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02/16/24 – Students (and parents) are invited to join Mrs. Martinez next Friday, Feb. 16 in the orchestra room from 1:00-3:00 p.m. to help with cleaning and maintenance of the school stringed instruments. Sign up sheet will be available in class. Parents – if you’d like to help, please email me.

02/16/2024 – All orchestra students have an account with MakeMusic (which I still call SmartMusic), a computer-aided practice tool. They have an assignment due next Friday, Feb. 16. Hopefully, most students will see this as an excellent way to support their practice at home. I will be available before and after school next week if a student is experiencing problems.

Major academic scholarships may be available if you apply by the academic scholarship priority deadline!! Apply for Academic, Music, Theatre, and Dance Scholarships by Feb. 1

Although you can apply at any time, our priority deadline for academic scholarships is February 1. Academic scholarships can be significant depending upon grades or test scores; up to $22,000 for Kansas students and $65,000 for non-Kansans.
APPLY FOR K-STATE

All students (majors, minors, and non-majors) interested in scholarships should submit the short form below. The priority deadline for music, theatre, and dance scholarships is February 1. These annual scholarships are in addition to academic scholarships and typically range between $2,000 to $24,000 over four years. Scholarships are also available for students who perform in our music ensembles like orchestra, choir, and the marching band regardless of major.
APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS

Live Audition Dates

Wind instruments and Percussion
Thursday, February 1
Keyboard
Thursday, February 1
Strings
Thursday, February 1
Saturday, February 3
Voice
Tuesday, January 23
Thursday, February 2
Dance
Apply Online
Theatre
Apply Online

Sign Up for a Live or Online Audition

Monday, January 29th

 Parents, we need YOUR help!  Many hands make light work – the reason I’m able to do what I do is because parents/families like you make it possible – check out the Sign-Up Genius to claim your role!

Tickets will be $8 for adults, $5 for students, and 5 years and under free. (You will see the tickets listed as $6 for adults and $3 for students but there is a $2 facility fee per ticket, so they end up being $8 and $5.) 

Performers do not need a ticket. Also, starting this year, the online ticket purchase has to go through Ticketmaster, and they are adding over $5 of fees per ticket, so you can avoid the Ticketmaster fee by going to the box office in-person or calling to purchase them at 402-554-6287. Their Box Office hours are M-W, noon – 5pm & Thu-F, 10am – 5pm. You can also access this information and more on our All-Millard Orchestra Website by clicking HERE.

Financial Support
If your family/your business would like to make a tax-deductible donation to support All-Millard, please send a check ℅ Mrs. Martinez made payable to Millard Public Schools (or MPS) with “All Millard” in the memo line – thanks for your support!

Chaperones
It’s helpful to have at least 5 chaperones for morning rehearsal and 3 for afternoon rehearsal. Parents/legal guardians – please consider volunteering! Here’s the Sign-Up Genius Link.

Details for MNHS Students:

Symphony and Chamber Students will arrive to MNHS by 8 AM on Monday, Jan. 29. We will all ride buses to the Baxter Arena for rehearsal (9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.). Students will be bused back to MNHS after rehearsal. *Lunch is not provided at the arena – students will eat lunch upon returning to MNHS, then head to class

I would appreciate 2 more adult chaperones to ride the buses (time commitment is 7:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.). If you’ve already volunteered through the permission form, I’ve emailed you directly – thank you!

Students will need to bring instruments, pencils, folding music stand, music, and anything else that will assist in creating beautiful music (rock stop, shoulder rest, rosin, etc.). Students should also bring a bottle of water and a snack Snacks not provided

Students will not need backpacks; they can leave these in their lockers or in a dressing room at school. They will need coats – the temperature looks to be around 43 degrees F.

Large instruments (basses, cellos, tubas) will transport on the bus and can be left at the arena until after the concert, at which time the student/families will have to transport the instrument home and back to school for Wednesday’s rehearsal (string players will not need instruments on Tuesday, 1/30).

Wear your orchestra shirt (if you have one) to rehearsal!

The concert starts at 7 PM on Monday, Jan. 29. Report time for students is 6:30 p.m., but early arrival at 6 PM for families to locate parking, visit vendor booths and find their general admission seats is recommended.

Concert attire is our traditional formal concert black as outlined in the orchestra handbook.

Use the attached jpg to advertise All Millard on your social media accounts! Tag your posts and photos of the event with #AllMillard2024 #Proud2bMPS and remember to @MNHS_Orch as well!

After the concert, we will need help loading the percussion equipment onto the district trucks, and help unloading the trucks back at MNHS. Please consider signing up to help! Even if you don’t sign up, I’ll be happy to accept help on site! Just come down to the arena floor and join the party! Or head back to MNHS and meet us at the loading dock!

Details for other Millard Public Schools students are in the Calendar.

Jan. 26 & 27th.

UNO BOCH Festival:
Rehearsals begin Friday for accepted students. All are welcome to attend the final performance on Saturday, 1/27 at 4 p.m. at the UNO Strauss Performing Arts Center!

Jan. 22 and 25th.

Volunteers needed to represent MNHS Orchestra at the 8th grade Activities Fair Jan. 22 and 25, from 5:15-6:15 p.m.

Jan. 19, 26, and Feb. 3
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 will have the opportunity to volunteer in class. They also have the opportunity to attend 3 sessions to learn more about teaching private lessons (Jan. 19, 26, and Feb. 3). 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 interested in auditioning for one of the MNHS Jazz Bands, please see the post on Google Classroom. 

All orchestra students are encouraged to participate in the January practice challenge!
Make it part of your routine to practice at least 15 minutes per day during the month of January.
We will report practice minutes every Friday in class. There will be prizes for top practices and top section teams.

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.