25 September 2017

NUYS Parent Meeting and First Rehearsal Follow-Up

Welcome!

It has already been a joy to work with you all as we have put this year's orchestra together. Thank you for your support of this program! We would be nothing without our musicians and their families. We have been hearing from people this week about filling in French Horn, Trombone, and Bassoon positions! Thank you for your recruiting efforts!

There is also a note at the bottom of this email for new members who have not yet auditioned. :)


​September 30 adjusted rehearsal time and other calendar items:
Reminder that this Saturday, September 30, rehearsal begins at 8:00 am and ends at 10 am. Doors will be open from 7:30 to 10:30 am.

The following week it will be back to its normal time, 8:30 to 11:00 am.

​I have updated the Calendar (pdf style), but please be aware that the google calendar on the website is the official answer to any questions.​ If you read above that calendar, there are instructions for you to subscribe to that calendar!

It is looking like we will start our concert at Ogden High School November 18, 2017, at 3:30 pm. This seems to give the swimmers enough time to arrive before the concert, and helps us end early enough to get those involved in school plays to their call times. Please contact me this week if this might still need adjustment. 


Acceptance, Release and Payment -- and Retreat Permission -- forms

If you haven't turned in your Acceptance, Release and Payment form, or your Retreat Permission form, please bring them this Saturday!

For copies of these forms, visit this link. 


Chamber Orchestra Recruiting

Shameless plug for Chamber Orchestra:  Many of you have moved up from Chamber Orchestra! We encourage you to recruit your younger friends and siblings to join this outstanding group! 

Nathan West has some amazing music planned, and a superb vision for where the Chamber orchestra is going as more effective preparation for youth symphony. There is magic in any orchestra when it reaches "critical mass" and the youth need to feel the camaraderie of a larger group of committed musicians.  

They are currently at about 15 and the orchestra needs to at least double, so please encourage your friends!


Parent Meeting

Thank you for your attendance at our parent meeting! We hold it to fulfill the requirements of our bylaws, but also to have a chance to meet all of you! 

We were welcomed by Doris D'Asto, who is the chairman of the Lake Bonneville Symphonic Society board. 

We followed this PowerPoint for our presentation. We talked about the organization and how long it's been around. We talked about the board and how we would love to have more members. Please note that the vast majority of the board members may have at one point, but now do not have youth in the orchestras, and express my gratitude for them in the work that they do. Without them, there would be no youth symphony or chamber orchestra. With your input, however, we can learn and grow together.

We were also reminded about the arrangement we have with Promontory School. We are incredibly fortunate to have access to this facility, and we want to keep it that way. If you move anything in the building it must be replaced! Please be aware of your surroundings, and if you do bring young children with you to wait during rehearsal, make sure you know where they are and what they are doing. We are not allowed into any classrooms at all, whether they are locked or not, and we are only in the pods if we are assigned for sectionals.


Emergency Contact

This year our emergency contact system will be through Remind, a service that many teachers use to reach out to their students. You do not need the app to participate and you can have it send you a text, an email, or both. 

In order to sign up for the 2017-18 Youth Symphony "class" on Remind, please choose from the following:

Send a text to sign up for text messages. 
Enter this number: 81010 and text this message: @746kb42

Or you can send an email to sign up for emails.
Send an email to 746kb42@mail.remind.com
You can leave the subject blank. 

Or you can visit this link to join. 

I really encourage you to do this if you haven't already. In the next couple weeks I will audit the list of who has signed up and add anyone who hasn't done it yet. It's critical we have everyone getting some kind of message through this. Please contact me if this is a problem.

Sometimes the weather misbehaves, or there is an emergency change of venue. Setting up this type of reminder service is crucial preparation for such situations.


Attendance Form

We implore you to be at rehearsal! This is how we move forward and create a cohesive experience. If you play a solo in a piece (woodwinds, brass!), make sure it's covered while you are gone. If you are going to be late, leave early, or be absent, please fill out the Attendance Form

I get an immediate notification when someone fills it out, even on my phone after arriving at rehearsal. There is a tab link to the Attendance Form on the website, as well as a link in the signature of each email I send out. 


Volunteer Collaboration Spreadsheet

This spreadsheet is the online version of the volunteer poster we had at the parent meeting. It will be available this year in the signature of every email. 

Please be sure to look through it and see where you might be able to lend a hand, and sign up! If you have technical frustration and find yourself unable to fill in your name, just pop me an email. I'll happily add it for you. As we experience the growth of the orchestra, some tasks are no longer easy or quick and we appreciate everyone who's willing to lend a hand.

[Note: The section of the poster about the Chamber retreat has been removed from this sheet, expanded, and sent out separately to Chamber families.]


Volunteer Follow-up Form

The volunteer follow-up form goes hand-in-hand with the volunteer collaboration spreadsheet. After you've signed up and actually completed your volunteer time (or if you didn't sign up, but did some volunteer work for us anyway), please report it on the volunteer follow-up form! You'll find it on the website in the links section for use throughout the year, as well as in the signature of all emails. 

We will also include it in the signature section at the bottom of each email. Thank you ahead of time for your help! If you help strike the stage after a concert, help set up for rehearsals, or bring a treat to a party, you are contributing to this cause, so please let us know what your contribution is!  It looks really good on the grants to show this kind of support. There is also a space for the value of any in-kind donation.


New Members

New members, including those who came to rehearsal last Saturday and those who are planning to come this Saturday, we need you to fill out the membership form (if you filled out a paper form last Saturday, that is also sufficient), read the NUYS Auditions page, and follow all the instructions to prepare your audition, then fill out a video upload form and provide the link to an uploaded video audition before our next rehearsal. We are so pleased to have you! 



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