Here are a few reminders to help you and your family prepare for concert night:
1) The concert is at Lexington High School in the gym. Students need to arrive at LHS no earlier than 6:45 PM. A parent should escort their child to the warm up area. The warm up area for your child is Commons 2. The concert begins at 7:30 PM but students need to get unpacked, tuned, escorted to the gym, seated and warmed up. Students with basses should be dropped off at the entrance to LHS off of Waltham St. near the kitchen/loading dock area. Parents may park in this area in lined spaces only.
2) Label your child’s case, clearly. Many cases look alike; a clearly labeled case will prevent confusion and mix ups. Students only need their instruments; no books are necessary because students are performing from memory. Between now and the concert, students should continue to work on memorizing their music, if they haven’t done so already. My colleague, Jess Billings-White, has put together some practice videos that may be helpful: http://lpsorchestras.
3) Be sure your child is fed, has had enough water and has had a chance to use the bathroom before arriving at LHS. Children will not be allowed to wander around the school. Once the concert begins, children will not leave the gym (unless there is an emergency) until the end of the program (about 1 hour). Exiting and re-entering the gym is disruptive to the performers.
4) Performers should be wearing white on the top and black (or as dark as possible) on the bottom. Students do not need to wear jackets and sweaters because the gym will be warm. They should leave any extra layers with their coats and cases.
5) At the end of the concert, students will exit the gym and return to the warm up area to wait for their parents. Parents need to remain seated in the gym for about 5-8 minutes after the concert while the students are exiting. Please listen to instructions and follow the signs to your child’s warm up area.
6) Please remember that there is an admission charge for this concert of $5 for adults. The proceeds of the concert help to fund non-budget items that benefit students on all levels. If you have children performing on multiple nights, you only pay for the first performance. You may tell the admissions table that you are a repeat customer and they will not charge you.
We look forward to sharing this special evening with you. If you have any questions after reading this email, please contact me at cbrainard@lexingtonma.org.
Sincerely,
Chris Brainard