University of Alabama Honor Band 2009 Talladega Co. Recipients

Congratulations to the following students from the Sylacauga City, Talladega City, and Talladega County band programs for being selected to the University of Alabama Honor Band, announced on Monday, Dec. 15, 2008: Payton Raines, clarinet (Sylacauga HS); Brandi Woodard, clarinet (Talladega HS); Dakota Whitten, euphonium (Talladega HS); James Atkisson, flute (Talladega HS); Jay Bradford, trombone (Sylacauga HS); Jennifer Burk, trumpet (Talladega HS); Matthew Pruitt, trumpet (Munford HS); Lexie Gates Rasco, trumpet (Talladega HS); James Hubbard, tuba (Talladega HS); and Kendall Mullis, tuba (BB Comer HS).

The Honor Band will take place on Feb. 4-8, 2009. Congratulations!

Merry Tuba Christmas!

On Friday, December 5, 2008, The Talladega High School and Zora Ellis Jr. High Tubas and Euphoniums traveled to Atlanta, GA to participate in the ATL 2008 Tuba Christmas. It proved to be a rewarding experience for all involved. Enjoy the pictures!

Giving Back....

It is great to have students in the classroom learning daily. It is also a wonderful happening when those students move on from jr. high and high school and continue thier endeavors at the college level. However, better than both of those is when that same student returns and gives back to his alma mater by offering his talents to those younger.

Zack is a great example of just that. He travels to Talladega each Friday from Jacksonville State University, where he is a music major, to give lessons to French Horn students at both Talladega High School and Zora Ellis Jr. High. We are very happy to have him and just as happy to have students open and willing to 'pick his brain' for any tips or knowledge that he may have. What better way to learn than from someone who has been exactly where you are sitting.

Tuba Christmas

The tubas and Euphoniums from Talladega High and Zora Ellis will be attending Tuba Christmas in Atlanta this year. Below is a little information and a video clip of previous events.

TUBACHRISTMAS was conceived in 1974 as a tribute to the late artist/teacher William J. Bell, born on Christmas Day, 1902. Through the legendary William J. Bell we reflect on our heritage and honor all great artists/teachers whose legacy has given us high performance standards, well structured pedagogy, professional integrity, personal values and a camaraderie envied by all other instrumentalists. The first TUBACHRISTMAS was conducted by the late Paul Lavalle in New York City's Rockefeller Plaza Ice Rink on Sunday, December 22, 1974. Traditional Christmas music performed at the first TUBACHRISTMAS was arranged by American composer Alec Wilder who ironically died on Christmas Eve, 1980. Wilder composed many solo and ensemble compositions for tuba and euphonium. He was a loyal supporter of every effort to improve the literature and public image of our chosen instruments. Through Alec Wilder we express our respect and gratitude to all composers who continue to embrace our instruments with their compositions and contribute to the ever growing solo and ensemble repertoire for tuba and euphonium.

Click Here to view a youtube clip of last years performance in NYC.

On the Tube!

The Talladega High School Band is proud to represent Talladega County this week on ABC 33/40. Keith Taylor, sports producer at ABC 33/40, sent an email stating that we will be the "Blitz Band of the Week." They are using clips from the Pell City vs Dega game. The show usually airs on ABC 33/40 on Friday nights at 10:30.

Trumpet for Sale

Jeff Wood has a Kanstul 1500 A Series Trumpet for sale. The horn is lacquer, has a copper bell, and a .460 bore size. This is a beautiful instrument that retails new for $2,200. Jeff is willing to sell to a student for $750.00. Call Jeff at 493-0165 for more details.

Talladega County Marching Band Exhibition - SUCCESS!

Congratulations to the bands of BB Comer, Childersburg, Munford, Talladega City, Talladega County Central, and Winterboro High Schools for their participation in the Talladega County Marching Band Exhibition. All bands gave spirited and entertaining peformances and the spectators in attendance responded in approval!

If anyone has photographs of last night's pageantry please email them to me at dmcdaniel@talladega-cs.net. I would love to post them on this blog page.

Special thanks to Sam Ellis and the students and parents of the Childersburg High School Band for sponsoring this event.

Let's start planning now for next year's event so we can make it bigger and better. How about a massed band performance at the end of the night to cap off a great night of entertainment? Just a thought!

Sylacauga HS, Talladega HS, and the Zora Ellis JH band members enjoy Tailgate Party!

On Friday, Sept. 12, the members of the Sylacauga HS Band, Talladega HS Band, and the Zora Ellis Junior High Band got together for a Tailgate Party right before the kick-off of the THS vs. SHS game. Band members visited, ate grilled Polish sausages, then performed stand still concerts for each other and for the crowd that had gathered there on the lawn of Dixon School in Talladega.

