Percussion Program Information
Drumline Summer Camps
The camp will be in mid-late July as we close in on the summer band workouts. Camp fee will be around $130 per student.
In addition to our week-long camp, there will be Friday rehearsals throughout the summer for the students who are in town. Students are required to be there, so we can keep our skills extremely high as we roll into the competitive fall season.
2nd Annual NM Middle School Percussion Institute
Yearly in the month of July. Dates are set in January at the latest. Cost is around $50 per student for the week. All students entering the 8th grade should be prepared to attend this camp.
Big Blue Band Summer Camps
May, June, August
Refer to the band schedule for further details about rehearsals with the NM Big Blue Band.
HEB Drumline Contest
Mid-September
Plano Drumline Contest
September 23, 2011
Mesquite Marching Festival
October 1, 2011
DeSoto Classic Marching Contest
October 8, 2011
UIL Marching Contest
October 2011
Lone Star Classic Drumline Contest
November 12, 2011
Elementary Tours & Pep Rallies
Early and Mid-November
Battery students will travel with members of the Wind Ensemble to all of the feeder elementary schools to put on a show encouraging young students to sign up for fine arts classes. We occasionally also visit our feeder campuses to play drumline cadences for pep rallies, Turkey Trots, etc.
All-Region Auditions
early December
Split into two separate phases, the All-Region auditions are where the students can compete against individuals from all other schools in the region. Music is made available to the students on August 1st. Areas of concentration are Snare Drum, 2 mallet, 4 mallet, and timpani. This is a very important contest in the development of individual playing and performing. Students who prepare and perform well have the opportunity to compete for a spot in the Texas All-State Band. NMHS has had three percussionists in the All-State Band-all three in 1997.
NM Bands Holiday Concert
mid-December
Featuring Holiday music from all three HS Concert Bands. Also, the first performance of the year for the Jazz Ensemble. The percussionists will prepare 2-3 holiday percussion ensembles for this performance.
NMSDL
Starting early February in the NM Band Hall
We are very excited to offer the North Middle School Drumline to our middle school percussionists. This group will have a lot of fun and will perform at the North Percussion Concert: Panorama.
Available to middle school percussionists who attend McDonald and Vanston Middle Schools, the NMSDL is structured so that every student gets ample time on each percussion instrument. A highly structured assignment sheet helps keep everyone on-task and allows a ton of fun while engaging the students in a great learning experience.
As a supplemental performing group for our middle school percussionists, the NMSDL succeeds in helping prepare our students for the high school band experience.
UIL Region Solo & Ensemble Contest
Early February 2012
Mesquite High School
During the solo and ensemble season, Dec-Feb, each North Mesquite HS percussionist is involved in 1 solo and 1 ensembles. All percussion students will prepare at least 1 solo which will be picked no later than December 1st. Younger students can expect to play a mallet solo, while older students can pick from mallets, snare drum, timpani, and multiple-percussion. This is one of the rare times when our nicest equipment leaves the band hall on a truck, so be careful!
All students will perform a completed solo at the UIL Solo and Ensemble Contest. Should the student decide not to participate in the solo contest, a performance of their solo will be required at an audience-attended North Mesquite Percussion departmental recital scheduled at the end of a school day in February.
NM Bands Winter Concert
mid-February 2012
This concert features the Concert Bands at North Mesquite as they prepare for the upcoming UIL contest. A performance of some of the percussion ensembles from the UIL Solo & Ensemble Contest will be part of this concert.
UIL Concert & Sightreading Contest
Mid-April 2012
The NM Bands will participate in this contest where the band is judged against a standard of excellence. This contest is THE standard for making sure that all of the players in the entire band are successful.
Panorama - May 4, 2012
"n. A picture representing scenes too extended to be beheld at once, and so exhibited a part at a time, by being unrolled, and made to pass continuously bofore the spectator."
This percussion concert will feature the students from North Mesquite High School, McDonald and Vanston Middle Schools performing a large variety of music. The intent of the "Panorama" is to showcase the students’ work and abilities and give them some ownership in the North Mesquite Percussion Legacy.
All take to the performance arena and evoke growth and independence creating a fond memory that will last a lifetime.
