Great Opportunity with DCI!

The East Peoria High School Band is proud to welcome The Colts Drum & Bugle Corps from Dubuque, Iowa to the East Side Center football stadium on June 15th 2009.

▲ The Colts will be rehearsing all day and will perform an exhibition performance at 7:00pm.

▲ The entire day’s events are free and open to the public.

▲ This is a wonderful opportunity for students to observe a professional marching organization and will be fun for the entire family!

Contact EP Director of Bands, Adam Schneblin at 309.694.8335 for more information.

Go online to http://www.colts.org/ to find more information about The Colts this season.

I would love to see the some of the band at this event, especially section leaders. Take an opportunity to see how the rehearse and perform very early on in their season.

Congratulations Class of 2009

With the passing of another graduation the EPGHS Bands lose another talented group of seniors. They may go onto to bigger and better adventures, but we know part of them will always be here at El Paso-Gridley whether they like it or not.

This years group graduated 11 hard working band members. During the ceremony they joined the EPGHS Wind Symphony for one last performance of "October". It was a bittersweet moment for some of us, but overall I think many of the seniors were just happy that they don't have to play Pomp and Circumstance ever again! (Except those of course who are planning on playing in college ensembles you just wait...)

I'll leave you with a poem by Joanne Fuchs

Your diploma means a future without boundaries,
A world that's full of energy and fun.
So as you reach for all life has to offer,
Remember that you're second to no one.

Pursue your goals, yet keep your loved ones close,
As you utilize your talent and ambition.
Let your friends and family give you their support,
And you'll master every challenging transition.

And always know you can achieve
The things you really want, if you believe.

Congratulations Band Seniors of 2009

Thanks for making this an outstanding year filled with music and a few trophies!
You will never be forgotten!

5th Grade Rental Night 2009

It's that time of year that we start thinking about Summer vacation. However as parents and students settle in to their summer routines please start thinking about participating in instrumental music next year.

5th grade information nights will take place two evenings for your convenience. Please stop by anytime to talk to the band director and the music store representatives to get these exciting new 5th grade band members signed up to be part of something great at EPG. Beginning Band can be an exciting new outlet for your student's creativity!

Kidder Music will be here on Tuesday, September 8th from 3:30-6:00PM
The Music Shoppe will be here on WednesdaySeptember 9th from 3:30-6:00PM

Both stores have a fantastic reputation and can provide you with quality instruments to help your students succeed within your budget. Do not let cost keep your child from participating in this worthwhile experience! They can also repair/test family instruments to make sure they are in working condition. They both have store in Bloomington/Normal and come by the school regularly to take care of your investment.

Jazz Showcase 2009

Gridley IL isn't usually a place you think of a jazz hotspot, but it sure was on April 17th. The candles were lit, the lights were low and the place looked ready for an evening of quality entertainment thanks to a great team of parent volunteers.(Thank you so much!)

The EPGHS Jazz Band took the stage for two sets that evening, providing our patrons with music to enjoy while they tasted the delicious desserts(again, thank you parents). There were even some couples caught...dancing! The venue really was quite fitting and most guests even dressed up for a night on the town.

Jazz Showcase is a great opportunity for the students to get a taste of what being in a real big band is like for musicians. We had to put together a dance book of varying styles, rehearse the tunes, and work with guest vocalists. Thank you to our girls group and choir teacher John Shaffer for preparing "As Time Goes By" and to Senior Harrison Hakes for singing Gerswin's famous showtune, "They Can't Take That Away From Me."

The students really enjoyed playing this set including such classics as Miller's "In the Mood" and Basie's "Jumpin' at the Woodside". We also performed more contemporary music such as "A Child is Born" written by Thad Jones and a burnin' Latin tune entitled "The Tiger of San Pedro." The music kept the crowd going for two hours and the standing ovation for our encore was more than we could have hoped for from those in attendance.

We're very proud of the performance and look forward to doing more things like this. The students really worked hard for this and it paid off. We are also happy to donate all proceeds to the EPG Music Boosters who support music of all kinds within our school system.

