This is the home of the Royal Blue Band from Cold Springs High School, located in Bremen, Alabama. Cold Springs is in the Cullman County School district. This website is where you can keep up with the band's activities throughout the school year.
Happy Sunday! I hope you have all had a good weekend.
This is our LAST WEEK of rehearsals until MPA! Let's do everything we can to make that successful.
No Monday Tutoring This week
Beginners will NOT stay after school on Monday. We'll get back to that next week.
Thursday Pre-MPA Concert(High School Band Only)
This Thursday we will have a pre-MPA concert after school in the Jesse George Gym. I'm still working out details of when it will be available but I'm trying to start this by 3:30 and it will be over by 4:30. The actual concert will not last that full hour, but part of MPA is the sight reading portion. We will play our three stage pieces for the audience, and then go back to the band room to do sight reading. Parents, please come to the concert and bring some friends! We need people in the audience to make us nervous and make it feel like the real thing.
This is a requirement for the High School Band but I encourage our parents of the Beginning Band to come and bring the beginner band students to watch!
MPA March 3rd(High School Band Only)
Next Tuesday is the event we've been working towards for the last three months. We will travel to UNA in Florence, Alabama to attend the Alabama Music Performance Assessment. We will perform three songs for a panel of judges in the main auditorium at UNA, then we will transition to the band room for sight reading. This is where we will be given a piece of music we have never seen before, myself included, and we have 5 minutes to look over notes and rhythms before we play it for a judge. The stage concert is open to the public but the sight reading is not.
MPA judging is much more strict than marching band contests. The scoring is similar, we will get rated either a 1(superior), 2(excellent), or 3(good) from each judge. And it's common to get 2's or 3's at MPA. Getting straight 1's is WAY harder than marching contests. I think we're perfectly capable of getting 1's, but we will have to bring our A game!
After we're done with MPA we will change out of our band uniforms and go get lunch in Florence before heading back to Cold Springs. Students will need to bring $20 to eat lunch in Florence.
Times:
6:20......Call time for students to be at the band room
6:45......Depart for UNA
8:30......Unload
9am......Warmups
9:30......Stage performance
10am....Sight Reading
12pm....Lunch in Florence
2:30......Arrive back at Cold Springs
Attire:
We will wear our full marching band uniform.(Gotta dig out those marching shoes!) Color guard members will get fitted for uniforms this week. Students need to wear shorts or leggings and their band shirts under their uniform. Bring something school appropriate to change into after we're done with the performance.
Meals:
We will provide breakfast bars for everyone Tuesday morning. Students need $20 to eat out in Florence after our performance.
After School Events This Week
Monday: NO BEGINNER TUTORING
Tuesday: Percussion
Wednesday: Woodwinds
Thursday: Full Band Pre-MPA Concert
As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns. Let's have another great week for the Royal Blue Band!
Zack O'Bryant
Director of Bands,
Cold Springs High School