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Frequently Asked Questions about the High School Honor Band Days
"How much does this cost for the student?"
There are no costs for the students or sponsoring directors/high schools for these events - the events are entirely sponsored by our organization and the University of Pennsylvania.
Indirectly, the Honor Band on March 29th will ask students to "brown-bag" lunch, and we will be charging admission to spectators for the concert (to cover our costs for the facility). We plan on recording the event on the 31st; students will have to opportunity to order a CD recording at their own cost through the recording company. Likewise, tickets to the basketball game on March 8th will be made available at a group rate for those interested in attending. In both cases, students and their parents will be responsible for their own travel to and from the University of Pennsylvania.
We will provide pizza dinners at both events for the participating students.
"Who’s teaching our kids?"
The privilege of rehearsal and performance will be split between Greer Cheeseman and Kushol Gupta. Greer Cheeseman is the director of the Penn Band and has been with the group for the past 30 years. Kushol Gupta is one of the assistant directors of the group and also directs the Penn Band summer music camp here at Penn; he has been with the group for the past 12 years. Spearheading the leadership/team building materials will be Adam Sherr; Adam Sherr is one of the assistant directors of the Penn Band and has been with the organization for over 18 years. He is an accomplished tubist and is at the forefront of Student Life at the University of Pennsylvania. Participants will also interact with many students from the Penn Band itself.
"What grade level of music will the students perform?"
No pun intended, but we're going play it by ear; we'll probe the ability of the groups formed - we'll start off with medium grade pieces of music and if all goes well, progress to more advanced titles as the event progresses. (We probably won't run off the concert program until a few hours before!). Past concert programs and MP3s can be seen under the multimedia portion of this website.
"Are there any requirements for the director besides completing the nomination forms?"
No - unlike Regions and All-State in some states, this opportunity for your students is not quid pro quo; all we ask is that you are as objective as possible with your evaluation of the students you nominate and encourage them to practice the parts that they are sent in the mail if accepted!
That said, all directors are welcome to participate during the day. Just contact Dr. Gupta (kgupta@force.stwing.upenn.edu) to make the appropriate arrangements.
"Are there any requirements for the parents?"
Just supporting the students in their participation in these events - all the effort will be lost on an empty auditorium! And as mentioned above, the parents will need to enable the students to travel to and from the Penn campus. The University City district and the city of Philadelphia itself are filled with things to do – we encourage parents and families to enjoy the day in the city while the students rehearse!
“What are the consequences of accepted students not showing up?”
Our organization absorbs considerable cost in making these events available to the students of the region. All we ask in turn is that accepted students show up! PLEASE ONLY NOMINATE STUDENTS WHO WANT TO PARTICIPATE – THESE PROGRAMS ARE MADE AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS FOR FREE; AN EMPTY SPOT IS AN OPPORTUNITY WASTED! “No-shows” will have a detrimental effect on future invitations to and participation of sponsoring high schools in future events.
last updated 12/05/2007 11:59:55 AM