Photos from the evening courtesy of Tyson Joye Photography will be up as soon as my connection speeds up.

EPGHS at ISU Invitational

The EPGHS Wind Symphony took the stage at the Illinois State Concert Band Invitational on April 25th 2009. The group played very well and the audio recording really showed that. The group has came a very long way since Winter Break.

The group played a tough program consisting of Movement 3 of the Folksong Suite, October, and American Riversongs. It was fantastic to get to work on pieces from Whitacre, Vaughan Williams, and LaPlante for this performance. The students really bought into the music and gave it their best.

It was great experience to get to play on that stage at the ISU Center for Performing Arts. I love being able to give the students a chance to hear their music in a proper venue.

I have some video of the performance, but in all fairness to the band it's not the best representation. It was shot on a Sony digital still camera so the audio/video is not very clear. Hopefully though it will give some of the parents who couldn't join us an idea of how well the students performed. Links are posted below!

American Riversongs by Pierre LaPlante
October by Eric Whitacre
English Folksongs Movement No. 3 by Ralph Vaughan Williams

JH Concert Band at ISU

Last Saturday the EPGJHS Concert Band woke up early and boarded a bus for Illinois State University. You could feel a mix of apprehension and sleepiness as we rode down I-39. It was a very exciting day!

The Concert Band made up of 31 7th/8th graders headed to the ISU Center for Performing Arts to perform. The format was that of I contest, but this band is new to the contest scene. Last Spring was the first time they'd been to organizational in many years.

This year we opted for ISU so that the students could experience playing at a first rate venue. We play enough gyms at home so this was a great opportunity.

They looked great as they walked on stage, all in black and white. Very professional! Then we played our program. Sure there were some wrong notes and little mishaps, but nerves didn't keep us from giving a good performance.

We then listened to other bands. I think the students were very impressed by some of the other middle schoolers. I had to remind them that those kids are the same age! Oh the wonders of practice. Overall we had a great experience ISU.

Congratulations to all the students for a great performance!

High School ISU Information

The EPGHS Wind Symphony will be performing at the Illinois State University Invitational on Saturday April 25th at 10:00AM. Please come support the group since these is the one time they get to play in a hall that's worthy of the sounds they make! I mean we love the gym, but come on this is the CPA!

I have uploaded the itinerary here, but you may also get a paper copy from me in the band room.

Keep practicing! We are peaking at the right time and it's going to be a performance we can be very proud of, if we concentrate on making music.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfdmt7zq_17gwdhpvfb

Junior High ISU Information

The EPGJHS Concert Band will be attending the ISU Invitational on Saturday April 18th 2009. We perform at 10AM so please come support the next generation of music makers at EPG.

It should be a fun little day trip and it's completely worth it, just to play on the beautiful stage at the ISU Center for Performing Arts.

The itinerary is posted by following the link below. Just in case anyone lost it...not like that would happen! :)

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfdmt7zq_16d9fw86g3

UPDATE

This morning a parent pointed out to me the our Senior Band Banquet is on two different dates! The correct date is May 5th, which coincides with the school calendar. I will update the instrumental calendar as well.

Since we're updating here's some other dates to remember as we wind down the school year.

April 17 7:30PM- Jazz Showcase please contact me if you need tickets
April 18 10AM- Junior High Band ISU Competition.(public is welcome)
April 25 10:00AM - HS Wind Symphony at ISU Competition (public is welcome)
April 30 6:00PM - 5th Grade Band Spring Concert
April 30 7:30PM - High School Spring Concert
May 5th 7:00PM - High Schoo Band Banquet(All MT members and family are invited)

I hope that helps as we navigate the last few weeks of school.

Bradley Honor Band Students Announced

Congratulations to Danny Hermes, Jessie Bigger, and Sam Stuckel for being selected to represent EPGHS in the Bradley University Honor Band. These three students are among 80 musicians selected from 34 schools to comprise the Junior/Senior BU Honor Band.

