Smashing success for Halloween carnival

I am excited to report that tonight's B-B-E Music Boosters event was a smashing success! The turnout was terrific, and the bands who performed sounded fantastic. We will get more coverage in the upcoming issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

(HD VIDEO) Pep Band at state

Here's a video I found while wiping old photos and videos from the fall sports season...noticed this wasn't uploaded and posted. So here it is. The B-B-E Pep Band at state! The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is in their pre-match drills before they beat New Life Academy of Woodbury on November 8.


You'll see more band photos in next week's issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice...members of the senior high band went around Brooten and Belgrade and the elementary school performing Christmas carols on Thursday morning this week.

On a different subject, here's the link to a video of the lighted Christmas parade in Brooten on December 8. The Santa Day activities in downtown Brooten, sponsored by the Brooten Commercial Club, brought terrific support and interest from the public. https://bit.ly/2RaIaNs

Band concert rescheduled!!!

Here is an urgent note from the B-B-E school Facebook page:

IMPORTANT: The 5-12 Band Concert has been rescheduled to Monday March 21st at 7 p.m. due to the boys' basketball subsection championship game where the Pep Band will be playing in Morris this Monday (tomorrow).

Details for Monday, February 29: the pep band bus will leave Belgrade at 4:15, Brooten at 4:30. Please share to help spread the news.

Pep Band, radio tonight

The B-B-E Pep Band will perform at tonight's home boys' basketball game against Holdingford.

Also, the varsity game will be covered on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Thanks for the coverage, Brady!

Pep Band!

The B-B-E Pep Band returns to action after a long break by providing entertainment at this weeks' boys' basketball home and season opener on Tuesday.

On a related note, I looked and saw that the girls' basketball team doesn't have a home game until December 16 when Rockford comes to town for the Central Minnesota Conference opener. After reviewing the entire December schedule, I'm very excited about the chances of a great start to the season for the Jaguars.

More band information

Our senior high band would have 54 members if every member of the band in 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grades last year stayed in band coming into this year. We know that some underclassmen stuck with band through last year simply to go on the Bahamas trip. Others quit band this year because they're Post Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) students. Others quit over the summer before our new band teacher walked through the door for the first time because they were upset about Mr. Coppicus taking a job closer to home. Through all that, the senior high band has 38 members. I rate that is really good considering all of those above-mentioned factors!!!

Here's what the Morris Area high school band director told me about her approach to pep band. She's taught in Morris since the 1990s (I played with some of her pep bands when I was in college at UMM):
"In my handbook I state that 9-12 grade students are part of the pep band. If they cannot attend an event, I'll need a note in advance explaining why. Being in a sport that night automatically excuses them. To letter in band, being in pep band is a big part of that."

At another area school, where the director is in his 20th year, this is what he explained about his rules on pep band:
"First of all, what works in one school won't necessarily work in another. I've spent my 20 years here developing a culture and expectation that pep band is an extension of the band class. At Benson, band students regard pep band as a positive activity to be a part of. It's just something that "they do." For the most part, parents go along with that.
When I was new to the position, I had some of the same push back to mandatory pep band. Twenty years later, I typically have no trouble with participation. Getting to the point where every student in the band "wants" to be at pep band takes an attitude shift. Pep band is included in my grade book, although I rarely have to lower a student's grade because of a missed event. I try to get my students to understand that pep band is what they should do for the group/school/community and not just for a grade.
"My pep bands play at 20 scheduled events througout the year: four volleyball, four football, four girls' basketball, four boys' basketball, two hockey and two wrestling matches."

Shifting back to B-B-E, here's the scheduled pep band events for the 2014-2015 year: four home football games, three home volleyball matches, 7 boys' basketball and 5 girls' basketball games. That's 19 compared to 20 at the aforementioned school. Could it change year to year? Of course. Is this what the band director put on our schedule for this year? Yes. Is what the band director is asking for something that students should follow through on? Yes!! Is it the end of the world if a student misses one or two pep bands? No. Will a student have his or her grade docked if they miss one or two pep bands without an excused absence? No. Does our new band director want a large, robust pep band to show off to the community? Yes!!! Should we all work to help our band director meet that goal? Yes!!!

The student band handbook lays it all out.

