Welcome to the Clear Lake High School Falcon Band!
MAKING YOUR WAY INTO THE FALCON BAND PROGRAM
JULY
- One-week camps will be scheduled for July before Band Camp begins. Dates will be set by the Percussion and Color Guard instructors in May. Every effort is made to accommodate student schedules, but these are still considered MANDATORY events.
- Students will participate in 6-hour camps each day consisting of Outdoor Rehearsal, Indoor Sectionals/Masterclasses, a lunch break, and a second indoor rehearsal for combined woodwinds, brass and percussion. This camp is a MANDATORY event for all marching members.
- In the first or second week of August, each student and an accompanying parent will attend Equipment Night. At this MANDATORY event, you will pick up the items you ordered at the parent meeting in June, order and make payment for a few Booster related services/goods, and visit other booths with information on events and opportunities for the upcoming Fall season.
- The following Friday, students will get the opportunity to attend Rockathon! This is an afternoon/evening lock-in where students must stay in a rocking-type chair (typically a rolling office chair) and compete in rolling dodgeball, play games and watch movies, win various door prizes, earn food for fundraising goals, and build new friendships.
- The last Friday before school begins, the new Falcon Marching Band will perform a preview of their show for the upcoming season, as well as demonstrate a few basic skills. Afterwards, you're welcome to join us for a BBQ dinner!!!
- School begins and the Fall season of football games and marching band contests goes into full swing!
- All things lead to State… at least every other year it does. Every two years, Clear Lake competes for a chance to go to the State Marching Competition at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The following information provides some background on the competition and information on how the competitions work.
- Background: UIL added the State Marching Contest to its yearly contests in 1984. At first it was held every year. In 1991, the decision was made to hold the contest in alternative years. The UIL classifications of 1A through 6A determine who we compete against in athletics and in UIL music competitions. Clear Lake and all of the CCISD high schools are in the largest class - 6A. The State Marching Contest alternates the classifications yearly, with 4A and 6A one year and 1A, 2A, 3A, and 5A the following year.
- Region: The path to the State Marching Contest begins at the Region Marching Contest. At Region, the band is rated by a three judge panel on both the musical and marching performances. Each judge rates the bands in the manner typical of UIL music contests: 1 means "Superior," 2 means "Excellent," etc. all the way through 5. There are no preliminaries or finals, just a single performance by each band. The scores are provided to the directors and are not announced in the stadium. Therefore, the band leaves immediately after the directors receive the scores. All bands that receive a Superior rating will be eligible to compete at the Area competition.
- Area: The following week is the Area Marching Contest. This contest has a preliminary and final round and uses a ranking system for the scoring. There are five judges: three for music and two for marching. Each judge writes down comments and uses a number based system to record their impression of each band. At the end of the contest, each of the five judges ranks the bands from top to bottom, with the top band getting 1 point and the bottom band getting a score equal to the number of bands competing. They then add those numbers up, and the lowest total is first place, the second lowest is second, and so on. At the end of the preliminary round, the schools advancing to the finals later that evening will be announced. In our Area, the top 10 bands advance. During the finals, the bands are scored using the same system used during the prelims. The number of bands that will advance to the State Marching Contest is based on how many bands competed in the prelims. Divide the total number of bands by five (BUT DON'T ROUND UP), and you have the number of bands that will advance. So, if there are 32 bands at Area, the top six from the Area finals will advance to State. It's for this reason that we always want to see as many Superior ratings at the Region contest as possible - more 1's at Region means more bands advance from Area to State.
- State: The State Marching Contest is held in San Antonio about two weeks after the Area contest. State uses the prelims/final format similar to Area. It is a tremendous honor to be able to compete at the State Marching Contest. The crowds are very large and very loud.
- Be on the lookout for some of the high school band leaders to visit your intermediate and speak with students about continuing with band in 9th grade.
- Visit the Directors at the CLHS Course Selection Fair to discuss your options, concerns & questions.
- Choose Band as your first elective of choice during Course Selection.
- Check our calendar and attend our Pre-UIL Concert! This is an excellent opportunity to see and hear the differences between Intermediate and High School band.
- You'll receive information on auditions dates and the district-wide packet of etudes and scales to prepare. A 3-week window is given for practice and preparation.
- An audition will take place, this is a very simple and low-stress process for the directors to determine the best class/band for each student.
- Each student will attend a MANDATORY 3-4 day mini camp to get the incoming freshman oriented with the marching band process and basic skills. This camp is only a few short hours each day and is typically held indoors.
- A MANDATORY parent meeting will take place on one evening of this camp. A director will give an overview of our program and parents/students will place an order for their basic equipment to be picked up in August.
- Students will begin their first fundraiser for the new school year. The Rock-a-thon is our largest grossing and most exciting social event of the year.
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