The concert will take place on Tuesday April 28th at 7:30 in the Dingeldine Music Center on the beautiful campus of Bradley in Peoria IL. In addition to this concert the students will attend Practice on April 21st from 6-9PM

The band will be conducted this year by clinician, Keith Johnston. Mr, Johnston is the Director of Bands at Sacred Heart University and has enjoyed a long career conducting various ensembles throughout the USA. He has served as the Music Director of the Troupers Light Opera Company, Onondaga Civic Symphony, the Allegheny Brass Band, and the Auburn Chamber Orchestra.

I'm sure the students will enjoy a great day of learning at Bradley. We hope to see lots of El Paso-Gridley supporters at the concert ont he 28th!

HOIC Band

Congratulations to all of our students who participated in the HOIC Honor Band. A special congratualations to Mark, Danny, Jessie, and Andrew for being principal players in their respective sections.

It was a long day of rehearsals, but it's a great experience to perform in such a great space. The Bloomington Center for Performing Arts provides a great experience for our musicians since they spend most of their concerts in a gym.

Thanks to all the directors, HOI Principals, BCPA Staff, and parents for making this happen for our students!

UPDATED(3/9):Instrumental Calendar

Hello all. I received a suggestion to post the calendar up here. After playing with it for awhile I couldn't get it to post in a readable format, but I was able to publish it to the web. Please follow the link to receive our calendar. It will be updated whenever I have a change so please check back often.

EPG Instrumental Music Calendar 2008-2009

Solo and Ensemble Contest

Well the dust has settled on Solo and Ensemble Contest.

Our students had some great performances. We took some quality literature to Normal Community West this past weekend.

If anyone has pictures or video from Solo and Ensemble let me know. I'd be glad to edit this post and put it up here.

Congratulations to the students and many thanks to accompanists Rose Yahnig and Angie Schwab.

Go Lady Braves!

The EPGHS Pep Band will traveling to East Peoria to perform for a Bradley Lady Braves basketball game. The game will take place on the ICC campus at 7:00PM on Thursday, March 5th.

Each year Bradley selects a few area school to serve as the pep band for game their regular band cannot perform. We honored to be selected for the second year in a row as one of the premiere groups from around the area.

Bus time is 4:00PM sharp. Do not be late and make sure you bring money for food. Where red or white, but no ISU stuff please. We should be arriving home around 10PM.

Yes - we will still be having jazz band. :)

Chamberworks Multimedia

Even though it was a dark and stormy night the Chamberworks Concert was quite a hit. A small audience joined us for about an hour of small ensemble music.

Please enjoy the following photos courtesy of Mr. Mock.



L-R: Danny H.(Senior Alto Soloist), Jessie B.(Junior Euphonium Soloist), and the EPGHS Brass Quintet

Making Music at EIU

Three EPGJH music students(Tess, Amy, and Justin) took advantage of a great opportunity to play their instruments on Saturday. We piled in a CUSD #11 van at 5:45AM and even though everyone was sleepy, we were excited about what the day might hold. (I might have been the most excited of all!) The event was the EIU Middle School Honor Band Festival.

A lot of neat things happen at EIU on an honor band day. For example our students had to prepare for a concert, but they hadn't seen the music yet! What a test of their musical fortitude! After they began looking up from their music stands they also got to meet and play for two very well-known conductor/composers.

Pierre LaPlante and Larry Daehn served as clinicians for the day teaching our young musicians all kind of neat things. These two men are giants in the music education world because they have given us such great music to play with our developing bands.

After many hours of rehearsals, a chamber music concerts, and a lot of pizza, our students took the stage along with over 140 other musicians to perform a fantastic concert in the beautiful Doudna Fine Arts Center. The place was standring room only! After the concert(and a standing oviation!) the composers sat in the lobby signing things and taking pictures. I even got my pictures with these two great educators. I grew up playing their music so what a treat for me as well.

