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To All Trenton Band Families:
We hope each of you and your families are safe and healthy at this time. This health crisis has certainly had an impact on all of us physically, mentally and financially and we sincerely hope that each band family is doing the best they can under these circumstances. The Executive Board of the Band Boosters met on Monday via teleconference and we wanted to give you all an update. JAZZ CAFE - the Jazz Cafe scheduled for April 27th has been canceled. This annual fundraiser will not be rescheduled but will return in the Spring of 2021. For those of you that donated gift card prizes or cash donations, thank you! We will be saving these donations and use them for prizes next Jazz Cafe. BAND BANQUET - scheduled for May 5th will be canceled and not rescheduled. Stay tuned though to the band boosters web site for an online version of the banquet featuring awards, honors and speeches that would have been part of the banquet. BAND CAMP - scheduled for August 9-14. At this time, the boosters are closely monitoring the situation and the guidance from the camp, school district and the state of Michigan. Going to camp depends on many factors, including availability of chaperones, guidelines from the state, transportation and finances; we plan to continue to monitor these and make a decision regarding camp by June 15. We will likely have three options available to the band: going to camp as normal, hold a day camp at school, or dropping camp altogether. Your marching band fee of $450 includes $300 for camp and $150 for the show, which includes marching drills, costumes, props and expenses. If we do not go to camp, please be assured that the $300 camp portion of the fee can be refunded or applied to next year's camp. Also, if this health emergency continues through the summer and into the fall, and marching band activities are limited in the fall, we plan to have some additional Spring 2021 activities for the marching band. Again, we hope you are safe and healthy. We hope this update gives you a good idea where the board is at during this time. Please feel free to reach out to any of us if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you Trenton Band Boosters Executive Board All: As you have probably assumed by now, it's now official that every music department event through the end of the school year is cancelled. This includes Jazz Cafe, the spring musical, Band Banquet, 3rd Tri Concerts, Memorial Parade, and Graduation ceremonies with the band.
However, we continuing to plan for band camp. We have an executive booster board meeting tonight to talk about the contingencies of holding or having to cancel band camp. There are many things to consider, least of which is the ability of students to be able to actually attend band camp financially or otherwise. We will be discussing every possibility ranging from business as usual at Skyline to holding a camp at THS to even having to cancel completely. At this time, we are waiting for each ruling from the state and from the school district to be made so that we can adjust our planning. As band director, I know how important band camp is and how important the marching band is to our program overall. I will work and plan as hard as I can to make sure all marching band activities can be held and I will NOT cancel anything at this time unless it is cancelled for us by the state or district. However, I am aware that we do these activities by using volunteers who have other things to worry about. We also are aware that there are certain deadlines that we need to consider - bus rental, camp booking/refund deadline, etc. All will be discussed and of course, we will keep everyone in the loop as much as we can. In another issue, all students and parents of THS will be receiving communication from the school district and Trenton HS tomorrow regarding how we plan to start giving REGULAR lessons in EVERY CLASS including music classes online for eight weeks. Look for this information soon. Once it is out there, I will communicate how I plan to do my lessons for band, chorus, and guitar. Drum major tryouts will not be in person this year. All candidates must submit a one page (ONLY ONE PAGE!) resume in .doc format and a video of yourself conducting/commanding the fight song. *PARENTS OF CANDIDATES MUST SEND MR KURILKO AN "APPROVED TO POST VIDEO ONLINE" EMAIL IN ORDER TO BE QUALIFIED!" Every qualified candidate would have seen this procedure in class last year - if you have a question, contact Mr. K or a current drum major. ALL SUBMISSIONS (both .doc resume and video file) MUST BE EMAILED - not texted - TO MR. KURILKO (kurilkom@trentonschools.com) by WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15. Mr. K will PUBLICLY post the resumes and videos on a special page on this website for review. Resumes and videos can be submitted now until 11:59pm on Wed, April 15. There will be no candidates accepted after 11:59pm on Wed, April 15. No exceptions. VOTING for your choices for drum majors will be done BY EMAIL USING YOUR SCHOOL EMAIL ADDRESS ONLY to Mr. K to ensure voting is fair and that a record of each person's name who voted can be kept on file. Specific ballot and instructions for how to vote will be posted on April 16 along with candidate videos and resumes. Drum majors (4) for the 2020 season will be posted on Monday, April 20 on the NEWS page on this website. Fight Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=mxfdtmZxX0s&feature=emb_logo DRUM MAJOR and SECTION CAPTAIN qualifications and rules: 
