New Links On Website

Please check out NEW Links on the website on the LEFT.

You can find:

GVHS Orchestra Handbook

Advertising and Sponsor Form

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 2^nd 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

Welcome 2014-2015 School Year!

Another school year is upon us! 

Start of school THIS MONDAY, AUGUST 25TH

Open House will be September 16th, 2014. 

Orchestra Booster Meeting: 

Monday, September, 22nd, 2014 @ 6:00pm in the Orchestra room. 

Symphony Orchestra Students will Perform at Graduation

Graduation for Green Valley High SchoolFriday, June 13 at UNLV Thomas and Mack Center

The graduation ceremony starts at Noon and the orchestra, band, and choir will all be performing during the ceremony. Graduating seniors have the option to process in and then join the orchestra and band in playing the rest of the processional and America the Beautiful. All 9^th, 10^th and 11^th grade Symphony Orchestra students are expected to perform. Final rehearsal on the morning of graduation at 9:00 a.m. in the GVHS Band Room. After the rehearsal we will travel to Thomas and Mack by school bus.  There will also be a bus coming back to Green Valley after the graduation ceremony. Your students should be back to school by 3:00 p.m. If for some reason your child will not be able to perform at graduation, please notify me as soon as possible.

Auditions for Next Year Chamber Strings & Symphony Orchestra

Students who wish to be in our Chamber Strings or Symphony Orchestra classes next year need to successfully pass an audition!

Auditions will be held May 13 – 15  Sign Up in Orchestra Room

Students were given the opportunity to pick up audition excerpts about a month ago and should already be working on them.  The normal progression in our program is to participate one year in Intermediate Orchestra then one or two years in the Advanced Orchestra before auditioning for the Chamber Strings or Symphony. It is also common for some students to choose to stay in Advanced Orchestra until they graduate. Please be aware that the Symphony class is a bigger time commitment than Intermediate, Advanced, or the Chamber Strings classes. Students are expected to be at after school rehearsals every Monday and Early Bird rehearsals every Tuesday starting in October. The difficulty of the literature that both the Chamber Strings and the Symphony play will also require more home practice for most students. The last thing to consider is that the Symphony travels almost every year. Some of the trips are smaller but the plan for next year is to take a bigger trip to perform in a major US concert hall.

Need of Raffle Donations!

Help Collect Raffle Donations for Spring Concert!

Every year our booster club collects donated items (show tickets, gift baskets, gift certificates, etc.) that are then raffled off at our concerts. We need your help with this for the Spring Concert! If you know of a business or an individual that would like to help our orchestra program out by donating an item, please contact me with their information or secure the donation and send it to school with your child. Thank you in advance for helping to make our Spring Concert Raffle a success.

Orchestra Awards Banquet

Mark Your Calendar!

The Orchestra Awards Banquet and Dinner 

GVHS Cafeteria on Wednesday, May 28 at 6:00 p.m. 

All orchestra students, parents, and friends are invited to the banquet. 

Cost: $10.00 for students, $12.00 for guests, and graduating seniors attend for free. 

Tickets are now available to be purchased during your child’s orchestra class or before/after school. They will also be available to purchase at our Spring Concert.