BRMS BANDS
🎶Welcome to the BRMS band page!🎵
It's never to early to mark your calendar- our Spring Concert is Monday, May 19th and Music in the Parks field trip is Friday, May 30th!
Click on "posts" on the menu to the left (or just scroll down if you're mobile) to view recent announcements. Files, such as rental flyers, schedules, and concert programs, are also posted to this section of my website.
BRMS Music Dept. t-shirts are available to purchase for $10. We accept cash or checks made payable to BRMS. Sizes are adult small through extra large.
Please check your spam folder for correspondences from "[email protected]" and mark me as a safe sender.
MARCHING SCOTTIES
Our award-winning marching band is composed of woodwind, brass, percussion, and colorguard students in grades 7-12. We perform at all BRHS home football games and compete every weekend in the USBands circuit.
Our 2024 field show is "Paradise" where we travel through the beach, over a volcano, and into town for a party!
Join us for BANDEMONIUM, our home competition on 9/21 at noon! Details are on the attached flyer.
Click this link to view our SECOND PLACE performance at a National Competition in November 2022!!!!!
Concert Etiquette
Good concert etiquette shows respect to the hours and hours of hard work that students and teachers have put into making the concert a special and enjoyable evening.
There is absolutely NO food or drink permitted in the Performing Arts Center.
We encourage you to bring small children, but if they become fussy or noisy, please step into the hallway or lobby with them.
Strollers are not permitted in the PAC as they block aisles and exits, so please plan accordingly.
All electronics should be silenced (not on vibrate) and dimmed.
Take as many photos as you like, but please turn off the flash and don't block your neighbor's view.
All students will stay for the duration of the concert so families should stay for the entire performance as well.
Please do not interrupt the performance by leaving or entering during a song or calling out to performers.
Do not talk or whisper during performances as this is distracting to other audience members.
Most importantly- show your appreciation and support by clapping and cheering at the appropriate times. Many students are nervous on stage, but hearing your support makes them feel much more comfortable.
Posts
🎵Music!🎶
Hi everybody! The Marching Band is hosting what's sure to be an epic Battle of the Bands tomorrow night at 6pm at BRHS!! 🎸 Five bands will duke it out for a cash prize, but we're all winners just by showing up. 😉 Come rock out at this family-friendly event (over by 9pm!), blow off some steam, and support your community and local musicians. Plus I hear the MC is pretty cute!
The Marching Band is also raising money by collecting gently used items (see attached flyer for specifics). If you'd like to contribute, let me know and we can coordinate a drop-off/pick-up. Our big equipment bus bit the bullet last year on the way to Music in the Parks 💀, so we are trying to purchase a replacement truck or trailer before the season starts up in August. Any help is oh so greatly appreciated!!!
One last plug: my spectacular ensemble, the Eastern Wind Symphony, is performing on Saturday night at 7pm at Rutgers. The program features the East Coast premiere performance of the wind transcription of a multimedia work, "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" with lighting, video, and several actors reading first-hand accounts of immigrant experiences at Ellis Island. It is an incredibly moving work; at rehearsal last week, I laughed, wept, cheered, and pumped my fist in triumph. It's what we need now in so many ways. I encourage you to check us out or hop on the free livestream. Thank you!
Have a great day! 🌞
email blast 3/19 BOE meeting 7pm tonight @ BRHS
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email blast 3/17 (Teen Arts participants only)
(This message pertains to jazz band, small ensemble, select choir, and orchestra students only.)
Hello everyone! We are gearing up for a great day of engaging with young artists from around the county at RCBC on Wednesday. Please remind your children to wear their black BRMS music department t-shirts if possible (and if not possible, some other Bordentown/BRMS shirt). We've been given an advance copy of the menu this year, which is on the second page here. This food is served in the cafeteria which is in building 1 on the map linked here. Students may also bring food/water in a string bag. The schedule of workshops can be found here, and here is the main website with even more details. As a reminder, we will leave around 9 and return around 1:45, and there will be a school nurse with us.
I will be going over all of this during rehearsal tomorrow. Students will be in the audience for the orchestra at 9:45 and the BRMS small ensembles starting at 10:05 in building 3. They should go to see the choir perform at 11:10 in building 5, then they have their choice of activity. There is a ton of fun, musical/visual arts stuff to do, plus the weather looks amazing. With all of this in mind, it's imperative that everyone makes good choices and behaves respectfully with all of the other students that will be there.
Please reach out with any questions or concerns, and chaperones- I will be in touch in just a few minutes! 😄
Have a great day!
email blast from 3/12 "It's that time again.... BOE meeting tonight and next Wed!"
