Hello Tiger Band Family,
 

First week of school went really well!  It's nice getting back into the routine of morning rehearsals!

What's up for this week!

The first game of the season is upon us, and we'll be traveling by school bus to Kerrville, TX.  If your student is participating in the Away Game meal plan, this is the first game for this service.  If your student isn't participating in the plan, they must have food delivered before 5:30pm.  Students are not to leave campus between 4:15 and the time we leave.  This is for their safety.  Please see the Weekly Announcement Sheet for weekly rehearsal schedule reminders and Game Day itinerary.  The return times are approximate and based on past experience, but please be ready and available to pick up your student in a timely manner.  Please do NOT sit in your vehicle in the bus loop, park in the parking lot.  The buses must be able to pull into the bus loop to let students off.

Concession Stand volunteers

First of all, I want to let everyone know how amazing, selfless and indispensable all of our Tiger Band volunteers are.  And here is a way to be even more amazing... staffing the Home Concession Stand for JV and Home/Visitors Concession Stands for Varsity FB games is one of our most lucrative and consistent fundraisers.  It does take a veritable army of adult volunteers to make these events run smoothly and to the standard that the Tiger Band Boosters and our Dripping Springs community expect.  Traditionally, our Concessions VP's have had a very difficult time planning because volunteers have been reluctant to commit/sign-up till the last minute.  This causes an undue amount of stress on our volunteer VP's.  If we don't have enough volunteers to staff both the Home and Visitor sides, then we have to contract out with other organizations and pay their volunteers.  This eats into our profits, and for really no reason.  In order to let these organizations know far enough in advance to let their volunteers know that they're needed, we need to know our Tiger Band volunteer status 2 weeks in advance.  Right now, we only have 17 of 54 volunteer slots filled for the first Home Game in two weeks on Sept. 3rd.  Kevin Smith, Concessions VP, will have to make the decision to contract with another organization very soon.  Please, if you're planning on volunteering, go ahead and sign up on Sign-Up Genius so that Kevin can plan accordingly.  I mentioned above that traditionally our volunteers (this means you) wait till the last second to commit - and we always end up with enough volunteers, eventually - but please do understand that there is a WHOLE lot of planning that goes into each event that is based on how many volunteers we know are going to show up.  Imagine having to plan a weekly party for 5000, and your caterer won't commit to the number of waiters they'll have for you till the day before...kinda stressful, right?  As always, thank you to our consistently awesome volunteers that get it done for us every week!

White Dri Fit T-Shirt

Due to a design change in the Performance Top, a plain white sleeveless or tank top dri fit shirt must be worn under the Performance Top for contests.  I am looking at getting one for every student (not Colorguard or DPE), and will keep you up to date. Another option is to cut the left sleeve off the white dri-fit you ordered...but I'd really rather not do that. Monday night rehearsal shirt will be the grey dri fit until further notice.

Informal Uniform

The Informal Uniform of Grey Polo, Black shorts with black belt, black marching shoes with no show or ankle height black socks and camp will be worn starting 8/27 for the game.  If your student's shorts didn't come in yet, they are scheduled to be delivered Wednesday or Thursday.  Black shoes will arrive by then, too.

Orlando Trip

The Registration Portal has closed.  If you still want to sign up, please contact Keith Lancaster at keith@tmftoursandtravel.com

Tiger Band students and school

As I mentioned at the Preview last Monday night, it's important that your student get into a healthy routine of eating, sleeping, hydrating and schoolwork.  Many students struggled this first week of morning rehearsals due to poor sleep habits developed over the past 18 months.  Students need to be at rehearsals for us to help them get better, and developing healthy habits will help keep them ready for rehearsals and the school day.  I talked with many freshmen this past week that were surprised that they had work assigned even though it's the first week.  Welcome to HS... developing a consistent schedule for homework/studying now that allows for a healthy eating and sleeping schedule will help them continue to be academically successful.

Rehearsal Schedule adjustment

Somehow I missed that Monday, Sept. 27th is a student holiday.  We will NOT have a morning rehearsal that day, but we WILL have rehearsal starting at 5:00pm - 8:30pm. No morning rehearsal on Tuesday, Sept. 28th.  Please be sure to change this on your calendars and be prepared to get your student to rehearsal by 4:45.  Sorry for the confusion, and thanks for your flexibility.

Go Tiger Band!

Derek Woods
Director of Bands

Dripping Springs H.S.
512-858-3214

derek.woods@dsisdtx.us

Howdy Tiger Band Families!

As Mr. Woods said above, it takes an army of adult volunteers for the Tiger Band to move. This week we need 3 more chaperones for band, 2 more volunteers to assist with color guard, and 8 more volunteers to help the front ensemble on and off the field for the half time performance.  Please sign up to help if you're able to help or already planning to attend the game!

There are also 4 opportunities to help with evening band practices by providing a meal for the directors. They don't have the opportunity to get off campus before evening practice since they're working with students straight through from the time school lets out.  Contact Jenny Lee (512.963.1616 / heartoftx1@yahoo.com) if you have any questions. Sign up at  https://signup.com/go/gGKVZwT

In order to avoid burning out volunteers we need all families to participate throughout the season.  Each student needs a parent to volunteer in 6 of our volunteer opportunities in order for everything to be covered and have everyone helping the band program succeed.  Please look at the signup links above to see where you'd like to help out and sign up.  If you have any questions about a position please email president@dsbandboosters.org or call me at 979-219-2828.

Finally, for those that ordered show shirts and didn't make it to pickup at parent preview, they will be sent home with students this week.  Be on the lookout for a second chance to order show shirts coming up.

Go Tiger Band!

Timmie Smith

DS Band Boosters President

979-219-2828

president@dsbandboosters.org

Freshmen Fittings are Complete - We finished fitting all of the remaining freshmen into uniforms this past week. We now only have stirrup fittings for the white bibbers. These alterations will be handled during band class throughout this week.

Informal Uniforms:  Informal Uniforms that were ordered at Registration were handed out in class on Friday. Ask your student to try them on and make sure they fit. We can make some exchanges if needed. There were some items on backorder, but we hope to get them soon.

Parents: Please be sure to have the following items before the first football game on August 27^th - black belt and black no-show socks for their informal uniform.

You will also need long black socks and grey lycra shorts for marching and long white socks and grey lycra shorts for performance. It is suggested to get a couple of pairs for consecutive performance days.

Uniform Volunteer Opportunities:

Sewing/ironing group - The material for the competition drops has arrived. Once we get the strips cut, we will send out a Group Sign-up for volunteers to help us sew these colorful drops. Please keep an eye out for a time to come in and sew with us.  Sewing is a big part of the performance uniform for drops on the jackets. If you are handy with a sewing machine or a serger we would love your help. We can even show you how.

Again we would like to thank Marlene Gusella for all her help in uniform fittings this week. We appreciate the time you gave to help out during classes!

If you have any further questions, please contact us at: uniforms@dsbandboosters.org.

Thank you,

Su Gibbs and Suzanne Gusella

Co-VP Uniform Coordinators

GO TIGER BAND!

Calling all PIT CREW / PROP Volunteers!  We are still in need of a few more volunteers for this week’s AWAY game to assist with Pit Crew.  Please be prepared to pay for football game admission and be on the look-out for some “group” text messages this week if you have already signed up to make sure I am able to communicate with all of you.

For those that are unable to assist with this week’s game, please consider signing up as a PIT Crew volunteer for future games and Band Competitions. To volunteer for Pit Crew activities please utilize the Sign-Up link. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly with any questions at pitcrew@dsbandboosters.org.

Looking forward to our 1^st game of the season!  Go Band!

Allison B. Muth