Season’s Greetings!
Friends of Music is pleased to present to you, our most valuable stake holders, our last newsletter of 2019. It seems like we just began, and yet here we are at the end of 2019 and in the midst of Summit High School’s busiest music season. The holidays are filled with many opportunities for our band, orchestra and choir students to perform, and perform they do. We hope you have been able to take in a concert or two, watch a parade, or hear the talented voices of our choir. As we wrap up 2019 and move into 2020 the music departments have lots of exciting things to share. Thank you for your continued support of Summit High School Music Programs through your membership and interest in Friends of Music.
Fundraising Update
Friends of Music is increasing our fundraising strength to support all the music programs and provide more opportunities for those interested in helping how they can. Several successful fundraisers raised money this season, and several more are in the works for winter and spring. While the students provide the man-power to run these fundraisers, we need the brain-power of parents to help organize them. Friends of Music has a sign up page for such events and may have something you’d be interested in trying. Visit our SignUp to let us know you’re ready to help, and if you’re not a Friends of Music member, join the team!
Fundraising success
Friends of Music hosted a Mod Pizza donation day that encouraged students and families to eat at Mod Pizza on Dec. 11th and mention Summit Friends of Music for a 20% donation of meal proceeds back to Friends of Music. Great fun, and a great way to avoid cooking dinner. It’s a win, win! Funds raised support trip and uniform scholarships for Band, Choir and Orchestra. Our goal this year is to offer a restaurant night each month, we have a couple lined up this winter and are looking for other restaurants to participate. Have an idea? Let us know!
On December 13th the Summit Band performed in their fundraising event, the Play-A-Thon. Learn more in the Band segment of this newsletter edition.
fundraising after the holidays
Future fundraiser plans include bingo nights, a murder mystery dinner, Willamette pies and car test drives. We’re ready to dig in and plan, if you’re ready to help fund scholarships lend us your thoughts.
Fundraising efforts are all about helping our kids do the amazing things they do. Let’s see what they’ve been up to.
Choir
A busy November
November started off with a Veteran’s Day assembly featuring our own Summit High School Chorale. The performance was moving and the vocals were beautiful. Summit’s Skyliner Jazz Group gave a wonderful local performance at Touchmark’s Mount Bachelor Conference Center. It was a great way to kick start the holiday season for the residents. The Summit Chorale Ensemble gave a wonderful performance at Bend High School, entitled Central Oregon sings, and sing they did!
📷: Scott and Erin Crawford
Holiday Cheer
As we moved into December, Skyliner Jazz students, affectionately known as Summit’s hidden gem, set out to perform around the community and spread some holiday cheer singing Christmas carols. Some of their caroling venues included the Old Mill District and the NWX tree-lighting. Whether you hear them in a small caroling group, or on stage these eighteen students are some of the most dedicated and talented musicians around.
Winter Choir Concert
December 12th was the Holiday Christmas Concert featuring Concert Choir, Summit Chorale, and Skyliner Jazz. They captivated audience members and filled the auditorium with magical delight. We hope you had a chance to hear them and that their voices lifted you up with the sounds of Christmas.
Upcoming Choir Events
Moving into January 2020 there will be a concert with the Willamette University Choir on Jan. 15th at 7:00 PM at Mountain View High School. The MVHS Concert Choir, Bend High School Chorale, and Summit Chorale will all join together for a musical performance like none other. We hope you are able to join us. As we near the end of January, the Central Oregon Honor Choir will be held on Jan. 30-31st at Ridgeview High School. This is a great opportunity for our students to work with guest professionals from around the country and improve their craft.
Band
Wrapping up a great fall season
With the football season wrapped up on November 1st, band students have been busy with concerts and parades these past few months as they help the community get in the spirit of the holidays with their upbeat musical selections and attention to the audience enjoyment factor. We hope you were able to enjoy the fall concert performed by the Summit Winds Ensemble and Concert Band students in November or the annual parades downtown. Band students will begin playing at basketball games beginning in January, so look for Summit’s own Pep Band to rouse the crowd and provide more timely stands tunes for all to enjoy. Sko Storm!!
Last Football Game with Pep Band - November 1st
Fall Band Concert
Veteran’s Day
In honor of our local Veterans, Summit Winds students joined forces with the Summit Chorale and combined Summit Strings/Chamber Orchestra for an audience of students, staff, and honored Veteran guests at the Veteran’s Day assembly. This is an important community service event hosted annually by Summit High School. A parade followed on Veteran’s Day through downtown streets and our three local high schools joined together in collaborative effort to support this celebration of our nations Veterans.