Hi everyone! There is a BOE meeting at BRHS in the library (straight up the stairs, turn left, it's on the right) at 7pm tonight. View the agenda here. There is a devoted time at the end for the public's suggestions for next year's budget. Next week's BOE meeting will include the budget presentation. It is also at 7pm at the BRHS library.
Attendance at these meetings by parents and community members is integral when it comes to conveying to the BOE that you support funding and staffing the programs that your children are part of and love so much. Music (along with many other programs that make your child's education whole) is always on the line when it comes to budget cuts.
Your voice matters more than I can say. Please consider attending tonight's meeting and speaking out about your suggestions, and please consider attending next week's meeting where we will learn the potential fate of the programs and staffing that we value so highly in this community. I won't be there be there tonight, but hopefully I will see you next week!
Band update: Your kids are doing amazing, I'm so excited about all of our progress and seeing these people thrive and grow, Spring Concert May 19th woo! Marching Band recruitment begins soon!!!
Yours,
Mrs. SG
8th grade scheduling info for BRHS
On Tuesday 2/25 and Thursday 3/6, all 8th graders will be meeting with BRHS guidance during math to sign up for high school classes. Jazz band (audition-based) and concert band (everybody!) are during blocks 4 and 5 respectively. (These are 38-minute blocks.) It is imperative that students put down music ensembles as their first choice for electives or their schedules may not be correct when they're released in August. It is a logistical nightmare for the guidance department to rearrange schedules right before school starts, and the ensembles usually suffer for it since they only occur once during the day. (The same goes for orchestra and vocal techniques.) Music theory and music history are some other fabulous (80-minute long) classes your children might be interested in. Program of Studies
Students interested in auditioning for jazz band: Audition materials will be posted on 3/1 on the google classroom. Students should tell guidance they plan on auditioning, and we will send them a list of students to put into the class when try-outs conclude.
Please reach out with questions or concerns. We've built a big, strong middle school music program, and it's our mission to keep it going into the high school. Students are often pulled in many directions, but creating music together is a wonderful way to stay centered, have fun, relax a bit, and get an easy A. 😉
email blast from 2/21 "Music in the Parks 🎵"
Hello everyone! I hope you've all been staying warm and listening to lots of excellent music lately; hopefully your children have entertained you with some snippets of "The Bare Necessities" or "How to Train Your Dragon" (the pieces we've been working on so far in 2025). We've been grinding away in rehearsals, and I am so pleased with our progress lately. This is a talented crew!
I handed out permission slips for Music in the Parks two weeks ago, so you've probably seen or heard about this already. Here is an electronic version in case a paper copy hasn't made its way home yet. Please review the slip for all the details about our yearly music competition and Six Flags visit. Reach out with questions or if you would like to join us on the trip.
The due date for the slip and payment is February 28th, but we will absolutely accept payment later than that date. We've sent in the deposit, so we've got plenty of time to collect. Please just send in the slip with your child indicating what type of ticket they will be purchasing, and make a note that you'll submit payment later. I'll send out reminders as the date approaches if needed. If you require financial assistance, please reach out.
I will be in touch closer to the trip with more details. It's a really great event, albeit with a ton of moving parts, so stay tuned!
Thank you for your continued support, and please encourage your young musicians to take home their instruments and perform for you. We've working hard in school, and at-home practicing is the way to take it to the next level of mastery. Have a great weekend!
Mrs. SG
email blast from 12/16 "Tonight's the night!"
Hi everyone! This is the final reminder- see you soon!
Concert Band & Jazz Band Winter Concert
Monday, December 16th at 7pm
Students report at 6:30pm
Bordentown Regional High School Performing Arts Center
Jazz students should wear all black, concert band students should wear a white top and black bottom (or all black). Festive touches are fine as long as they are not distracting.
Please email me with questions, comments, or concerns. I will be checking my email all afternoon to help with any issues. See you tonight!!!
-SG
email blast from 12/16 "band winter concert MONDAY"
Hello everyone, and welcome to the final countdown! 🎵🎶🎵🎶
Good luck to the orchestra, select choir, mixed choir, men's choir, and bucket drummers at their concert tonight! They are going to be fabulous!
The winter concert for jazz band and concert band is on Monday, December 12th at 7pm at the BRHS Performing Arts Center.
Please let me know ASAP if your child will be unable to attend the concert. Some students mentioned travelling for the holidays, and I want to make sure I have the seating chart correct. I encourage everyone to please stay healthy and don't get braces over the weekend!
On Monday night, students should report to the BRHS band room with their instruments and folders at 6:30/6:45. After going through the main entrance, the band room is directly down the stairs.
