Monday, September 8, 2014

Letter From Ms. Burger

Dear Green Valley Orchestra Parents,

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the 2014-2015 school year! I know the beginning of the year is often chaotic and filled with lots of paperwork needing your attention so I thought that it might be helpful if I sent a note regarding important items for our orchestra program.

Handbook forms
Your child should have brought an orchestra handbook home the 2nd day of school. This handbook contains expectations and information for our orchestra program. At the back of the handbook are several permission slips that require your signature. If these forms have not been returned yet, please have your child get them in as soon as possible.

Class Fee
There is a $40.00 class fee for orchestra and covers an orchestra t-shirt, replacement of broken strings, and periodic specialized sectional (small group) coaching. Class fees are due by Friday, September 12. If you will need an extension to this deadline or need to make other payment arrangements please send a note with your child. You can also contact me by email or phone.

Open House
Green Valley's annual Open House will be held Tuesday, September 16. The Symphony Strings and Chamber Orchestra will be combining to perform for this event. The Open House presentations start at 6:00 p.m. in the gym followed by classroom visits for each of your child's classes. The Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Strings play at the beginning of the Open House and will be finished performing no later than 6:40 p.m.

Orchestra Parent Booster Meeting
Our first parent booster meeting will be Monday, September 22 in the Orchestra Room. The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. and should be done no later than 7:00 p.m. All parents are welcome and encouraged to attend. We will be discussing fund raising opportunities, ways to get involved to help the orchestra, and Spring travel plans for all groups.

Orchestra Website
Helpful information about the GVHS Orchestra and our activities will always be posted on our orchestra website. Please consider subscribing to this valuable resource. The address is www.gvhsorchestra.org. Once you get to the website it will be very easy to subscribe and start receiving email updates.

Random Drug Testing
GVHS participates in a random drug testing program. The program is optional for the general student body but all students who participate in our athletic program as well as our top performing arts groups are expected to participate. All Symphony and Chamber Orchestra students need to return the drug testing parent permit and the $10 fee to the school banker no later than Friday, September 26. (If your student has already purchased an athletic packet they have already been enrolled in the program.)

Program Ads
Our first fund raiser of the year is selling ad space in our four formal concert programs (Pasta Supper, Winter Concert, Community Concert, and Spring Concert). If you own a business or know someone who would like to advertise for an extremely low cost please have your child pick up an ad contract to fill out. Ad space starts at $75.00 and at least  75% of the money raised from the sale of the ad goes to directly to the student who sold it. Ad contracts and art work for the ad are due by Friday, September 26 to be in time for our first program.

Home Practice/Equipment
The importance of consistent home practice cannot be stressed enough.  Please encourage your student to set a regular practice time and to share with you what they are working on in their orchestra class.  Violin and viola players should be taking their instruments home on a REGULAR basis and ALL cello and bass players should have playable instruments to practice on at home. If this is an issue, please contact me as soon as possible. If your child currently does not have their own instrument, please consider renting one from one of our local music stores. I can certainly make recommendations as to good places to rent for reasonable prices. The best situation for a student is to own or rent their own but if this is not possible, please contact me as soon as possible and I will find a school instrument to loan to your student. In addition to a working instrument at home, all violin and viola players need to have a shoulder rest to use in class daily. It would also be fantastic if every cello and bass player owned their own rock stop to use for concerts. I have shoulder rests available for purchase at school. Violin rests are $15.00 and Viola rests are $20.00. If your child will be using a school instrument at home you will also need to fill out a loan of musical equipment form. Your child will be bringing this home in the next few days for your signature.

Uniforms
We will be using the same uniform as last year. Girls that are new to our program will need to purchase the Green Valley Orchestra Dress. We will be fitting girls for dresses during class at the end of September and then ordering the dresses to be here in time for our Winter Concert. The cost of the dress will be approximately $75.00. I should know the final cost in a couple of weeks and would like the dresses paid for by October 1. Boys that are new to our program will need to purchase a black long sleeved dress or tux shirt, black dress pants, and a black long tie. All students will also need black dress shoes and black dress socks or stockings.


Thank you for your continued support of the GVHS Orchestra program. I am extremely grateful to be teaching such outstanding students and I look forward to many wonderful performances with them.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you might have.  My email is sab564@interact.ccsd.net and my school phone number is 799-0950 ext. 4063.

Sincerely,

Shelly Burger

Green Valley High School Orchestras

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