The marching band season is well underway with the band already having performed at the "Healing Fields" Patriotic Celebration held in Waterloo on Friday, September 7th. The band was chosen to lead the parade and then prform some patriotic pieces during the ceremonies. This years' theme for our halftime shows will be "Steel Of The Night" which will be Caribbean oriented. Parts of the halftime show will be presented at the first two home games and then at the third game which is "Band Night" the entire halftime show will be presented. The highlight of this show will be the performance by the Central College Steel Pan Band from Pella under the direction of Stan Dahl. The date for this game is Friday, October 12th and then on Saturday, October 13th, the marching band will march in the morning in the U.N.I. Homecoming Parade and then head to Pella and perform their show for the Central College Football Game that afternoon at 1:00p.m. This should be an exciting week-end for the marching band. The band will also be performing at the final home football game on October 26th. The drum majors this year are Emily Schares for the field shows and Alyssa Braun for parades. The band is directed by Myron Mikita and assisted by student teacher Jessica Daker from Wartburg College.

This years' Percussion Ensemble looks to be as strong as ever and will be doing a "Dance" theme this year. Music such as "Russian Sailor's Dance by Gliere; "Gypsy Dance" From Carmen by Bizet; and "Spanish Dance" by Moszkowski will be some of the music performed this year by the ensemble. The group again has been asked to perform at the 2008 Iowa Percussive Arts Society Convention to be held at Iowa State University in Ames this year. This will take place in April. The members in this years' ensemble are: Mark Monat/Joe Rosauer/Matt Bailey/Alyssa Braun/ Amanda Schares/Ralph Davis/Emily Klein/Nikki Bornong/Emily Schares/Valerie Rust/Ashley Owens/Ryan Thurman/Chris Weber/Shane McFadden and Melissa Ament. This group has probably gained as much notoriaty for the music department as any other performing group. They are well know for their variety of music and carefree performance aspects.

The first Concert Band Performance will take place for the Holiday's on Sunday, December 16th @ 7:00p.m. The I. C./St. Joe's Middle School Band/High School Concert Choir/High School Concert Band and Percussion Ensemble will all be performing that evening. It should be an evening of great Holiday music.

The Iowa High School Music Association has accepted our bid again to host the 1A State Solo and Ensemble Contest again on Saturday, April 12th. We hosted last school year and it was a very successful venture, so now we will do it all over again!! Many, many volunteers are needed to be successful with this project, so please volunteer your time either before or during the contest. Last year we had a very successful group of 43 parents and friends that helped us run the contest. I hope to have this many volunteers again.

The following students are already working hard preparing for the 2007 All-State auditions to be held on Saturday, October 20th at Hampton-Dumont High School. Ralph Davis on Horn; Amanda Schares on Trumpet and Breatta Schmitz on Flute. Results will be posted on this website after the auditions take place.

The following dates are when the Music Support Group meetings will be taking place in the music room throughout the year. It is hoped that by knowing these dates in advance, that more parents and other interested persons will attend.

MEETING DATES
1st Meeting - October 11th - 6:30p.m.
2nd Meeting - November 20th - 6:30p.m.
3rd Meeting - January 24th - 6:30p.m.
4th Meeting - February 14th - 6:30p.m.
5th Meeting - March 20th - 6:30p.m.
6th Meeting - April 10th - 6:30p.m.