Absolutely thrilled

Members of the pep band plus Mr. Coppicus are shown performing at halftime of the Section 4A football playoff opener on October 22, 2013. It was the first of two home football games the Jaguars won last fall.

I finally got around to reading through the new high school band student handbook. I have to say that I was absolutely thrilled by what I was reading. I am not kidding when I admit that my jaw hit the floor every time I read the next section. If we want a great band, the rules of the road are laid out in grand fashion in that handbook!

And just an FYI, at Sauk Centre, pep band is mandatory for senior high band members.

Please note this part of the handbook: "Students with jobs are expected to notify employers in advance and have scheduled event days available. Most potential conflicts can be eliminated with good planning, so communicate early with your employer about your band commitments. If you have trouble getting excused from work, a phone call from the director is almost always effective (provided adequate notice is given)."

Here's what I have to say: either band is part of a student's education or it isn't. You can't have it both ways. A parent wouldn't allow their senior high student to miss a math class every other Friday so they can clock in at a part-time job. A varsity football, tennis or volleyball player (or any other student-athlete) isn't missing a competitive game so they can clock in at a part-time job. A member of the speech team isn't missing a speech event so they can clock in at a part-time job.

That would be nonsense.

Don't forget that what fired me up was the plummeting 8th grade band numbers. I calm down somewhat in regards to a student pulling out of band as they get older. It's still irritating, but not to the point where I'm going to vent my anger on the Internet. From 10th to 11th grade or 11th grade to 12th grade, things change. Other classes can get tougher. Kids join college-credit courses. They take part-time jobs (but even then you can work around a pep band & concert band schedule). The demands of being a three-sport athlete can become more difficult. This isn't about any of that. It's about the fact that the difference between 7th grade and 8th grade is not a heck of a lot. I doubt anyone could find one dang good reason why a student should quit band between 7th and 8th grade. It makes no sense.

For heaven's sakes, if your 13-year old says they want to quit band, they better be awfully creative in giving a reason why!! Parents, it wouldn't kill your young teenager to teach them what the word "commitment" is all about.

I know I will catch heat for what I've been saying about the issue of students quitting band, an issue that  make me incredibly upset. So be it. I'm not in the business of pleasing everyone. With that said, after reading the new student band handbook, I want to stress that I am not as upset as I was yesterday. Our band is in good hands, even if it has growing pains because of students and/or parents who don't like what they read in the band handbook.

Band is an academic class. It's not some fluffy "extra" do-nothing waste of time. It is important to our school and our community! It should be looked at on the same level as any other academic course that has core requirements and certain expectations from the teacher.

Every day I want to see the B-B-E school improve. Regardless of what extracurricular or academic program we're talking about, there is always room for improvement. To make a program better, it needs the right amount of participation. For academic programs (test scores, band numbers) to improve, it takes a high level of hard work both inside the walls of a school building and outside those walls. A band won't improve without a proper commitment from students and parents alike. A great school has a great band. There's no way around it.

Remember the awesome feelings we had at the conclusion (and even in the middle) of every high school concert last year? Or the K-4 elementary musical? Folks, including me, walked out of every one of those B-B-E choral events with our chests puffed up, our shoulders straightened out with a buzz in the air as everyone agreed that those choral events were truly outstanding.

Some day, I hope those same feelings to abound when we walk out of a B-B-E band concert.

**Update: as is stated in the handbook, a student can receive up to three unexcused absences from band events before it would start affecting their grade. That applies to band concerts, pep bands or contest dates. After hearing some quite outlandish rumors about the "mandatory" pep band concept, I was really truly astounded. The band teacher said that no student who is part of a sporting event would be counted as absent from a pep band. They were pretty shocked that people would think that.

A little common sense would help out here!!!

Here's what we don't want to see: just 12 kids show up on pep band night. I don't know if the number was that low, but it was really low for Friday's home football game. Out of the senior high band, if a band member was on the football field that's totally an accepted absence from pep band. I get that. The new band teacher gets that. Anyone should understand that.

If a band member wasn't on that football field, they should've been in the pep band. They should have wanted to be in the pep band. To not want to play with the pep band all the time is a bizarre concept to me!!

The point is, pep band is important. Concert band is important. A high school's band program is important. Kids have to stick with it!!!! I don't know how else I can say it.

