July 23rd Email...

Hello Marching Band Families!

Today was an absolutely GREAT first day of camp!  The students were eager to get things going, and we made great use of our time outside this morning before the afternoon storms moved in.  Speaking of storms, it was an interesting afternoon!  Our normal rehearsal plan was put on hold for about 20 minutes (2:55-3:15) while we were under a Tornado Warning.  As soon as we were notified of the warning, all Marching Band Camp activities stopped, we went to our designated safe areas, and waited until the National Weather Service cleared the Warning for El Paso County.  The students responded to this situation absolutely professionally and calmly; you should feel great about how well your student(s) handled the emergency situation.  As you might have noticed, Liberty was NOT hit by a Tornado; everybody is absolutely safe from the storm.  

Please know that the safety of your student, parent volunteers, and staff is ALWAYS our #1 priority.  We will continue to exercise caution this week while we face inclement weather, particularly on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  

Two quick announcements-

1) Please make sure your student takes care of themselves tonight and tomorrow morning!  They should get plenty of sleep tonight, and drink LOTS of water.  Tomorrow won't be too warm (compared to last week's weather), but it will be sunny and we will absolutely maximize our time outside.  Also, please make sure your student is eating a nutritious and substantial breakfast.  We had a few students get sick this morning, and most of which did not eat breakfast.  Simply put, your student needs fuel in their body!  Marching Band really is a demanding activity.

2) If at all possible, please send your student to camp tomorrow with a lanyard.  ANY lanyard will do! We use lanyards for the students to wear their coordinate sheets (where they stand on the field) the rest of the season.  Students are also expected to have a miniature sized version of their music on their lanyard as well, so they can quickly look at the coordinates or music during rehearsal.  It is also the expectation that the coordinate sheets and mini-music be laminated.  This can be done several ways: some students buy actual adhesive laminate sheets from Office Depot, other students use clear packing tape.  Either way is fine, so long as the paper is protected so your student doesn't need to continue printing these over and over this season.  Believe it or not, we are trying to save your student work.  Your student's section leader is an EXCELLENT resource as to how to shrink the music!

If for whatever reason you don't think your student can have a lanyard tomorrow morning, please have your student communicate this to their section leader so appropriate plans can be made.  

Thanks for supporting your student's ambitions in the Marching Band!  We are happy to have them as part of this big band family, and we are very much looking forward to creating our show this year!

Respectfully,

Sean Hedding

Director of Bands