Welcome to the Langley High School Band!

 

Below is a list of the main activities undertaken each year to support the Langley HS band. There are opportunities to fit every type of interest and level of time involvement.

 

Watch your emails for Sign-Up Genius volunteer opportunities throughout the year. You’ll enjoy meeting other band parents and will have great experiences and memories helping the band and seeing your student in this activity. (You won’t believe how fast their four years in Langley band fly by!)

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Want to lead an effort next year? Let us know! Mention it at a volunteer activity or email the band director or band association president. 

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MARCHING BAND SEASON

 

Students, join the Marching Saxons! It's a great way to start your career at Langley, and senior will attest that some of their BEST high school memories are from marching band! 

 

Parents can get involved, too! There are lots of opportunities to meet people and help your student's band! 

 

August Camp

Marching band camp is three weeks in August where students learn the music and formation of the season’s marching show. Each day of camp, parents donate water and help move equipment from inside Langley to the practice field. Two parents are the lead organizers of marching band camp and others sign up each day for water donation and equipment moves.

Show Shirt
Each year the band director coordinates a custom designed show t-shirt that students wear under their uniform coat. These are ordered by the marching band camp lead parent or another volunteer working with marching band camp.  

Uniforms
Marching band uniforms are fitted and assigned each year. A parent is in charge of maintaining inventory records and ordering new uniform items in coordination with the band director. A couple other parent volunteers help during the fitting days (which take place during band camp), and also on each game night and at each competition to help with any uniform issues and with plumes. Plumes are handled only with gloves and are stored separately from the garment bags and hat boxes.

Truck and “Pit” Equipment Crew
During marching band season, front ensemble (“pit”) instruments and other equipment (e.g., marimbas, xylophones, gong, electric piano, speakers, drum major ladders) are moved on/off the football field on Friday game nights, and loaded/unloaded from the truck and moved on/off the field on competition Saturdays. One parent is in charge of truck rental/driving/loading, and a few volunteers help with loading/unloading and moving the equipment.

Bus Chaperones
A parent chaperone rides on each of the two buses when traveling to marching band performance sites.

August Camp Lunch/Dinners and Game Night Pizza
Lunch or dinner is provided to students during the three weeks of camp in August. Pizza is provided on Fridays after marching band rehearsal and before football games. Parent volunteers arrange for the camp lunches/dinners and pizza deliveries.

Fall Senior Night
One football game night is designated as Senior Night, where senior football players, cheerleaders, dance team members, color guard members and marching band members are honored. One or two band parent volunteers are in charge of Fall Senior Night for our band seniors, and others assist. The evening includes arranging for items such as flowers, framed photos or other mementos, decorations (e.g., banners, balloons)  and snacks for the events on the field and hosting a pot-luck for seniors and their families afterwards in Langley Hall.

 

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CONCERT SEASON

Concert Programs
Concert programs are created digitally and distributed by email on concert days. A parent volunteer gets the concert program info from the band director and the current donation/sponsor info from the band association treasurer and designs the concert programs. 

 

Bus Chaperones

A parent chaperone rides on each of the buses when traveling to the concert band assessment sites.

After Concert Socials
Langley bands holds an hor d’oeurves/desert social after some concerts, and parents help with table set-up/clean-up and bringing food items.

 

End-of-Year Band Banquet
At the end of the year, our band students and families enjoy an evening at Langley to honor student achievements and celebrate our seniors. It’s a casual evening where band section leaders present “paper plate” awards in their section and band seniors or others create a senior video, in addition to awards and comments from the band directors.  A parent volunteer is in charge of arranging for the catering of the dinner and a couple more volunteers assist with set-up/clean-up.

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Senior Book

Coinciding with the End-of-Year Band Banquet, a digital Senior Book slide deck (and full-color print copy for each senior)  is designed and produced by a parent volunteer. 

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Senior Gifts

A parent is in charge of selecting gifts or other memontos for seniors, presented at the End-of-Year Band Banquet.

 

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ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

Spirit Wear
Langley band t-shirts, polos, sweatshirts and sweat pants are worn by students, friends and family during football games, marching competitions, pep rallies and fundraising events to show support for our band program. Spirit wear sales occur once or twice a year. A parent volunteer coordinates the sale periods and items for sale. Other parents help with distribution as needed.

Annual Trip Chaperones
Each year the Langley band takes a (student optional) trip in the spring. Once every four years the band travels internationally. The band director coordinates trip details with the assistance of a travel company. Parents volunteer to chaperone the annual trip.

Photographer/Videographer
A parent volunteer photographer is in charge of taking Senior Photos on Senior Night in the fall, as well as taking formal and candid shots of band events throughout the year. These are uploaded on the band’s Shutterfly page. All parents and students are encouraged to post their photos on the band’s Shutterfly page and photos and videos on the band Facebook page!

Sign-Up Genius
Sign-up Genius is used to communicate and organize volunteer needs for activities. A parent volunteer is in charge of creating SUGs, in coordination with the parent volunteers leading each particular activity.

Communications/Publicity
Parent volunteers create communications including Back-to-School flyers, Tag Day tags and store posters, Langley PTSA eNews articles, Bands on the Run 5K sponsor packets/posters/flyers/yard signs, and occasional articles for local papers. Concerts, Tag Day and the 5K are posted in digital media outlets such as NextDoor, FaceBook, the Great Falls and McLean Connection Newspapers and the McLean Patch.

Website Manager
A parent volunteer maintains our website and updates its content, Google calendar and Shutterfly photo site. The website manager uses Mr. Martin's emails and the band calendar as key sources for updates, as well as communications from volunteers leading the marching season, Tag Day, and the Bands on the Run 5K. 
 

FUNDRAISERS

Tag Day
Tag Day is a long-standing tradition among high school bands and is our main fundraiser.  Tag Day is well-received in our community, and occurs on a Saturday in September (usually a week or two after school starts). 

 

Students wear their show t-shirt or another Langley shirt and walk door-to-door in pairs asking for donations to the band program. (They leave an informational door-tag if residents aren’t home, resulting in the “Tag Day” event name.)

 

Students are driven to/through neighborhoods in the Langley boundary. In addition, other students are stationed at tables at local shopping areas. The drive routes used and store fronts we visit have been used for years by the LHS band program. 

A team of parent volunteers work in the late summer to organize Tag Day. On the day itself, over 30 parent volunteers drive students (usually cars with 4 students in each) through neighborhoods and chaperone students stationed at the store-front tables.

 

Bands on the Run 5K
The 5K is a more recent event Langley HS and Cooper MS bands begun to help fund the needs associated with the growing band program in the Langley pyramid.

 

Looking at the success and growth of the area elementary school and Cooper MS band programs, the LHS band program saw the need for the purchase of additional marching band uniforms, percussion instruments and equipment, and musical instruments, especially those not often purchased by families, such as tubas or English horns.

The Bands on the Run 5K starts/ends at Langley on a Sunday morning each April. A team of parent volunteers coordinate and advertise the event. A team works throughout the year to solicit area businesses as sponsors.

 

On the day itself, band members, families and runners from the community enjoy a beautiful morning and DJ entertainment, snacks and vendors afterwards. Money is raised from both the sponsorships and the participant registrations.

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