Setting sail for the Bahamas

Above is the ship that the B-B-E band and choir will load later this afternoon as they are on their way to the Bahamas! Let's all pray for their safety and hope they have a great time.

Hey Jaguar Country, let's soak this up!

I AGREE!

Let's pull out all the stops to support our outstanding, hard-working student athletes at B-B-E!

Friday: state wrestling with Ben Feuerhake at Xcel Energy Center; first-round at 9:00am, and quarterfinals are in the evening.

Friday: Jaguar girls' basketball regular season finale against Rockford Area. JV/C-squads at 6:00 and the varsity at 7:30.

Saturday: the B-B-E Speech team competes at Sauk Centre. I'm anxious to see how that turns out!

Saturday: Jaguar boys' basketball in the playoff sub-section semis in Little Falls at 6:00pm  get there early and help PACK FLYER GYMNASIUM!! Tell me why we shouldn't???? Let's complement our awesome B-B-E Pep Band and the basketball team and coaches with 2,000 fans!!!!! (Their capacity is 3,000....so we can certainly allow some room for Upsala, Swanville and Kimball fans.)

Pep Band rocks!

The B-B-E Pep Band is shown playing the school song "Indiana, Our Indiana" prior to player introductions.

Here's a video from the beginning of the pre-match drills on Saturday night in Pierz:

(Photo albums) and more coming tonight

Here's the B-B-E Pep Band performing on Saturday night in Pierz:


Here's album #1 from Friday Night Lights XI:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2013SPORTS/B-B-E-fall-varsity-sports/Friday-Night-Lights-XI-the-Mi1

And album #2 (the second half):
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2013SPORTS/B-B-E-fall-varsity-sports/Friday-Night-Lights-XI-the-Mig

By the way, good luck to the 7th/8th grade boys' basketball Jaguars as they open their season in Sauk Centre today. Tip-off is at 4:30pm.

More from the sub-section volleyball championship

The high-fives after winning game one and the B-B-E Pep Band playing last night:


And the end of game two:

We have an awesome pep band!

Members of the B-B-E Pep Band are shown performing at halftime on Tuesday night.

The B-B-E music program gets a work out with Pep Band performing at playoff games on the horizon as well as the Monday night Fall Choir concert. Come out and support not only the Jaguar athletic program but also our Fine Arts kids as well! Many do double-duty, being both athletes and musicians! Way to go Jaguars!

Holy cow am I excited for tomorrow's game!  Kickoff in Belgrade is at 7pm. BE THERE!

Pep Band performs at Holdingford girls' basketball game

Members of the B-B-E Pep Band shown performing at halftime on Thursday night.

A nice crowd was on hand for the competitive conference game.

More band concert photos...and musical outtakes!

Part of the brass section in the Junior High Band.

Part of the wind section in the Junior High Band.

A handful of members of the Senior High Band.

 
...and don't miss out on viewing this video clip...showing a majority of the outtake clips from B-B-E's 'Jesus Christ Superstar' musical. Click on the link to view it at the Sauk Centre Herald website:
http://www.saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=381&NewsVideoID=172

Bravo, Mr. Coppicus and his B-B-E 6-12 grade band members!

The B-B-E Senior High band performing tonight in the high school auditorium.

What a fantastic job Mr. Coppicus has done in his time as B-B-E's instrumental teacher! The bands sounded great tonight in their fall concert...even the 6th grade band!

Great job to all the hard working students and Mr. Coppicus for the work they do in what was one of my favorite classes in high school.

Here's the grand finale of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' on opening night! What a truly memorable performance.
 

That video clip will be moved to the Sauk Centre Herald video webpage on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, video from tonight's band concert will be posted here.

Props to the B-B-E Pep Band!

The B-B-E Pep Band performs the National Anthem last night prior to the volleyball team's playoff opener...
 

Props to the B-B-E Pep Band!

Performing the National Anthem before Tuesday's playoff opener.

The B-B-E Pep Band sounded great on Tuesday night! I was only able to hear their performance of the school song as I walked into the stadium and then the National Anthem.

Great job, Jaguars!

**Note: below I re-added a video clip that didn't post properly yesterday...showing the Jaguars scoring on a 30-yard run by Brian Goodwin.

By the way, did you know that B-B-E has a Twitter feed? You can find it by clicking on the following link: https://twitter.com/BBESchools