The students had a good time and had plenty to talk about afterwards. I hope to continue taking students to these types of events. Not only is it educational, but it's also a lot of fun. Just ask the students about the "red room".

- Mr. F

A short video clip of the 8th Grade Honor Band(not great quality)

The full band on stage and Tess talking with composer, Larry Daehn.

EPG Jazz Saxophonist Among the Best in Illinois

Junior tenor saxophonist Andrew Durham recently spent two days in downtown Peoria playing music with the best HS jazzers in Illinois. When you ask him about the experience, he speaks of how humbling it was to be there and how he knows he'll have to work hard to get back next year. He also just said "awesome" a lot.

Andrew was selected to perform as the lead tenor in the Illinois Music Educators All-State Jazz Band. The road to this concert was long. He started preparing the music last April when Mr. Freesen put the audition tune in front of the Jazz Ensemble. In October, he auditioned at the district level where he was named lead tenor and was a featured sololist for District 3. In early December, he was informed that he would be making the trip to Peoria for the All-State Conference which is the highest level honor group in the state.

The group spent many hours a day rehearsing with fantastic clinicians. During the breaks, the students wouldn't even stop playing! All the hard work paid off for the students at Jazz Night. On Friday, the students rehearsed on the Civic Center Theatre stage and then performed there later that night for a huge crowd. The audience was enthusiastic about the performances by all the participating students who come from programs all over Illinois.

"I was honored to take a student to the festival this year. This was the first time the EPG schools have sent a student to the conference for instrumental music and it couldn't have been a better student-musician than Andrew. We will work hard and hopefully have more students get to experience this in the future."-Mr. F
(Article originally appeared on http://www.unit11.org/)

An Invasion!

Recognize these fine collegiates?

As we all know college break last a little longer than its HS counterpart. At the beginning of January a bunch of the graduating class of 2008 returned to join the band for a pep band performance.

The amazing thing was that I had no clue they were planning this, however the high school band didn't seem to shocked...

Anyway it was nice to get to catch up with how college life is treating them. It's nice to know that almost all of them are participating in college ensembles. You know it didn't hurt the big sounds of the El Paso-Gridley Pep Band either!

Thanks alumni and have a great rest of your freshman year! Keep us posted on all your successes.

Here's some more pictures from that game

Watch Out EIU!

In November the opportunity for JH students to apply for an honor band at EIU arose. Many interested students sent in applications with my recommendations on the back. However, as with an honor group only a few were selected. The EPGJHS Bands are proud to contribute four members to the Eastern Illinois University Honor Band.

Students selected were Tess Pala(Percussion), Justin Skare(Clarinet), Amy Fairburn(Flute), and Blade Parrish(Baritone). I will accompany them for a day on campus at the new Doudna Fine Arts Center in Charleston.

EIU offers a unique opportunity because not many universities do honor bands for JH students. The festival consists of a full day of rehearsals and clinics with nationally recognized composers/conductors. At 4:30PM on Sat February 7th all are welcome to attend the culmination concert which will feature the JH honor bands as well as the EIU Wind Symphony.

Please give these students a congratulations if you see them. It's truly a great accomplishment. They are well on their way to becoming the next big thing in the high school music department.

Local Band Student Goes to California

Music can take you many places in life. EPGHS Junior, Sarah Fairburn knows this first hand as she recently used her talents to take her all the way to sunny California. Sarah spent the first few days of 2009 working with student-musicians from all of the country as she played trumpet for the Tournament of Roses Parade. Sarah was selected by audition and director reccommendation to perform with the All-American Marching Band. The main event was marching a the 5.5 mile parade. That's over 5 times the size of the El Paso-Gridley Homecoming Parade!

The types of people in band programs seem to be consistent across the country. "It was great to meet all these people, but a lot of them reminded me of members of our own band." Sarah said, all smiles as she told the band about her trip during our first week back.