For an encore, the three bands formed one large band to perform the "Star Spangled Banner" in honor of 9-11 and in celebration of National Anthem Day, Sept. 12, 2008!

View the minutes from the Aug. 6 TCBDA

CLICK HERE to view the minutes from the August 6 TCBDA Fall Meeting.

In the NEWS!

The Daily Home is recognizing the efforts of local bands in the community.
Click here to view.

Good luck to everyone as you put on the finishing touches and the first football game approaches. It appears that the time has come and quickly too!

District II Meeting; Aug. 26, Gadsden City High School

The Fall Meeting for ABA District II band directors is this Tuesday, August 26th at Gadsden City High School. I want to encourage you all to attend this meeting so we can display our strong Talladega County contingent. I will be leaving Talladega HS at 6:00 p.m. if anyone would like to meet to caravan or carpool.

Below is the introductory letter from District II chair Missy Lindley. I am also attaching the Information Sheet that the District requests from each director and school. Bring this info with you along with your District Participation Fee.

Special note: notice the information in Missy's letter concerning the new scholarship in honor of long-time Alabama Band Director Regina King who passed away close to a year ago. Please consider a donation to this scholarship.

I will be leaving Talladega HS at 6:00 if anyone would like to meet to caravan or carpool.

David McDaniel

Alabama Bandmaster’s Association
District II: Missy Lindley, Chairman; Jeff
Gossett, Vice Chairman

Dear Directors,

I hope your
band camp has gone well and that you are off to a good start with school. I am
looking forward to serving as your Chairman for the next two years. I want to
thank Pam Smith for working so hard to make this transition an easy one. The
fall meeting will be Tuesday, August 26th at 7:00pm. The meeting will be at Gadsden City High School. A special thanks to Russ Waits and Steve Reagan for hosting this event. We are going casual this year and will have pizza, drinks and dessert while we are meeting. I know how crazy this time of year can be and that most of us come straight from band rehearsal. Maybe we will have better participation if things are more relaxed… just trying something new and hoping we can have everyone in attendance for this meeting. We can always go back to a restaurant next year if the majority wants to do that.


Please take a few minutes and fill out the membership form that you will receive in the next couple of days. I need this form immediately for the directory. I have attached the form if you would like to email the information. I really need for you to send an email address for quick correspondence. ABA is moving to paperless communication so please make sure your email address is correct and updated! I also need a cell phone number in case of emergencies. Any time any of your information changes, it is your responsibility to get that new information to me.

Also, please send the $25.00 district participation fee by September 5th. We are also asking that each school send an additional $10.00 to start the Regina King Memorial Scholarship. We may not have enough money this first year for a decent size scholarship, but we plan to start that program with our first recipient in the
spring of 2010. You may include the $10.00 in your district participation check.
I hope everyone will support this endeavor so we are able to help a child begin
their career in music education that Regina loved so dearly. I will also need a
copy of your updated MENC card. Remember your membership must be current for your students to participate in ABA events.

I am in the process of updating the directory. If you have a new director in your area, please send me their name and school or contact them and ask them to send me all their information ASAP. I need to get all the updates to Gene Gooch ASAP! If your bookkeeper has an automated system, remember to update ABA District II to my school address and not Pam’s! The best way to assure it is going to the right
person on time is to mail it yourself!

I look forward to seeing you on Aug. 26th at Gadsden City High School.

Musically,

Missy Lindley
Chairman,District II
mlindley@albertk12.org

Talladega Bands 2008 Field Shows!!!!

Band directors,

Post your 2008 Field Show on this blog or reply to this post and I will be happy to add your show. I overheard bits and pieces of your show ideas during our Fall Meeting so I thought this would be a good place to display all of our shows.

I'll go first: The Talladega High School Band show is entitled "Who's That Masked Man?" The first song is a medley of The Batman Theme from the Motion Picture, Spiderman TV Theme, Phantom of the Opera, Glory Days from The Incredibles, and The Ride from Zorro. Our 2nd song is Hey, Pacuco! from the Jim Carrey movie "The Mask". Our last movement will be the jazz standard This Masquerade and will then go in to Cirque Du Soleil's Urban to close the show.

We will have masks, superheroes, and other mask-type items to tie in all the visual elements with the music.

Tag, your next...

A Productive Fall Meeting!

Thanks to you all for attending the Fall meeting of the Talladega County Band Directors Association. We appreciate Mike Sims and Munford High School for hosting the workshop and offer special thanks to Danielle Todd for organizing the meals.

