Band Fundraiser

It's that time of the year when the band does its fundraisers. The biggest fundraiser of the year was Music in the Castle, which was held last Saturday. Bands from 10 area high schools came to THS to compete in a full day of musical festivities. The day culminated in an exhibition performance by the THS Mighty Viking Band. They were awesome!


Sam is in there somewhere, but I can't find him. haha

Now, it's time to sell fruit ... oranges, grapefruit and tangelos. Each band member needs to sell at least 10 boxes of fruit. Local friends, please show your support for THS and place your order for fruit!





Orders (WITH payment) are due by November 4.

High School Football

This past Friday night, Tennessee High School had their first football game of the season. It was a home game against Sullivan East. It was also Sam's first experience ever of playing in the band for a high school pep rally and then a football game. He loved it! Unfortunately, I had to work and missed seeing the band perform. I heard they did really well, considering it was their first performance of this school year. To make a great day even better, THS annihilated East 42-0!! Woohoo!!! Go Vikings!!! Now, Sam is super-psyched about being in the band and is living for Fridays!

Support Vance Middle School Band

I know this is coming a little late to be helpful for your Christmas shopping, but we have to do some shopping all year, not just during the Holiday season. Please read the information below and consider helping out the Vance Middle School Junior Viking Band. Thanks!


Vance Middle School Junior Viking Band


Fund-Raiser Opportunity


Attention online shoppers!! The Vance Band is pleased to announce a new opportunity for our band to earn money.


You, your family, friends, neighbors that are online shoppers or will become online shoppers can take advantage of some great savings and discounts by shopping with our online service. Edvantage® allows you to shop and save money at over 1,400 on-line merchants such as Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Expedia, Petco, Office Depot and Dell. These merchants, in return for your patronage, will return a percentage of your purchase back to our Band as a fundraiser. Each merchant also provides exclusive Edvantage® discounts and promotions from time to time which may include Free Shipping, Percentage off of Purchase and Free Products. The average Edvantage® Shopper can save hundreds of dollars per year, just by using the site once a month.

When you register for the site, you will see a list of businesses and services that are available. Unlike other fundraisers this valuable service is available to you for FREE and does not require you to purchase anything you would not normally have purchased. Registration is quick and easy. All purchases are confidential and secure. Our Band receives no information about your purchases. All we see is the amount of rebates generated by your participation in the program. Your privacy is totally protected.

Use the Alphabetical and Categorical lists, as well as, the Merchant Name and Keyword Search Features to navigate the site. Compare products and prices at multiple merchants.

Many programs will offer donations to our band by simply filling out registration forms for more information.


The band will be using the money earned from the fund-raiser to help offset costs of our spring trip and other operating expenses.


IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE POTENTIAL SPAM – YOU MAY WANT TO SET UP A SECONDARY EMAIL ACCOUNT FROM ONE OF THE FREE SERVICES SUCH AS YAHOO AND GMAIL.


To get started visit this website:


Vance Middle School Band Home on the Edvantage® Program


Registration is very quick and easy.


There is an video to watch about the program on the login page.


PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH AS MANY FRIENDS, FAMILY NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.

2008 Christmas Parade

This past Saturday was the 2008 Bristol Virginia/Tennessee Christmas Parade. Although it was FREEZING cold out there, I went and waited for nearly an hour for the parade to start to ensure a good spot. I had to be able to see Sam as he marched by with the Vance Middle School band!

Here's me, shivering, as I waited for the parade to start:


Here are some other people waiting for the parade to start, also shivering. On the right side of the picture are policemen directing traffic flow, trying to get the street cleared for the parade.


A family came up and stood near me. Their little boys and their dog were too cute not to get a picture.


The parade started off with a car from the Bristol VA Police Department and one from the Bristol TN Police Department, driving side-by-side down State Street.


Vance Middle School Junior Viking Band:


The band, being led by the drum major:


The brass section ... Sam is in the second row. You can barely see him between the second and third kids from the right on the front row.


I left after the band went by....so, no more pictures of the parade.

MUSIC IN THE CASTLE

This past Saturday, Tennessee High School held their annual "Music in the Castle" band competition. Vance Middle School held with a tradition over 40 years old by opening the festival with "America the Beautiful" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." It was Sam's first marching-band experience. Although the weather was beautiful with cooler temperatures than what we had been having, it was still very hot in those band uniforms. BUT, those kids looked terrific and sounded even better.

I took some pictures on my cell phone and recorded a snippet. The pictures are below. I was going to share the video as well, but for some reason, I can't get it to play here.

Here is Sam with the rest of the band, practicing in the band room before heading across the street to the THS castle.


Here are the clarinets, trumpets, and trombones while the band is playing "America the Beautiful".


Here they are marching off the field.


Here they are walking back to VMS.

Catch-up

It's been so long since I've written in here that I need to catch up on what's been happening.

Sam is still playing the trumpet and loving it. He likes band so much that he has begun talking about making it his career. Apparently he has talked to his band director about it and has come up with a couple options. He is interested in joining the military as trumpet player or being a school band director. Of course, it could be possible to do both. Mr. Hebert (pronounced Ay-bare), the high school band director, comes to the middle school on Wednesdays for band lessons. Last week, he said that they need another tuba player, and he tested the brass players on the tuba. Sam did really well and liked it a lot. Mr. Hebert said if he chooses Sam for the tuba, he can continue playing the trumpet for this year while having tuba lessons on Wednesdays. Sam hopes he gets chosen!

College football has started. Yay! Last Saturday, I watched that awesome game between Georgia and Central Michigan. GO DAWGS!!! Even Pearl got into the spirit of the game in her new Georgia Bulldogs shirt.


The shirt at the store before I bought it



Pearl posing in her new shirt. (Notice the football cookie dog treat in front of her. She gulped it down in about two bites.)



Pearl relaxing under the dining room table after watching the game with me.

As most of you already know, I'm working two jobs now. I'm back at Kintronic Laboratories, working my usual half-days. I really like it there and would love to be put on full-time, but I don't see that happening any time soon. So, I went out and got myself another part-time job. In the evenings and on weekends, I'm a cashier at Wal-Mart. I've been there about 7 weeks now, and so far I like it quite a bit. It's been hard getting used to being on my feet so much, but I really enjoy the interaction with the customers ... well, most of them, anyway.

If any of you who read my blog are on facebook, please add me as your friend, if we're not friends already. Lately, I've been keeping up with that site much more than this one. I will still continue to post on here as often as possible, though.

Have a great day, everyone!!!

Spring Band Concert - 5/13/08

Last night was Sam's Spring Band Concert. It was at 7pm in the Vance Middle School gymnasium. First up was Sam's group - the combined Elementary Band, consisting of 6th graders from all six of the elementary schools in the Bristol Tennessee City Schools. They played the following songs:

Barbara Ann
Frere Jacques
Hard Rock Blues
Trombo Mambo
Ode to Joy

My favorite selection was Ode to Joy (also known as "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee"). The kids did a really good job on it. Here's a picture of Sam and some of the other trumpeteers.



The Vance Middle School Band played next. They did such a great job! The prinicpal of Vance Middle School provided a bit of humor when he joined the band for their last number, dressed in a rock-n-roll styled wig and an AC/DC T-shirt. The kids all got a kick out of it, and so did the parents, I must confess. Here's a picture of him, although it's rather blurry.