C A L E N D A R Friday: ISSMA Organiza-

tional Festival for 8th-grade

band

Saturday: IHSCGA Division-

al Regional A Class Finals

Saturday-March 25: Spring

Break

Sunday: Daylight Savings

Time begins

March 17: IHSCGA State

Championships

March 26: Parent meeting

on mattress fundraiser, 7

p.m.

April 1: Easter Sunday

April 2: Music Boosters

meeting, 7 p.m.

March 2018 Mt. Vernon Music Boosters Volume 3, Issue 8

The next Dine to Donate for the band will be March 28 at Culver’s on the Olio Road roundabout north of Hamil-ton Southeastern High School.

This is the same restaurant used for September’s Dine to Donate, address 13691 N. Olio Road in Fishers.

You do not need to present a flyer or even say you are supporting the band. A percentage of all proceeds from 5 to 8 p.m. that night will be donated to the Music Boosters.

Like last time, we will need four to six people to help take orders to customers. If you want to help, contact Mrs. Stiff.

Dine to Donate at Culver’s again

Varsity guard

locks in trip to

IHSCGA finals For the second year in a row, Mt. Vernon hosted an Indiana High School Color Guard Association event.

And for the fourth year in a row, Mt. Vernon’s varsity guard team qualified for the IHSCGA state championship with its performance at the competition Mt. Vernon hosted.

Mt. Vernon hosted the state prelimi-naries for A Class, which featured 34 teams, the top 16 of which would continue to

the championship March 17 at Center Grove High School in Greenwood. Mt. Vernon’s varsity team easily made it into the top 16 with its show, “See ME.”

“The show went very smoothly, and I received nothing but compliments from visiting guard staff and parents,” Mr. Ellinger said.

“Our students and parents did an amaz-ing job and should be very proud! The show we put on is envied by many schools.”

On Feb. 24, six ensembles and 14 soloists competed at the ISSMA State Solo & Ensemble contest Feb. 24 at North Central High School in Indianapolis.

New this year, students could earn the designation of With Distinction if their score is within 1.5 points of a perfect score (9).

State Solo: Gold with Distinction > Nate Davis (11), baritone saxo- phone > Virginia Mathis (10), tenor saxo- phone > Grace Miller (12), marimba > Tara Paarlberg (12), clarinet > Andrew Roembke (12), trumpet > Andrew Roembke (12), flugelhorn > Carlie Sanders (10), trumpet

State Solo: Gold > Gavin Blankenship (10), trombone > Jennifer McGowen (12), flute > Landen Norton (9), tuba > Tara Paarlberg (12), clarinet

State Solo: Silver > Sydney Blankenship (12), flute > Tyler Carrow (10), trumpet > Jacob Chaves (12), euphonium > Isaac Swinford (10), tenor saxo- phone

State Ensemble: Gold with Distinction Brass Quintet: Eli Barboza (11), Gavin Blankenship (10), Logan Moore (11), Andrew Roembke (12), and Carlie Sanders (10)

Woodwind Trio: Emma Flick (12), Jennifer McGowen (12), and Tara Paarlberg (12)

State Ensemble: Gold Clarinet Choir: Kendal Bowman (9), Abby Corbly (9), Sydney Godwin (10), Tori Hanson (9), Dayton Jennings (10), Madalyn Lowell (10), Elizabeth McCleery (12), Haley Merida (10), Sarai Moore (9), and Tara Paarlberg (12)

Brass Octet: Gavin Blankenship (10), Jacob Daswani (12), Brayden Hardie (8), Alisa Hindman (11), Logan Moore (11), Landen Norton (9), Andrew Roembke (12), and Carlie Sanders (10)

Saxophone Trio: TJ Bass (11), Evan Flick (9), and Shiloh McFarland (9)

State Ensemble: Silver Low Brass Quartet: Jacob Chaves (12), Ethan Cottrell (9), Landen Nor-ton (9), and Jack Walsh (9)

Soloists, ensembles fare well at state contest

The clarinet choir received a gold rating at state Solo & Ensemble.

Junior Abigail Sparks in the performance of “See ME” at Satur-day’s IHSCGA A Class state preliminaries at Mt. Vernon

The junior varsity

team will finish its

season Saturday in

IHSCGA’s Divisional

Regional A Class state

finals at Center Grove

High School.