I want to encourage you to drop Dr. Frank Buck a line and let him know how much you enjoyed the workshop, "Get Organized: Time Management for Band Directors". I know you all received helpful hints to help ease your time and enable you to spend more time doing the things you want to do.

Best of luck to you all as you begin your 2008-2009 school year.

Santa Clara Van Guard is here!

Feel free to take an afternoon trip to Talladega High School this afternoon and see the award winning Santa Clara Van Guard Drum and Bugle Corp. They arrived early this morning and will be here on campus today to practice before their performance tonight at Jacksonville State University. They are Scheduled to be in rehearsal from 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The best time to see them is around 3:00 for their run through of the show. After the run through they will begin to pack up for the show.

We hope to see you there!

Another Drum Corp Opportunity right here in Talladega!

We have been very fortunate this year to have two great opportunities very close and convenient for everyone. In June we were honored to host Spirit Drum and Bugle Corp on our campus for an entire week and on Sunday, July 28, 2008, the 6 time national champions, Santa Clara Vanguard will be on our campus for the day. We would like to invite you and your students to drop by and see Santa Clara Vanguard in action. More information about the corp can be viewed by clicking here.

Santa Clara Vanguard will travel from a performance in Atalanta, GA on July 26, 2008, and will rehearse on our campus in preparation for the Drum Corp show scheduled at Jacksonville State University on Sunday, July 27, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. For more information about Drum Corp or for scheduling and ticket information click here.

Times of arrival and depart for Santa Clara Vanguard will be announced as soon as we have the information available.

We hope you decide to visit our campus and join us in this great musical opportunity!

If you have questions or need additional information feel free to contact David McDaniel.

TCBDA Annual Meeting

The TCBDA annual meeting will take place on August 6 at the Munford High School band room. Dr. Frank Buck will present a seminar entitled “Get Organized! Time Management for High School Band Directors.”

Frank’s “Get Organized! Time Management for School Leaders” is a detailed book geared toward school educators. Frank has become an expert in the area of time management and will tailor this session just for us.

You can obtain a copy of Frank’s book by clicking here.

After Dr. Buck’s seminar we will conduct TCBDA business. Bring your band calendars so we can finalize upcoming events. We’ll conclude our meeting with a catered lunch.

• 8:00-8:30 Arrival, continental type breakfast (Munford High School band room)
• 8:30-10:00 Get Organized! Time Management for High School Band Directors. (Dr. Frank Buck, Talladega City Schools)
• 10:00-10:15 Break
• 10:15-11:30 TCBDA Annual Meeting
• 11:30-12:30 Lunch

Please check with your principal to ensure your attendance at this meeting.

Marching Band!

It's 90 degrees outside, everyone is staying inside at all costs, and what do bands do? Get out there and march and play so that they can present an entertaining halftime show for each and every football game and practice until its perfect enough to take it to competition.

Most of the time this entails standing in a position, responding to instructions as you move from position to position and somehow playing at the same time, then doing it over and over again until you have as perfect as possible.

Have you ever wondered how all of those little dots get on the paper, or how you are told where to go. Is it magic? Here is an interesting website that gives you a small and fun glimpse into the production side of the Marching Band Show process. Click here

Here you can watch shows that other people created, as well as create your own show. Its a fun way to try your hand at creating a marching band show and going wherever your imagination leads!

Enjoy!

Come OUT and SEE!

Spirit Drum and Bugle Corp is right in your back yard. Spirit is staying on the campus of Talladega High School the week of Sunday, June 1, 2008- Saturday, June, 7, 2008.

Get a group of friends and come on over anytime throughout the week to see young musicians hard at work . All rehearsals are welcome to observers.

The schedule varies daily but will be similar to the following:

8:00-12:00 Marching (basics, marching segments)

Lunch Break

1:00-5:00 Music Sectionals

Dinner Break

6:30-9:00 Full Ensemble (on the THS band practice field)

This is a great opportunity for bands in our county to get to see what its like up close and personal to a drum and bugle corp and what it entails.

Spirit of JSU at Talladega High School, June 1-7, 2008

Summer is a good time for our students to encounter a different kind of music and right here in Talladega at that. Spirit Drum and Bugle Corp will be on the THS campus during the first week of June for a full week of rehearsals.

Students can visit http://www.dci.org/ to learn more about Drum Corps and Drum Corps International. This site gives information on the member corps and provides ticket order accessiblity to shows. There are several shows this year that are close to us and would be great to go to with a group of students. They include; Spain Park, Atlanta, and Jacksonville.

We will post Spirit's rehearsal schedule each day. All rehearsals are open to the public and the Spirit staff encourages you and your students to attend.