Hanover High School Bands

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Hanover High School Band Boosters

Volunteer Opportunities

Good extracurricular programs are “good” because of parent participation.  We are very lucky to have wonderful parents at Hanover High School who are dedicated to their children and the band program they have decided to participate in.  One of the worst things that could happen would be for a parent to say “I would love to help out but I just don’t know how.” 

Here’s how   If any of these activities sound like fun (and we really DO have fun!), please feel free to come join us.  We will send emails periodically listing upcoming functions.   Also please come one into the band room on Friday nights before the game!  There’s lots of excitement and we’ll put you to work somehow!

You can always call or email any one of the booster members – rosters will be sent home with your students.  We love parents … almost as much as we love your kids.  Check out the website – http://hhsband.net for even more information.

Football Games:  Home

Before the game:

•Getting uniforms out and ready

•Hand out socks, band-aids, gloves, etc. from band closet

•Move “pit” equipment out to the curb

•Help carry water, equipment to the stands

During the game:

•Monitor stands

•Monitor bathrooms, etc. during 3rd quarter

Halftime:

•Help put plumes in hats

•Help the “Pit Crew” … move equipment onto and off the field for the halftime show

•Help the Pit Crew taking equipment back to the band room

After the game:

•Uniform verification – we need at least 1 person per uniform rack and we have 7 racks.  It works even better with 2 people per rack.  We make sure that each uniform is hung up properly in the bag and all the pieces are there.

•Help carry equipment, water, etc. back from the stands

•Help pick up trash from the stands

Football Games:  Away

•All the same volunteer help is needed for away games (monitor stands, bathrooms, do plumes, pit crew, etc..) 

•We also need chaperones on the buses.  We need one adult per 10 students.

Competitions

We go to approximately 4 - 5 competitions during the season.  Though it varies with some of the events, we tend to need the same volunteers as a football game – parents helping get the uniforms ready, getting the pit equipment loaded on to the trailer, chaperones on the bus, help moving pit equipment on and off the competition field, etc. 

Festivals

HHMI

Hanover Hawk Marching Invitational is a marching band festival held at Hanover High School in October.  It is a prestigious event and something we are very proud of.  We would love to have everyone help this year.  It can only be successful if we have participation from everyone. More information will be provided regarding this event.

Spring Band (non-marching) Festivals

There are several companies that organize band festivals for middle school and high school bands to compete in across the country.  They compete in several different categories - Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Strings, etc.  They tend to be around some type of attraction for the kids to attend as well, such as DisneyWorld, Six Flags, etc.   These companies reach out to high schools in the area to "host" the competitions - basically provide a venue for the various bands to play.  We are very well situated - so close to Kings Dominion as well as Williamsburg and Busch Gardens.   These become each school's "yearly band trip", just like our marching band have attended over the years in places like Orlando, New York and Boston.   There are bands coming this year from as close as Lynchburg and Chesterfield and as far away as Wisconsin, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas!

The two festivals that we currently "host" are the Dixie Classic and Kings Dominion Festivals.   For the Dixie Classics, the bands who participate during the event stay and receive awards based on their performances.  For the Kings Dominion Festivals, the bands perform at Hanover High School, but then attend their awards ceremony at Kings Dominion in the evening.  In neither of these festivals do any of our Hanover High School bands perform.

For these types of festivals, we open up our concession stand in the commons area and provide pizza, hot dogs, drinks, candy and snacks.  The profits go to the Hanover High School band program, which in turn provides for various needs of all the bands. 

It really is a fun, easy going time.  It can get a little hectic with handing out pizza and hot dogs, but you know - band kids are the BEST!  It's so much fun to find out where they are from and what they have seen on their trip, to watch them get excited about performing, to talk to the directors and chaperones. 

The Dixie Classic festivals are usually early in the spring, around March.  All we staff is the concession stand.  If students want to volunteer as well, they will be signing up with Mrs. Birdsong during class.

The Kings Dominion festivals require a little bit effort on our part.  They tend to be a little later in the spring - Fridays and Saturdays in May and June.  (See band calendar on band website for exact dates). Mrs. Birdsong will be coordinating student volunteers as the events draw closer.  The Band Boosters will be recruiting volunteers to not only work in the concessions (again, no "cooking" per se ... just handing out pizza and warming up hot dogs.)   We will also need some parents to help with directing parking outside and being door monitors for a few changing rooms, etc.   

Special Events

As special events come up, we will email everyone with volunteer opportunities.  These include the Jazz Dinner in the spring and miscellaneous fund raising events (yard sale, dessert sale, etc.)