Sample drum major resume (Note: will be publicly posted on this website)
 The Trenton High School Music Department has been recognized for our quality in music education:
Congratulations to the 148 schools that received the SupportMusic Merit Award (SMMA) from The NAMM Foundation! A SMMA Award is an opportunity for an individual school (public, private, parochial or charter) to be acknowledged for its commitment to music education. It is a "school-only" distinction awarded as part of the Best Communities for Music Education program. We are one of only three schools in the state of Michigan in 2020 that has been honored with this distinction. Check out the list in the link: https://www.nammfoundation.org/articles/bcme-2020-schools Trenton Music Department family - What are some of your best ideas for things to do, projects to accomplish, and ideas on how to best handle our Shelter-In-Place situation! Students, parents, anyone is welcome to comment/reply to this blog post. There's nobody more resourceful and creative than our music community - let's hear your ideas! I'll start with two of my own personal ones: I find that I am more productive if I start my day every day like I'm going to work. Normal wake up (give or take 30 minutes...lol), shower, breakfast and coffee then face the day as if it were any other day. Keeps me focused and 'normal'. Practice guitar and trumpet improvisation. I use youtube jazz backing track videos with chord changes. There's literally thousands of videos and songs to use. Keeps me learning and musical. As I mentioned earlier, I am going to try to put together some ways that may keep students performing for each other. This first way is a Virtual Talent Show. Here's the details:
1. Practice a song or an act. Sing, play instrument, dance, comedy, drama, anything. 2. When it's ready, video record it. 3. Send video or video link to Mr. Kurilko by Thursday night, March 26. 4. I will watch it and make sure everything is ok to post. 5. I will put them together on a page that I will create on this website and post on Friday by noon. kurilkom@trentonschools.com 734 778 3418 Either one is a good way to send me your performances. If this one works out, I will plan for more as time goes by. Break a leg! Hey everyone - I got a couple of good ideas the other day but might need some time and help to make it happen. These ideas are intended to keep you practicing and performing in ways that you are already familiar with while at the same time, giving you some interaction with other students.
First idea is to have a virtual talent show. This could be pretty simple to accomplish. Follow me on this - students make videos of your own performances. Singing, guitar, dance, whatever you want. You email the video to me either as a file or email me a link to youtube. I will then upload them to a page on this website that I'll name Virtual Talent Show and date it (it could be the first of several). On a specified date, I will post it. I can allow comments or not. Up to you. If you have any other thoughts on this, let me know at my email address or cell number: kurilkom@trentonschools.com 734 778 3418 Another thought is to have a LIVE coffeehouse. Much like we've done at lunch in the Trojan Cafe, in chorus class, or for video project bands in guitar class, I could set up videoconferencing for a specified time and date - for example, say Wednesday December 25 at 5pm (it won't be on Christmas day lol) and give the link for the teleconference. Everyone would be up live to watch and to take turns performing with me as the moderator. Sign up for the event would be by contacting me first and I'd set each act up with a specific time which I will list ahead of time. This way, if you want to watch a specific act, you can join the conference at that time. There's a lot to think about with the planning of such a thing and I could use any tips and help anyone might have. I first have to find out if either one of these two ideas is even allowed by Trenton Public Schools (I can't imagine why not unless there's a FERPA law involved.) Any help and ideas to make one or both of these ideas happen, contact me. I'm down for anything. Like you, I've got a lot of time on my hands and I'd sure like to keep my students practicing and performing. As it turns out, I just found out that while the building will be open tomorrow at the times that I stated, I CANNOT be in the buildings or rooms when the students are there after all. Mandated by the district. No matter - all the rooms will be open for instruments and music stands. 5th grade band - take a folding stand with you and bring it back when you come back. High school - sign out a black stand - there will be a sign out sheet on the white board and you can write a number on the stand that matches the one on the sheet where you put your name.
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AuthorMr. Kurilko Archives
June 2020
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