Been Awhile

It has been a while since I have posted on here (Feburary to be exact), so I decided to write a post with some updates from the beginning of the new school year.

Marching Band has started and is in full swing. Even though we have only had 1 rehearsal thus far, I am very excited about our potential this year. The music is coming along nicely and I would say about 70% of the students have the music memorized already. We step off on September 19th in West Frankfort. This is a new parade for Franklin Park. I marched in this parade when I was in grade school, so I decided to add it to our schedule. It starts at 11, but if you are coming to watch, arrive early as I am told record crowds are expected as Gov. Quinn is the grand marshall of the parade. We will also be marching in the Little Egypt Parade in Salem on October 3, the EIU Homecoming Parade in Charleston on October 17 and the Centralia Halloween Parade on October 31.

34 students have signed up to be in beginning band. It seems like a great group of students who are willing to work hard and continue the tradition of great bands here at Franklin Park. We start tonight with the Super-Lesson as our kickoff event.

Our Century Resources fundraiser starts on September 10. Remember that everything you sell benefits the band program at Franklin Park, which in turn, benefits YOU.

I have updated my website for the new year, so check it out! http://franklin.salem111.com/roberts

Have a great day!

Mr. Roberts

Nothing New

Not too much to blog about lately. Just an update for the followers to know what is going on in the Band Department. 15 Students are working on solos/ensembles for S/E contest on March 21. The Concert Band is working hard on our pieces for Organizational Contest on March 28. They are starting to sound quite nice and I think we will be successful at contest.

We are also working on our self-discipline. Several students have gotten in the habit of doing whatever they want, whenever they want, and that doesn't fly in my classroom. I like to have my fair share of fun, but we need to know when to turn that off and get to business and have a quality rehearsal. It is a growing process as individuals as well as a band. There will be times that I have to yell (although I don't want too), times I get upset, times you get upset, but we need to all keep in mind the common goal and that is making this band the best band that Franklin Park has had.

Finally, I would like to let everyone know that we will be having a "Community Appreciation Concert" at Salem Theater on March 30 at 7pm. All 3 music groups will be performing (Band, Orchestra, Choir). We felt this would be a good way to thank the community for all of the support that they give our program.

Mr. Roberts

Excellent Concert

Words can't express how happy I am with the way that you played on the Concert. I don't believe that I have ever heard this band sound as good as we did on Sunday. Lets keep up the good, hard work and make ourselves even better. I am going to keep pushing you, the question is, can you push yourselves to be better?

My congrats to the String Orchestra and Sounds of Salem on an excellent performance as well.

Enjoy your snow/ice day!

Mr. Roberts

ITS CONCERT WEEK

This week is concert week. The Beginning and Cadet Bands have their winter recital on Thursday at 6:30, while the Concert Band has their concert on Sunday at 2. Keep up the hard work so that we can have 2 great concerts this week!

Mr. Roberts

Tuesday's Rehearsal

Hello folks, hope all is well in your worlds!

I wanted to thank all of the concert band students for an excellent rehearsal today during class. I feel like we got a lot accomplished by you guys cooperating, working together, and upholding the expectations that I have set for this group. I believe this is a sign of the great things to come for the Franklin Park Band and this makes me very excited. As I have said many times, the less that you talk and goof off during class, the better we can get and the faster we can get there.

Thanks again for your hard work! Keep it up!

Mr. Roberts

Another Basketball Game

We have had a basketball game added to the schedule. It will be on November 25th. This is a Boys game vs. Sandoval. I was scheduled at Sandoval, but was moved here. Report time will be 5:30. Please mark your calendars with this addition.

Mr. Roberts

New Addition to the site!

Hello to all of my website viewers. I am adding a blog to my site. I think that this can be a great souce of information to my students and parents. I will also post my thoughts about recent performances and my thoughts about different ideas that we discuss in class.

Check back often!

Mr. Roberts