Our young performers work hard to put forth their best performance, please show your appreciation.
We encourage our audience to spend the whole evening with us. We hope that our preparation and performance effort warrants a full evening of percussion experience before and after intermission.
As a courtesy to the performers and audience, please have all pagers and cell phones off or on silent mode. Thank you for your help. Enjoy this night's performance!
A dress rehearsal is usually scheduled either the night before or two nights before the concert (depending on auditorium availability). Students should expect to wear comfortable clothes and be at the venue until we have run through the concert and feel comfortable with the flow of events.
Drumline Audition Workshops - MARCH-MAY
Workshop schedules for all schools will be posted in the spring for drumline workshop information for this year's 8th grade percussionists (next year 9th graders) as well as next-year drumline members who will be attending North Mesquite.
WHO BENEFITS FROM THIS INFORMATION?
The workshop/camp information is especially important for the spring 2010 8th-11th grade percussionists preparing for next year at North Mesquite.
(To the 7th grade parent: we hope this information will be extremely informative in what to expect the next couple of years.)
Listed will be dates for drumline audition workshops for North Mesquite. This is especially important for this year's 8th grade students.
The workshops are designed to help percussionists prepare for drumline auditions. All workshops are not required to audition for the drumline at North Mesquite, but every student should attend the workshops for the instruments they wish to audition for. For example, if you wish to audition on snare, then you should participate in the snare workshop. This will allow the percussion staff to see how you are able to play with other people in a group setting. Consider this your Group Audition!
REALLY IMPORTANT
As a percussionist, these drumline auditions are NOT to determine whether you'll be in the percussion section at North.
Any middle school or high school percussionist is automatically included in the drumline during the fall marching season.
The auditions are used to determine in what capacity the student will benefit most and contribute at their highest during marching season. The workshops help prepare all of the audition material. There will be no surprises at the audition.
Audition material will be covered, explained, and rehearsed during these workshops.
MORE IMPORTANT
Dates for auditions, summer camps, etc. should be carefully reviewed. Our hope is that by getting these dates out to you in January/February, family summer plans can be planned accordingly to allow your student the chance to develop over the summer with all of the demands that come with being a part of a drumline. Your students find the most success when the group dynamic is upheld and everyone is in attendance.
Catching up on a missed week-long camp is possible, however it does put a lot of pressure on the students because by the time they rejoin their friends, the drumline has improved exponentially and is functioning at a rate that frustration is hard to combat. And as a staff, try as we may to assure the student that it is only time and experience they are lacking relative to their friends, the students attack themselves and their supposed inefficiencies and convince themselves that they "can't" do it and end up not having fun or worse, quitting.
Please contact Mr. Mathew with any questions or concerns. We want to answer as best we can to avoid any confusion, assumptions, etc. to circumvent any less-than-successful experiences for your student. I want everyone in this program to make the most intelligent and well-informed decisions when in comes to the percussion program.
Drumline Individual Auditions
Workshop schedules for all schools will be posted Spring 2012.
1. All students will have passed off the Major Scale Studies 1 octave at 85 beats per minute for Mr. Mathew live before the audition date. Those not fulfilling this obligation will be alternates to the drumline until this requirement is met.
2. All Sight reading will be single line, snare type music.
3. Please prepare to be evaluated by a panel of all 5 band directors
To all potential members: Go through the audition process as many times as possible, especially during the week leading up to the audition. Show up knowing that you have set up the best possible odds for yourself. Don't be passive. You will do great!
NM Bands Senior Honor Concert
May 2012
The NM Bands put on a concert to honor our graduating seniors each year.
NM Graduation Band
May 2012
Every HS percussionist that is not a senior gets the pleasure of playing for the graduating seniors for the last time. We do this to honor these students’ time and sacrifice over their musical career.
UIL State Solo & Ensemble Contest
May 2012 - (usually Memorial Day)
Austin-area high school
Ensembles that earned a “ONE” at the Region contest will participate in this event. Additionally, students who play a class 1 solo from memory and earn a “ONE” will also be eligible to participate. We will travel to Austin as a group and spend the day at the Austin-area high school hosting the contest. This is one of the rare times when our nicest equipment leaves the band hall on a truck, so be careful!