B R I E F S Jazz band, combo earn ISSMA gold Mt. Vernon’s jazz combo and jazz band each received gold ratings March 2 at the ISSMA Jazz Festival at Whiteland Com-munity High School.

“A jazz combo is a small group with non-specific instrumenta-tion that is centered around improvisation,” explained Mr. Ellinger. “The jazz band is the ‘main group’ and performs at all events.” The combo compet-ed in Group II; the full band competed in Group III.

Junior Nate Davis received an Outstanding Soloist award for his tenor saxophone perfor-mance with the jazz combo. He also received two Outstanding Soloist awards in the full jazz band, as did senior Andrew Roembke on trumpet. Other Outstanding Soloist awards in the full band went to sopho-more Carlie Sanders on trum-pet, senior Jacob Chaves on trombone, and senior Nathan Williams on drums.

The high-school band program needs to earn just one more gold rating to receive another ISSMA All-Music Award. That will happen at the Organiza-tional Festivals for concert bands in April.

Booster positions up for grabs On April 2, the Music Boosters will vote on nominees for posi-tions on its executive board, as well as name volunteers to coordinate various important activities.

The Boosters are losing many parent volunteers as their chil-dren graduate this year. Please read this blog post to see what positions and roles are available and how to nominate yourself for the executive board. If you have any questions or want to sign up for a coordinator posi-tion, please contact one of the booster officers.

Members of the Indoor Percussion Ensemble perform at the Indiana Percus-sion Association’s New Palestine invitational March 3. The ensemble placed second in Percussion Scholastic Concert A class at New Pal and at Pend-leton Heights Feb. 17. The next IPA event is an invitational at Ben Davis High School on Saturday.

Meeting to discuss mattress sale A parent meeting has been sched-uled for 7 p.m. March 26 to discuss an upcoming mattress fundraiser.

At this meeting, parents will learn how the fundraiser will run, how

students will earn credit, and so on.

The mattress fundraiser itself will be on Sunday, April 15. The fundraiser, through Custom Fundraising Solu-tions, will feature brand names.

Graduating from MVHS doesn’t mean your marching days have to be over. You can join a band at one of the following colleges, and you don’t have to major in music to do so.

College band is much different than high-school band, but just as fun and rewarding. For a good idea of what to expect if you join a college marching band, read this blog post.

Eight colleges in Indiana have marching bands; other colleges use pep bands at their football games. This month features the four public colleges with marching bands; next month will feature the four private colleges with marching bands.

Ball State’s POMA If you are going to Muncie for Ball State University this fall, consider joining the Pride of Mid America band. The band got new uniforms and instruments last year! You don’t have to audition to join POMA, except if you want to be on the drumline or in the color guard. Color guard auditions are coming up in April. Those interested in the drumline must attend a camp May 5 to be invited to audition in August.

IU’s Marching Hundred If you are heading to Bloomington for Indiana University this fall, consider joining this 280-member band. Participating in the Marching Hundred gives you two hours of tuition-free credit. All brass and woodwind players are automatically accepted into the

band, but auditions are held to determine who plays in the pregame show. The Red Steppers dance team has auditions (and a clinic) in April and August; the drumline has auditions in August. For general info, visit this page.

ISU’s Marching Sycamores All brass and woodwinds are accepted into Indiana State University’s band in Terre Haute, regardless of playing ability. Percussion and color guard, however, must audition (April 14 for guard). Visit this page for details.

Purdue’s ‘All-American’ Band Purdue University’s band in West Lafayette marches at football games and the Indianapolis 500. Auditions for winds and percussion happen during band camp in August. However, auditions for the band’s Goldusters dance team are April 14, and Golden Silks color guard auditions are April 28.

Consider the college marching experience

F U N T R I V I A

Only three

universities in Indiana

have steel pan bands

that students can join:

Butler, Indiana, and

Indiana State.

This week, Mr. Ellinger announced in class a general plan to go to Walt Disney World during Spring Break next year. The trip is still in the very early planning stages, but here’s an incomplete list of what to expect on the trip:

Instrumental workshop (for band) Dance class (for guard) Recording music in a sound studio Concert Animal Kingdom World of Avatar Hollywood Studios Epcot Center Magic Kingdom Fantasmic! laser/fireworks show Star Wars Disney Springs

A $75 deposit per person (student or chaperone) is due May 15. The full dollar amount hasn’t been determined yet.

Disney trip

planned for

Spring 2019