Music Family Welcome Night email sent 8/17
This email was sent to all VAHS band students and families on 8/17:
Greetings Band Students and Families!
Welcome to the 2026-27 school year! The VAHS music department is looking forward to a great year ahead, and we wanted to send out a quick welcome email with some important info as we wrap up summer.
In this email you'll find info about:
Music Family Welcome Night (Monday 8/24 @ 6:30pm!)
VAHS Music Events Calendar for 2026-27
Pep Band performance dates and information
Do you need a school instrument?
Music Family Welcome Night
All VAHS Band, Choir, and Orchestra students in grades 9-12 and their families are invited to join us for Music Family Welcome Night at 6:30pm on Monday 8/24 in the VAHS PAC. We'll spend the first half-hour in the PAC all together introducing the music teachers and sharing info about the upcoming school year. Then we'll break out into groups to go over information specific to band or choir or orchestra. We hope you can join us! (Note: Immediately following this meeting is the New York Trip info meeting for 3rd/4th hour music students in grades 10-12. Those students and families have a separate email with more details about the trip!)
VAHS Music Events Calendar 2026-27
You can find the VAHS music calendar in two different formats on the calendar page of the VAHS music website at vahsmusic.org/calendar. We encourage all music families to use this page to subscribe to our google calendar as well as to download and print the one-page "fridge" version of the calendar.
Pep Band
This year we have four pep band performances at home football games: Friday 9/4, Friday 9/18, Friday 10/2, and Friday 10/9. Pep Band is optional for all VAHS band students, and we strongly encourage 9th grade band students to join us for pep band performances -- it's a great way to meet new band friends from all grade levels and to get involved in the VAHS band family! Pep Band is also a great way to start earning points towards a band letter for the 26-27 school year.
School Instruments
VAHS has a limited number of school instruments available for band students to check out and use for the school year. Though most high school band students own or rent their own instruments, we strongly believe that access to instruments and supplies should never be a barrier to any band student! If you will need a school instrument for the 26-27 school year, please let me know by replying to this email and we will do our best to ensure that every band student has access to an instrument. (Hint: Music Family Welcome Night is a great time to pick up your school instrument so you can practice a bit before the first day of school!)
Last but not least, we're excited to share that Mr. Rittenberry will be co-teaching the 3rd hour Symphonic Band class this year! This is made possible because of the large number of students signed up for band, and we're both looking forward to a fantastic year ahead for all three band classes!
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out by email or bring questions with you to music family welcome night. Enjoy the last days of summer, and we look forward to seeing you all soon!
-Mr. A (and Mr. Rittenberry!)