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Monday, January 30, 2023.

It’s back at the Baxter! All orchestra students will participate in this once-a-year music clinic and concert. All details are included in the Parent Letter.

Tickets: attendees are required to purchase tickets for the concert, which are available on Baxter’s Ticketmaster webpage. (Note – Student performers do not need a ticket to perform)

Financial Support:

• If your family or business would like to make a tax-deductible donation to support All-Millard, please send a check to Mrs. Martinez made payable to Millard Public Schools (or MPS) with “All Millard” in the memo line – thanks for your support!
• If you know of a business that would consider sponsoring this event, please make a copy of this letter, updated with the business’ name, and send it to them!

We will need parent chaperones:

• 5 needed for the first shift – 7:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
• 3-5 needed for the second shift – 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
• 10 needed for loading percussion instruments on the truck after the concert and unloading back at MNHS (approximate time 8-9:30 pm).
• Sign up here – thank you for your help!

Finally, for a short video about the event, click here. And learn more about our guest conductors here!

Volunteers needed to represent MNHS Orchestra at the 8th grade Activities Fair Jan. 23 and 26.

-Link to sign up-

Cody Practice Club – Cody Mentors

Resumes Tuesday, January 10th at 3:45-4:30 PM at Cody Elementary School and will happen every Tuesday through Feb. 28.

Mustang String Studio – January 21, 2023 – is an opportunity for our high school orchestra students to offer lessons to string students in grades 4-8 that also raises funds for our orchestra program. 

Students were given the opportunity to volunteer in class.  They also have the opportunity to attend 3 sessions to learn more about teaching private lessons (Jan. 6, 13, and 20).  Once students have completed the private lessons instruction course, they can be on the list of recommended high school string tutors that I share with our elementary school and middle school orchestra staff.

Students planning to take orchestra in 2023-24 will receive their course placement information by or before Jan. 23.

I would love to see everyone return for another great year in MNHS ORCH!

Every orchestra student, grades 9-12, is required to record and submit a Mid-Year Assessment that will serve as their first second semester grade and help determine their orchestra placement for the 2023-24 school year.  Students received the materials in class Nov. 22 and will receive some instruction in class after our concert.  However, they are expected to do most of the prep work on their own outside of class.  Assessment Materials are also linked here, as well as on Google Classroom.

UNO BOCH Festival U.N.O. has a neat honor orchestra called the BOCH Festival that meets January 27/28.  Auditions are due to the UNO website by Nov. 28.

• Audition Requirements:  
  • Solo/Etude: Students who auditioned for their respective all-state orchestra may submit those recordings.  All others should play a standard etude or solo (2-3 minutes) that reflects the technical level of the student.
  • Scales: In addition to the above, each instrument should play one major and one harmonic minor scale (at least 2 octaves, more if possible).  
  • Note: Select students (based on recorded BOCH audition) will be invited to audition for principal or section leader. Principal audition material will be made available on the BOCH Festival website once participant selections are made.

UNL Young Artist Award recognizes Nebraska high school juniors who are talented in art, music, dance, theater, or film and emerging media. Selected students and their families are invited to UNL for Red Letter Day in the spring to see what a career in the arts may be like. Applications are due to the website by Dec. 2.

Concerto Competition entries due Dec. 5: Auditions for performance with the Millard North Orchestra Concert on March 7, should be a well prepared movement from a standard concerto/aria for your instrument/voice.  More information may be found here.

Want to support MNHS Orchestra? Consider donating requested items from our Amazon wishlist! 

Thank you to the families who have already donated!

Our next concert is December 1.  The theme is Jazz for the Journey. 

We appreciate donations of refreshments for our post-concert celebration.

Here’s a rough draft of the program.

The concert will be livestreamed – our videographer will send the link soon!

Reminder About Concert Attendance

Orchestra is a co-curricular activity, meaning it is considered an academic class (curricular) that has requirements outside of the school day (co-curricular). Several of our orchestra students are engaged in sports, work, and other extracurricular activities. In the event of a conflict, the orchestra concert takes precedence because it is the outcome of our academic work. However, if an orchestra  student can make both game/meet and the concert work, great!  If not, the concert is a graded activity for an academic course, so that takes precedence over games or meets.

Good news – the conflicts are pretty minimal as we only perform 6 times during the year, and this usually only affects one game/meet per season.  When I was in high school, I got to compete in athletics and music and debate, learning many important values and life skills in all of them.  I support our students as they learn about their entire selves through these activities while also upholding the integrity of the ensembles and the work we’ve done to prepare and perform.

Monday, Nov. 28, 8:15 a.m. Carol of the Bells Rehearsal – Playing a rock arrangement of Carol of the Bells en masse at our winter concert is a MNHS Orchestra tradition! We’ll rehearse this coming Monday, Nov. 28 from 8:15-8:40 in the MNHS Auditorium. Students will need their instruments and Carol of the Bells music