ERHS Bands & Orchestras
  • Home
  • Bands
  • Distance Learning
  • Orchestras
  • Fruit
  • Auditions
  • Donate/Volunteer
  • Links
    • Summer band camps
  • Contact Us
  • Alumni
Band News

CLASS MEETINGS
Next Wednesday January 27th, I will be holding class meetings for students to discuss scheduling for 2021-2022, get to meet each other a little better, and have underclassmen meet upperclassmen.  Meeting times are below.  I will also be scheduling a parent meeting in the next week or so for any questions involving scheduling.  
Zoom link will be placed on Google Classroom.  

2024- 11:00 am- 11:30 am
2023- 11:30 am- 12:00 pm
2022- 12:00 pm- 12:30 pm
2021- 12:30 pm- 1:15 pm

Guest Clinicians from UMD 
Oculus Five the graduate woodwind Quintet from University of Maryland will be giving sectionals and masterclasses to our students starting next week.  All members have been fingerprinted and background checked to be able to work with our students in breakout rooms.  This will give more specialized instruction to our students!

Katy Gaughan- drumming circle specialist
Right here in Greenbelt we have a percussion specialist in African drumming circles.  She will be visiting our percussion classes to help teach us the ins and outs of how to run African drumming circles of our own!  

Placement Auditions for 2021-2022
Things are still a bit uncertain about what instrumental music will look like when we return to the building.  Most likely we will be having smaller class sizes, meeting outside, and using masks and other PPE materials.  Students will be asked to upload three sections of their practice routine that they created before the winter break as their placement audition.  More details will be forthcoming.

  Financial LIteracy class for 2024 and beyond
The state has implemented a new Financial Literacy class graduation requirement for the class of 2024 and beyond.  This class poses a problem for performing arts classes because it is one semester.  We are working with the administration to provide other options to satisfy this credit such as zero period options, summer online class, or an asynchronous version of the material.   Please be patient as we work out the details.  Do not drop band if you want to continue with it!  We have had issues with other classes that you may have to put off until a later time like your senior year instead of taking it "on schedule" with other members of your class.  The music department is committed to finding alternative solutions so you can keep taking performing classes!
 

Instrument Loan Agreements
If you have a school instrument, the yearly rental fee is $75.  Thanks to the many years of successful fruit sales, we have quality instruments that we are able to supply students with for each year.  They also require maintenance which will now cost more money because of COVID-19 protocols.  If you have an issue with payment please let me know as soon as possible.  We are only accepting online payments at this time.  
 
Please fill out the attached loan agreement form with all of the items you have from the school, serial number, and personal information. You are not responsible for any repair fees once this fee has been paid.  Please make arrangements with me to have school instruments repaired as soon as the problem arises.  
EXAMPLE: Percussion: Snare drum, Snare stand, Bongos
Example: Trumpet  JZ  serial #:  0002829

Instrument loan agreement form  PLEASE MAKE A COPY FIRST!!  Then return via email
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ufKwI-_BZvYa4lTsnBo1J0nLUVUCGe_nws5oxH0rUwM/edit?usp=sharing

How to pay your rental fees
myschoolbucks.com is a website that directly deposits into our school account.
Here is a video tutorial on how to create your own myschoolbucks account to pay for fees.
https://youtu.be/GPKQmDj23nA


Sign up for Band Remind Texts:
Percussion Ensemble: text @h29deh to the number 81010
Symphonic Band: text @8ef2cd to the number 81010
Wind Ensemble:text @msrzep to the number 81010
Concert Band:text @8bccd4 to the number 81010

Check out these websites:
The San Francisco Symphony has a new series called Keeping Score that is a channel on YouTube.  It is really great and you can subscribe on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0wRztEPtQWDXUybBpYRpaA
Berlin Philharmonic Concert Hall-  Great concerts archived
https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/home
Smart Music- practicing tools for sightreading FREE subscriptions
https://www.smartmusic.com/
Sight Reading Factory- sight reading and sight singing exercises FREE
https://www.sightreadingfactory.com/
Teoria- Music theory lessons
https://www.teoria.com/
Music Theory.Net- theory lessons
https://www.musictheory.net/
Music Theory Academy- Theory lessons
https://www.musictheoryacademy.com/
I miss you all and please be safe and take care of each other and your families.


Congratulations to Ms Zephir and the ERHS band program for receiving the the Maryland Music Educators Exemplary Music Program Award for the 2019-2020 school year!

Click here for the grading policy.
Click here for the Band & Orchestra handbook. (This has useful information about uniforms, etc.)
Pay for uniforms, instrument fees etc. and make donations to the band program at www.myschoolbucks.com

Picture
Wind ensemble members gathered at school at 5:15am on Wednesday, October 23, to record a segment on NBC 4 Morning News about their trip to perform at the MidWest Clinic in Chicago!

Check out the front page of the Greenbelt News Review for a story about the March 2019 ERHS band trip to Atlanta!
Congratulations to Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble for a successful trip to the HBCU Band Directors Consortium Conference in Atlanta. Here are some highlights:
Video 1
Video 2

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Highlights from the December 2018 band concert:
Picture
Non-traditional jazz octet:
Picture
Flash mob! Concert Band brass:
Picture
Combined Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band:
Picture
On Saturday, December 1, a jazz ensemble from ERHS performed at the Greenbelt Festival of Lights Art & Craft Fair:
Picture
Greenbelt Performing Arts Festival, 2018
Saturday April 21st we had the opportunity to send several small groups to downtown Greenbelt to perform outside and inside in the New Deal Cafe, including flute choir and percussion ensemble: 
Picture
Picture

Picture
New for 2017-18: you can pay for band uniforms and make a donation to the band program through myschoolbucks.com

The Sally Wagner Foundation:
The mission of the Sally Wagner Foundation is to promote excellence in music and education.  We accomplish our mission by supporting the band program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in ways that serve the most students as well as recognizing and supporting top candidates who will pursue education degrees at collegiate institutions. https://www.sallywagnerfoundation.org/ - now accepting donations!
The first scholarships from the foundation were awarded at the Spring 2017 concert, to Phillip McWithey and Avinash Singh, who received $1,000 each for college.


Why take band when you could be concentrating your time and efforts on more STEM subjects? Read this Washington Post article about the skills needed to succeed in the workplace. Very ironic that it comes from Google since Sergey Brin is an alumnus.  Enjoy and keep doing the thing you love like music, drama, art, foreign language, and sports.  All the tops skills Google is looking for come from those things.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/12/20/the-surprising-thing-google-learned-about-its-employees-and-what-it-means-for-todays-students/
Online background check for chaperones
Click here for the online form and payment for the commercial background check. Choose Commercial Background Disclosure Statement from the list on the left.

Thank you to Ashleigh Naude for being an awesome student teacher in 2017-18!
The ERHS band program received a $5,000 grant from the Greenbelt Community Foundation in October 2017 to purchase a sheet music storage system.
Picture
Picture
Melissa Ehrenreich presents the check to Ms Zephir at the fall concert

Picture
Combined Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble playing at the 2015 winter concert

Meet the ERHS band director: Ms Rachel Zephir
Click here for her bio
Picture

Click here for music department dates, e.g. fruit deadlines. See the band and orchestra pages for calendars of concert dates.
Music Department Calendar - google
Music Department Calendar - ical
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.