A quick reminder to the audience: No food, drink, or strollers are allowed in the PAC. Our students ushers and theatre director thank you immensely for your cooperation in keeping the PAC safe and sparkling clean for all of our concerts.
Concert band students should wear white on top and black on bottom. Jazz students should wear all black. Everyone's shoes should be dark/clean. This is a special night, so students' clothing should reflect that. We want to blend our sound AND how we look. Festive touches are permitted as long as they are not distracting.
The approximate run time is 1 hour (which leaves plenty of time for a special treat afterward! My 2nd favorite part of concerts when I was young was going to Halo Pub in Hamilton Square and riding out the adrenaline from a wonderful performance with a scoop of ice cream. My favorite part was those few seconds at the end of a piece before the applause when the music resonated through the hall and the sense of pride and accomplishment washed over the ensemble. Great memories!)
On Monday morning, all band students will be called down to the auditorium at 9ish to load up the buses and head over to BRHS for our rehearsal. Students with large instruments will be able to leave them backstage after the rehearsal, and all percussion equipment will stay as well. Any mallet player who wishes to bring their own bell set may do so, but there will be plenty available to use. Drummers should bring their own sticks, but I will have a bunch of extras. Brass students should bring oil, and clarinets/saxes should bring extra reeds. Flutes- just bring some fast fingers!
Please reach out with questions or concerns. I am SO confident and excited to show off these amazing musicians. Especially over the past week, I have been wowed by the growth and capabilities of these 93 middle schoolers. We've worked hard and played hard, so Monday is going to be spectacular!
Have a great day, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
email blast from 12/2 "winter concert reminder"
Good afternoon, all! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend full of food, music, and family fun! This is a brief reminder email about our upcoming concert.
BRMS Concert Band & Jazz Band Winter Concert
Monday, December 16th at 7pm
Bordentown Regional Performing Arts Center at BRHS
Students should report to the BRHS band room (straight down the stairs after going through the main entrance) at 6:30/6:45 with their instruments and sheet music.
Concert band students should wear white on top and black on bottom. Jazz band students should wear all black. Jazz students do not need to change shirts between ensembles. Shoes should be dark/clean. Festive touches are fine as long as they are not distracting.
We will have a rehearsal at the high school the morning of the concert, and we will return to BRMS prior to 8th grade lunch.
The concert will be finished before 8pm.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Quick plug- My ensemble, the Eastern Wind Symphony, has a concert this Saturday at Montgomery HS at 7pm. It's going to be full of spectacular holiday music, and I'd love to see you there! More info.
email blast 11/15
Hello everyone, and happy Friday! This message contains information about the upcoming parent/teacher conferences, our winter concert, and several other odds and ends. To view this email on my website, click here.
Parent/teacher conferences are on 11/21/ and 11/25. Please click here to sign up for a 10-minute slot if you would like to hear me sing the praises of your awesome young musician or if you have any questions for me.
The concert band and jazz band winter concert is on Monday, December 16th at 7pm at the Performing Arts Center at Bordentown Regional High School. (Please note: the choirs, orchestra, and bucket drumming concert is on Thursday, December 12th.) Students should report to the band room (straight down the stairs after going through the main entrance) between 6:30 and 6:45 with their instruments and folders. Jazz band students should wear all black, and concert band students should wear black bottoms and a white top. Shoes should be dark. Jazz students do not need to change into a white top for the concert band portion. Festive touches are fine as long as they are not distracting. I will be going over this information during rehearsal, but if you have any questions, please reach out. The concert will run for approximately one hour. There is no food or drink allowed in the BRHS PAC.
Students will attend a dress rehearsal the morning of the concert. They do not need to wear their concert attire for the rehearsal. We will return to BRMS before 8th grade lunch begins. I am so excited to present to you all of the beautiful music that the students have learned in just a few short weeks since lessons started. It is going to be a merry, fun time!
We still have BRMS Music Department t-shirts available to purchase for $10 cash or check made payable to BRSD.
Self-promotion time! I play in a marvelous ensemble called the Eastern Wind Symphony. It is a band just like the concert band that your children play in, but we are comprised mostly of band directors and professional musicians. Our holiday concert is on Saturday, December 7th at 7pm at Montgomery High School. It is always a delight to see familiar faces in the audience; I would love to see you there! More information.
For the super planners: select middle school students are invited to join the high school marching band each year. If your child is interested in this and shows exceptional musical ability, please note the dates of our mandatory summer band camp rehearsals. [August 11-14, 18-21, 25, and 27] I will begin recruiting in earnest in the spring, though I am happy that students have already begun asking about joining!
Please reach out any time with questions or concerns. I am always here for you and your musicians, just like they are always there for me and each other! I look forward to seeing you on December 16th!
-Mrs. SG
