msHandbook

Welcome to the CISD band program!! If this is your first year, congratulations on making the choice to participate in one of Celina's finest organizations! If you have previously been a member, welcome back to another year in the pursuit of musical excellence!! Our goal at the Celina band program is to give the highest quality of music education possible, and have fun making great music. In other words, it is hoped that your experience with CISD bands will provide you with memories that you will cherish for the rest of your life. Really!!

Along with our commitment of quality comes the necessity to make the student responsible for certain materials and behaviors and accountable for learning those elements that are necessary to achieve those goals. Those items will be outlined for you in the pages that follow. Once again, WELCOME!!!!

Band Hall Phone: (469) 742-9119

Communication

In order to communicate effectively and efficiently with our band parents, we use our band website www.celinaband.com. This website is updated regularly for the high school and middle school and it is recommended that parents and students check it often.

You can also reach the directors by calling (469) 742-9119 or you can e-mail them at their band e-mail accounts.

Russ Rutherford - rrutherford@celinaband.com

Leah Cobb - lecobb@celinaband.com

Corey Gilmore - cgilmore@celinaband.com

Booster Club Memberships

It is hoped that all parents and friends of CISD Bands will take the opportunity to become members of the Celina Band Boosters. As a parent there is nothing that you can do (besides insisting that your child practice.... discussed later) that will aid your child’s band experience more directly than to join the booster club. Through this organization, you will help the band with representation, funding, activities, and encouragement. Please take the first available opportunity to join. Information can be attained at any booster club meeting by contacting any booster club board member or coming to the

band office.

Private Lessons

Private lessons are an opportunity for your child to study individually with an instructor that specializes in your child’s instrument. It is impossible to emphasize enough the value and importance of this part of a student’s development. No band director can be an expert on every instrument. Even if that were possible, there isn’t enough time to be able to give every student the individual attention that they need and deserve to reach their full potential. This is an excellent way to overcome this obstacle and greatly enrich your child’s music experience. In addition, this provides the best possible opportunity for your child to prepare for and succeed in participation in solo and ensemble contests, auditions, and other such activities. Lastly, the relationship that develops between the teacher and student is very unique, in that the teacher spends time with him/her individually on a weekly basis. This forms a very strong rapport, and becomes a very important element in the child’s life.

Lessons are given once per week at the band facility for a relatively low fee. Some scholarship assistance is available through the booster club and can be applied for by contacting the band office.

It is assumed that all students who participate in private lessons will participate in solo and ensemble contests. When a parent enrolls their child in private lessons, they are paying the instructor to develop that child to their fullest potential. The contest experience is an absolutely crucial element in that development, and cannot be replaced by any other activity. Exceptions to this should be made only as a result of a conference between the instructor, the parent, and the student. The band director, based on the recommendation of the instructor, reserves the right to disallow any student from participating as a result of lack of preparation, or other reasons as he/she sees fit. Instructors are advised to be in close communication with parents in these circumstances. Participation in the Celina Music Enrichment Program (private lessons) is NOT a mandatory requirement for participation in the band program.

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