A Weekend at WIBC
Summit students who attended the Western International Band Clinic (WIBC) in Seattle spent a weekend working and learning from professionals around the country. The weekend culminated with a gala concert event with performances by all four honor bands. Learn more information about WIBC and auditions for next year online.
Band on Ice
Band prides itself on being more than a class, it’s a family. The students are often seen spending time together outside of class and Band Council plans fun activities to encourage it. Whether it was the pumpkin patch in October, harvesting a tree from the mountains and decorating the band room for the season, or ice skating, we know these team building activities help bring kids together. A stronger team is a stronger band. In November, Band students took to the ice for an evening and had great fun watching their director timidly skate for the first time in a decade.
Bend Christmas Parade
Marching Band performed in the final parade of the year, the Bend Christmas Parade. Those green Summit uniforms looked wonderfully festive as the musicians marched to Sleigh Ride flanked by horses and dancers. Thank you to the parents who donated hand warmers, doughnuts and water bottles to our musicians at the event.
Play-A-Thon raises over $7,000 for Band
With the Bend Christmas Parade behind us, the focus was on fundraising through the end of 2019. On December 13th, all four band ensembles performed in the Play-a-thon as part of a holiday fundraiser/social event. The event was live-streamed from 7:00-10:00pm, and donors were invited to tune in and make pledges while students took turns providing hours of entertainment for the viewers enjoyment. This is as popular with students as it is with family members, some of whom live too far away to attend one of the live concerts on campus. Band students raised an impressive $7,664 over the course of the campaign, bringing in donations not just from our community, but as far away as New Zealand and Ireland. The money raised will help with band travel and growth expenses and the ensembles advance in the 6A division. We appreciate your support and hope you were able to tune in to watch your student.
Though the event has concluded, Band is still accepting donations for the Play-A-Thon if you missed them the first time around.
With more than 300 live-stream viewers during the Play-A-Thon event, we realize there is an appetite for live-streamed concerts at Summit. Friends of music is considering providing this service more often so family out of town or overseas can enjoy our students’ performances. We are in search of a potential volunteer with access to a live-stream enabled camera to help us explore this opportunity. Sound like something you can help with? Let us know!
our Jazzy Volunteers
Graduation planning is already in full swing for our 2020 Senior Grad Night. The Jazz Combo students were invited to play downtown on Dec. 17th at Café Sintra for parents and community hosting this Grad Party Fundraiser. They performed jazz combo tunes and delighted those in attendance.
Drumline Club Getting Underway
Our new drumline club has been rehearsing Mondays and Thursdays after school for about a month now, and is looking forward to performing at some upcoming events and basketball games. If any music students are interested in Drumline Club, all they need to do is show up! The club rehearses Mondays and Thursdays from 4-6pm. Everyone is welcome.
Congrats are in order!
Congratulations to the following students who were selected for the Central Oregon Music Educators Association (COMEA) Honor Band! Hannah Song, Phia Morton, Stephanie Poole, Madeline Laughlin, Elizabeth Verheyden, Ayla Murphy, Elise Benton, Isabella Huerta, Emily Orman, Dasan Simmons, Guiliana Alberghetti, Ellie Oudeans, Carson Bitner, Ethan Burton, Jacob Zhao, Nicholas Strom, Tyler Allen, Thayer Hicks, Jesse May, Rowan Fortier, Sam Smith, Tanner Taylor, Logan Lasala, Nicholas Brees, Whitney Walden, Titus Nagle, and Kysen Keith.
This honor band is an annual event held in early January. The group will rehearse and perform at Bend HS working with conductor Paul Bain, associate director of bands at Central Washington University.
ORCHESTRA
District Honor Orchestra and more
Orchestra students participated in District Honor Orchestra mid December. Six amazing students participated and had the opportunity to play with other students in the district. Chamber Orchestra performed at the Summit school wide Winter Assembly and brought holiday cheer to the entire student body. As January nears, Orchestra students are busy preparing their pieces to compete in the Solo and Ensemble competition. We wish them all the best of luck.
WOrking towards the spring tour
Fundraising efforts continue for the Orchestra department, as their tour to Anaheim, CA approaches in April. They are still collecting bottles and cans. There are bags and gloves in cello locker #4, for those interested in helping to collect. Bags with collected bottles and cans can be returned to that locker as well and someone will process them from there. Please support them in their fundraising efforts if you can, and thank you to those who have already helped get it going.
Did you attend a SHS music event and take pictures? We’d love to share them! Want to see something specific covered in the newsletter? We’d love to hear from you! Let’s get in touch.
