I hope that the first few weeks of school are going well. As much as I enjoy the freneticism of the beginning of school, I really love the feeling of getting settled into the swing of the year where we can start really making music. I would like to offer a special thank you to Marie Gilbert and Christine Chialdikas for helping with the Orchestra Picnic last Friday. We had almost 50 students attend. It was so fun to see the students have an opportunity to socialize together outside of class. As you are looking through the news, please make sure that students who are planning on participating in ILMEA have their registrations completed by this Friday.

News:

1. This year the Orchestra will be attending the CSO on Friday, October 19^th. It is a field trip during the school day, and students can expect to be back about 5:00. There are a limited number of tickets, and because the band students are joining us tickets will sell out fast. Please get your form and money in ASAP.
2. Join HOPE: Please take the time to join HOPE this year. We are looking for 100% participation from families. You can join here.
3. Parents of freshman boys, and boys who grew: Don’t forget to get your men’s tux shirt. The cost for each shirt is $17, please fill out the attached form and bring in your check for $17.
4. ILMEA Signup is currently going on. Please fill out the form and bring in your $5 to cover your audition cost. I will have audition prep times if you would like to come in and get some audition help and tips. Sign-up is due by Monday, September 17. If you have not registered and brought in your check by Monday, you will not be able to audition.
5. I would encourage you to add the orchestra calendar to your personal calendar.The calendar is all over the orchestra blog, and it will always be the most up to date calendar.
6. Bear Strings has started. If you are looking for a fun opportunity to work on different music styles from what we do in class, I recommend joining Bear Strings, which rehearses on Thursdays from 3:20-4:30. You can find more about it here.
7. Sinfonietta auditions will be the week of October 15^th. Remember that students should plan on auditioning with no more than 5 minutes of a concerto and one major and minor scale from the ILMEA scale sheet.

I look forward to seeing everybody at our first concert on October 17^th, more information as we get closer.

Nathan Sackschewsky

LZHS Orchestra Director