Johnsburg High School Bands

Greetings everyone. I am very excited to announce that I will be the new Director of Bands for the Skyhawks! I am looking forward to meeting and making music with all of you. For those vets familiar with the site, keep checking for updates in documents and posts, and get the word out to the new folks as well. And by popular demand the logo at the top of the screen is being changed to the “talon” logo. For the most part the documents are the same, with just some very minor changes to update them for the upcoming year. The music for the fall show had just arrived and I am working on the copying and distribution process as we speak. I understand that band camp is a long time away but keep checking this site for weekly updates. I am here to answer any questions that you or your parents may have. The best way for now to contact me if needed is at my gmail account: agraffeo13@gmail.com. Once my Johnsburg district email is assigned to me I will be sure to post it on here for your use. I cannot stress again how excited I truly am to be able to work with you all in the coming months. Please to not hesitate to contact me with any questions, comments or concerns that you may have. More to come!

-Mr. G

Dear Parents and Students:

Information for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year is now available on our website!  Please visit the documents section of our website for a detailed calendar of the upcoming year for all ensembles.  The schedule for our students in addition to pep band rosters for next year can be found in this section.

For marching band information continually check the marching skyhawks website for updated sheet music and drills for the upcoming school year.  Your students currently have access to the .mp3s of our show for this year as well under the marching skyhawks tab.

Dear Parents and Students:

The Marching Skyhawks Competitive Season begins this weekend on Sunday October 10, 2010.  We will be performing at Marengo High School in their annual Settlers’ Day Marching Band Festival.  The itinerary for Marengo and the following weekend’s performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been posted to the documents tab on this website.  If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email.  I am looking forward to these two great festivals and seeing what I know will be great performances at these festivals.  

We will also need help in chaperoning both events.  If you would like free transportation to and from these events and have the available time we could use all the help we could get.  Please send me an email if you would be interested in these events.  Have a great week!

Dear Parents and Students:

The football game scheduled for Friday, September 17th is actually Saturday September 18th.  The call time for the band will be 1:00pm and the game will kick-off at 2:oopm.  I apologize for this very recent change of plans!  Please email me or call with any questions or concerns.  Please have your students there unless other plans have been made.  Again I apologize for this late change of plans!

Dear Parents and Students:

Our website has been updated to include our band student handbook, blue and gold band assignments, editions of the first two songs of drill, and also the full mp3 version of our band’s Spiderman arrangement which is the second piece of our marching show.  I will not be printing out any more drill from the high school.  If your drill has been destroyed due to weather and other physical abuse they have been placed here for you to re-print on your own. 

Also if you are enrolled in concert band and wind ensemble and not marching band you are still responsible for participating in pep band.  Please check the blue and gold band assignments to see your band placement and our calendar to check which rehearsals and basketball performances you are responsible for.

 I am looking forward to seeing many of you on August 23rd!

To all the students, parents, and friends that came to our band camp performance this past Tuesday evening I would like to say thank you for your support of our program and being a great audience.  Without you it would have just been another rehearsal.

This year’s band camp has been one of the most productive, efficient, and enjoyable band camps that I have had the pleasure of being a part of here at Johnsburg High School.  I am truly looking forward to a great marching band season and getting off to a great start with our other ensembles as the school year begins!

Dear Parents and Students:

It is hard to believe but another Skyhawk Marching Band Camp is coming to a close and this has been shaping up to be one of the most positive band experiences over the last three years.  A combination of good music, good drill, great student leadership, and overall the best work ethic I have seen in the JHS Bands has culminated into a strong marching band show that is sure to wow all audiences.  This year’s theme is Comic Con and we will be performing music from Batman, X-Men, Spiderman, and Superman. 

We would like to welcome you to attend our band camp parent show at 6:00pm on August 10, 2010 on the JHS Main field.  The show will consist of our new halftime entrance utilizing a minstrel turn, the first song of our show, (Batman and X-men), and also our pregame show with the ever famous annual performance  of Men of Johnsburg.

Come and see what 68 hours of practicing has done and how far we have progressed from last week to now.  It is truly amazing!  I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow evening at 6pm!

Dear Parents and Students:

The DCI Cavalcade of Brass Itinerary is available in the documents section of the website.  We will be traveling to North Central College on July 11, 2010 with a select group of students to watch 8 Division I DCI corps compete in Naperville, Illinois.  Johnsburg Percussionist, Aaron Smith will be performing at this event with The Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corps from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  It will be great to show our support for Aaron and also see an amazing show!

Dear Parents and Students:

The marching band show music has been made available online in .pdf format on our website at www.skyhawkbands.edublogs.org.  Currently you can download the three tunes in addition to the fight song.  Also for your practicing convenience I have attached the three songs in .mp3 format to our website.  This is password protected.  I will be announcing the password in class in addition to message centering all of you the information.  All this information is available under the Marching Skyhawks Tab!  Enjoy and happy practicing!

The Memorial Day Parade and Graduation Itineraries for the Johnsburg High School Bands have been posted in our documents section of our website.  Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble are expected to participate in Memorial Day and non seniors of these ensembles are also expected to be performing at graduation.  All conflicts must be brought to Mr. Riley in writing, however there is no guarantee that conflicts will be deemed excusable.

Thank you for understanding.  Two more performances to go!