When are marching band rehearsals?

3 DAY MARCHING CAMP THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL:

• Thursday 3:30-6:00pm
• Friday 3:30-6:00pm
• *CANCELLED* Saturday 8:00am-4:00pm

The rest of marching season:

• Mondays (guard & majorettes only) 3:30-5:30pm
• Tuesdays 3:30-6:00pm
• Wednesdays 3:30 – 5:15pm
• Thursdays 3:30-6:00pm

Please note that this weekly schedule may change due to holidays, half days, teacher planning days, or Thursday night games.  Watch the Google Calendar and keep an eye out for CutTime messages to know what’s up!

Who has to be at rehearsal?

All auxiliary, percussion, and wind students in the BTWHS Marching band are required to attend and participate in all marching band rehearsals.  Students earn a participation grade at rehearsals.  Unexcused absences, tardies, or early departures will be reflected negatively in student participation grades.  If you know you will be late, tardy, or have to leave early and you want to make sure it is excused, you must fill out the 25-26 BRAT form.

What’s a BRAT form?

The Band Rehearsal Absence & Tardy form is an online form that students and/or their grown-ups should fill out when they expect to be absent, tardy, or leaving practice early.  Instructors appreciate an email to let us know your student will be absent, but there are three of us and we receive hundreds of emails within a week – it’s impossible to keep up that way.  We tried!  We’ve used the BRAT form for 3 years now with great success – parents and students have one place to go to leave the information and instructors have one place to go to look it up!  

You can find a link to  the BRAT form in my email signature at the bottom of every message I send.  Here it is: bit.ly/3EHTYBu

Filling out the BRAT form does not mean you are excused!

Reasons an absence/tardy/early departure from rehearsal can be excused:

• Doctor appointment
  • Please take a picture of your doctor’s note and upload it in the new spot in the BRAT form!
• Illness
• Death in the family
• Religious events
• BTWHS Club meeting (students are expected to join rehearsal fully dressed out with their instrument/equipment by 4pm after a club meeting)
• Tutoring (students should bring a pass from their tutor)
• Making up a test with a teacher (students should bring a pass from their teacher)
• Night school
• Splitting time with another sport/organization 
  • Students are expected to set this up themselves by speaking with band directors and their other coach/sponsor.
• etc.

Reasons an absence/tardy/early departure from rehearsal will not be excused:

• Student job – please make sure your job knows your band schedule!
• “I’m too tired” – look…SAME, ok?  If you’re at school, we expect you to be at rehearsal.   We’ll make it through this together. 
• Etc.

School rules about students on campus outside of school hours:

Students are not allowed to wander the campus between the final bell and the start of their practice, test make-up, club meeting, etc.  Students are expected to proceed directly to the location of their after-school event and stay there until they are dismissed.

Students with after-school activities are not allowed to leave campus between the final bell and their after-school event.  This is a huge liability issue!

Band rules for practice:

By 3:30 all marching band students will:

• Be fully dressed out
• Have all of your instrument/equipment/music in hand ready to work
• Store your backpacks, purses, & other belongings in your band locker
• Already have a full water bottle ready to go
• Be staged wherever we are starting the rehearsal (check the board to know!)
• Students MUST eat something for breakfast and lunch.  We recommend a snack before rehearsal, if possible.  You can not do marching band activities on an empty gas tank; students that don’t eat WILL pass out.

THE THURSDAY RULE*

*This is called the Thursday rule because football games used to only happen on Fridays.  That is no longer the case.

If a student is absent or misses more than half of the last rehearsal before a game/competition – excused or unexcused – they are not able to march at the game/competition.  

This is not a punishment!  This is a safety issue.

Students that miss instruction during rehearsal the day before a performance will not know of any changes made at practice and will be a hazard to themselves and others on the field.  Students affected by the Thursday Rule will stand on the sidelines with alternates during halftime, but will still fully participate in all other activities.

OTHER THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:

We will message you through CutTime if rehearsal is cancelled.

Is it raining outside?  We still have PLENTY to practice inside.  If the district cancels ‘all outdoor activities’ we will rehearse indoors.  If the district cancels ‘all after-school activities’, that will definitely include us.  We will send out a CutTime message as soon as we receive word, and all students and teachers will be expected to leave campus their normal way after the final bell.  

Please invest in an insulated water jug!

The clear plastic water bottles you get out of a vending machine are useless outside.  They’ll sit on the asphalt between water breaks and be too hot to drink, so the student will have to stand in line to refill it rather than spend the whole water break hydrating.

Alternates sharing spots on the field:

There are more students in our marching band than there are spots on the field in our halftime drill.  This is the case for most every high school band.  Some students will be sharing a spot on the field.  They will both march that spot during rehearsals, and on Thursday run-throughs directors and staff will decide which student will march that spot at the game on Friday and/or at competition on Saturday.  We try to alternate (hence the name) students weekly, but if one student has been absent a lot or is not participating fully during practice, we will place the student that will be more successful in the spot.

EVERY STUDENT WILL MARCH AT A FOOTBALL GAME OVER THE SEASON!

Alternates that are not marching during halftime will stand still ‘at ease’ in a line on the front sidelines during the performance.  They will file off with the band once they exit.  They will fully participate in all other activities at the game/competition, just not the halftime performance.  Alternates can be assigned to their own spot later in the season as they become available.  

Dismissal

We try to dismiss students as close to the predicted time as possible.  Please allow your student time to pack up their instrument or equipment and tidy up their spot in the band room, guard room, or drum room before they leave.