"These experiences are vital for our students. It's very rewarding to see them using the skills they develop in our classes to get out and really do something. I hope more students gain these types of experiences through our programs at EPG."
- Mr. Freesen

HOIC Selection Results

The following students were selected for the HOIC Honor Band. The concert will be on March 19th at the BCPA, in Bloomington. Please support these students and the conference by attending this event.
Danny Hermes – Alto I
Jessica Bigger – Baritone
Kate Flanagan – Baritone
Tylene Joye – Clarinet II
Lauren Kapraun – Flute II
Miranda Bunting – Horn I
Ben Mock – Horn III
Sam Stuckel – Percussion
Andy Barnard – Percussion
Andrew Durham – Tenor Sax
Bobby Dickison – Trom. III
Mark Rhodes – Trumpet I
Jeff Delaney – Trumpet I

Words From Our Students

As I finish up my planning for a busy Monday I have a stack of finals next to me on the couch. After the students have answered questions about terms, literature, and theory they write a few short answers. My last short answer question is as follows; "Define your favorite moment of band so far this year."

I learned my content and how to conduct in my college coursework. However, no class prepared me for the way it feels to really reach students. You know that feeling that I'm not only teaching music, but something more important than that. As I look forward to a new semester and the unlimited opportunities that are before us, I would like to show some of what our students are saying about their experiences. I promise not to bore you with all of them!

My Favorite Moment Was...
"...when we won the percussion trophy. It show us that hard work between the battery and front ensemble can achieve great things." - Junior Percussion
"...in sectionals we would tell crazy stories that made us laugh. The first game because it was the first time to show what we have done." - Junior Brass
"...winning all those amazing trophies for the MT. It's a great accomplishment for me to be so dedicated to something that I never expected to like doing. - Sophomore Percussion
"...the competitions. We get L.O.s and win a lot. The competitions make all the practices worthwhile" - Sophomore Woodwind
"...our last competition when we FINALLY beat Tri-Valley." - Junior Brass
"...at Metamora. I like the whole time. I loved marching in the parade, the field show...It was pretty awesome." - Freshman Woodwind
"...at Mahomet-Seymour when we went up against really good bands and still managed to rank fairly high." - Junior Brass
"...was making the 'free high fives' sign and spinning around like airplanes for our skit(during band olympics)" - Sophomore Woodwind
"...was being with friends. I'm not usually the one to go up in front of people to perform, but when I go up the group it's better." - Freshman Woodwind
"There were so many. Whether it be winning best major overall, performing our ridiculous skit...this year has been great. My favorite is going to DQ after rehearsals. Being able to talk and laugh with my friends, my bandmates, give us something to laugh about in practices and brought us closer together." - Senior Woodwind
"...watching the Rich Central school. They were awesome!!(but not as awesome as us) - Freshman Woodwind
"...when I did well and got a part I had never done before when I was on the field. I had a lot of fun this year and am very ancouraged to do it again, but better, next year." Freshman Woodwind
"...the Christmas Concert jazz band. The jazz band got a standing ovation after we played Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. We totally stole the show." - Junior Woodwind
"...when we won all our awards it was awesome. Hanging with Harrison and doing as great as we did made me feel a lot more confident. Plus, just being with the band can't be beat." Junior Woodwind
"...the first time we marched the last set of the show while playing. It was such a relief." - Sophomore Percussion
"...going to EIU honor band. It was an awesome learning experience. It exposed me to a whole new experience and was a great opportunity to able to play with students of exceptional skill. The music was cool too." - Junior Percussion

I guess it shouldn't shock me that none of them wrote about learning their Circle of 4ths. I wish so many of them wouldn't have exempted my test so I could've read more responses.

Thanks for letting me share these thoughts with you as we start the new semester!

In Music -
Mr. F

2008 Show Video

Here's the final set of links for "Aerodynamics:A Celebration of Flight". Click the links to go straight to Youtube clips. Thanks again to Ann for putting this together!

Halloween Show Performance

Mahomet-Seymour Performance

I couldn't have been happier with this season. Go MT!!