munday will be at school Monday morning if anyone needs to get their instrument or needs help with finding music.

A Note from Mr. Stone

Thank you all who were at our festival concerts last night. It was a great night of music and I am so happy that we got to share what we’ve been working on for the last 3 months.

In light of recent events, I have to be the bearer of bad news. In accordance with public health recommendations about the coronavirus, La Canada Unified School District has requested that we look into the upcoming events for the next month. On top of that, the organizations that sponsor our outside events have also taken these same recommendations and have made some announcements as well. SCSBOA (our festival sponsor), WGI (Guard and Drum Line), SCPA (Drum Line) and WGASC (Color Guard) have all cancelled any remaining events for the rest of this season. This means that all drum line and color guard shows, as well as our festival next Friday, have been cancelled.

This is a sad and surreal situation which saddens me by the loss of such great events we had planned for our students. However I know that all of these organizations and our district treat our student safety as priority number one and that is where all these decisions are rooted. While we all are grieving the loss of the events, which is completely normal, we also have to act for the greater good in this moment.

What does that mean for the rest of our year? As this is a dynamic situation, I can’t predict the future beyond Spring Break at this time, but I do know we will continue to teach, learn, grow and challenge each other to be better musicians, performers and friends.

We will try to keep you up to date on all instrumental rehearsals and events as we find out new information. Please be patient with us and the speed in which we send out our statements and information since we are trying to make sure we are separating the truths from the rumors.

Thank you all for your support in this wild and uncertain time.

Jason Stone
Director of Instrumental Music

New York and Dayton Trips Cancelled

As many of you already know, both the NYC trip and the Dayton trip were cancelled today. We are very sorry as our students have worked very, very hard for both of these trips and were really looking forward to performing and competing.

We know you have many questions regarding the trip payments and we are working on solutions for both trips. We will provide an update in a few days once we have more information.

Thank you for your patience and continued support of the LCHS Instrumental Music Program.

Elizabeth Bohannon
MPA President
Mobile: 818-257-1210

Festival & Snack Bar

Here are the performance times for Festival. This is a judged performance, however, you’re invited to attend. The performances will be in the auditorium:

  • 9-12 Orchestra: 8am
  • 7/8 Orchestra: 8:30am
  • 9-12 Band: 9am
  • 7/8 Band: 3:45pm

Each year, we host a Snack Bar during the all-day Festival. There will be 11 different schools visiting our campus to perform in the Festival. These students enjoy purchasing snacks throughout the day.

We need helpers to sell the snacks and volunteers to donate items for us to sell to the hungry kids.

Please click here to sign-up to work, donate, or even do both!

Thanks for your support of the Instrumental Music Program!