Hello from Loveland Music Boosters!
We started off the school year with a new event on October 9th. It was a hot day for a race, but the Music Trail Run held at Symmes Park was well attended and a lot of fun! Our next fundraiser was a pub crawl in downtown Loveland at the beginning of November. Although we just wrapped up our Membership drive, it’s not too late to become a member or make a donation! Please go to our website to find out more about volunteering, upcoming
concerts and events, making a donation or becoming a member. www.lovelandmusicboosters.com
Here is an update from our amazing music educators, with the exception of Michele Henn. We wish her a speedy recovery. LMB would like to thank them for the hard work and passion they put in to sharing the love of music with our students.
Melissa Dennedy
First and second-grade students are now having classes at the LPS Music Box since mid-November. We are working hard to get ready for our LPS Showcase that will take place at the beginning of March. More details about the performance will be sent out to families starting in January. The 1st Grade themed showcase is titled "The Seasons." The 2nd Grade showcase is titled "Starry, Starry Night." We look forward to performing for our families and community!
Jill Stagge
The LIS/LMS Music Department has been hard at work this fall by celebrating the return to in-person performances and full classes. It’s been a challenging but rewarding time as we welcome back those students who missed a year of music instruction due to the pandemic and get them caught up with those who were here.
The 7th & 8th Grade Orchestras kicked off the in-person concerts on October 26 with a performance that received rave reviews from the audience on hand.
On November 9, the 7th and 8th grade choirs presented their first concert of the year.
The 7th grade sang songs of peace, patriotism, friendship, and strength while the 8th grade focused on what they want the world to be in the future. Now, they will be creating and performing their own a cappella arrangements of songs they choose. Those songs, along with several full-group selections, will be performed at their next concert in March.
The 8th grade band had a very successful performance at the 8th grade music night at the LHS Football game in September. The 7th & 8th grade bands were joined by the LMS Stage Band in their first concert of the year on November 29 in the LMS gymnasium.
This year marks the first time that the LCSD performing music ensembles have had beginners in 6th grade rather than 5th. The new 6th grade music ensembles have been working very hard and will have their debut on December 6 (Choir), 7th (Band), and 8th (Orchestra) at 7:00 p.m. each night.
In terms of extracurricular activities, the LMS Stage Band and Revolution Show Choir have held auditions and are
already practicing hard in preparation for upcoming performances and competitions.
Chris Huening
We have 225 students in our 6th, 7th and 8th grade bands along with our extra curricular stage band. We had 9 students (six 7th and three 8th graders) selected to participate in the Ohio Music Educators Association District 14 Junior High School Honor Band. This was 4th most among all middle schools and junior highs in all of Hamilton and Clermont counties. They will be performing with students from area schools at a concert in January.
Rachel Bierkan
6th grade beginning strings are preparing for their first performance - their debut - on Wednesday, December 8. It is amazing how much the students learn in these first months of playing. They have gone from never touching a violin to playing a 12 song set in 5 weeks of instruction. There are over 90 string players in the 6th grade orchestra.
7th and 8th grade orchestras are strong with 40 students in each. They performed a concert on Tuesday, October 26 to a very appreciative and excited in person audience. We are working on new music and new skills as well as material that can be performed during the holiday season at various places in the community.
The 2 orchestras at LHS have 100 students this year. We performed a concert on October 6. Students in the Chamber Orchestra performed Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony as well as music from Sound of Music and a jazzy tune called Rondo in Blue. String Orchestra musicians performed a variety of pieces capturing many technical and musical skills. Included in their program was a brand new arrangement of Irish tunes composed by
me (Mrs. Bierkan).
Currently, the orchestra students are learning music for a December concert. That concert will include some holiday favorites as well as the Farandole from L'Arlesienne by Georges Bizet and Corelli's Christmas Concerto featuring senior violin and cello soloists. Using their creativity and composing skills, students are working on arranging holiday and non-holiday folk songs from countries of their heritage to be played by themselves and
their peers. We hope some of these arrangements will be performed at our December concert and by the students as they perform in downtown Loveland throughout the seasons and during Christmas in Loveland.
A few students have auditioned and been selected for community ensembles:
Brodie Merz is a junior viola player who auditioned and was selected for the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra Philharmonic. Freshman, Noah Elliott, is a bass player who auditioned and was selected for the Cincinnati Junior Strings through the University of Cincinnati's CCM Preparatory Department. Sophomores, Natalie Hutchinson (violin) and Evan Smith (cello) auditioned and were selected to perform with the Northern Kentucky Youth Orchestra.
Shawn Miller
In the Vocal Department we have just wrapped up our Musical “All Together Now” which was a part of a global event. 2,900 other theater companies did the show the same weekend across the globe. The choirs had an early concert in October and are preparing for our next concert on Dec 11th at 5 and 7:30. The show choirs are in preparation for their Spring competitive season and we are getting ready to kick off the show band. The A
Cappella group will be performing at the Loveland tree Lighting on the 4th and also at the Loveland Ladies Luncheon on Dec 14th.
Geoffrey Miller
Band Year in Review
And just like that, the marching band season comes to a close. It has been so good to be back to competitive marching band. After a year off in 2020, the Loveland High School Marching Band returned to the football field with a entertaining and family-centric halftime show entitled “An 80’s Adventure.” The show starts off with In The
Air Tonight by Phil Collins then quickly transitioned to the “Main Theme from Stranger Things.” This movement culminates with the color guard members riding bikes through the band with ET dolls in the front basket. The middle movement was “The Back To the Future Main Title.” This movement is action packed and has a delorean flag, fly over the entire band. The ballad was “In Open Arms” by Journey, and the whole adventure wraps up with a
song that sounds like 80’s breakdance music.
The season started in July with three mornings of “rookie camp” followed by our usual “big band camp” the first week of August and our “mini camp” the second week of August. The students were hungry to dive into the season and were so excited to have a “normal” marching band season once again.
Competitions started in September and we were able to win the Outstanding Percussion award at the Taylor Invitational. We hosted a competition at the beginning of October and we received a 1 or a superior rating which qualified us for the OMEA State Marching Band Competition where the band once again received a 1 for the first time since 2017. This past weekend was the band’s final competition at the Midstates Championships at Kings
High School. The band finished in the middle of the pack and had the best performance of their season.
Concert Season
In addition to the marching band season, the concert bands are in full swing as well. The Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band performed a concert in October that involved movement and spooky classics. The jazz bands also performed on this concert and played music in video games or inspired by video games. They even featured
arrangements by Loveland alumnus Garrett Fasig and the finale was arranged by two current Loveland High School students, Alton French and John Turner.
13 Students made the district 14 honor band including two students who are first chair.
Winter ensembles:
Basketball band is getting underway this week at the Winter Meet The Team event. They will be playing at five men’s and five women’s basketball games this season and will also be attending on Xavier University game as well.
Winter drumline and Winterguard have just begun as well. There were great turnouts for the interest meetings and it looks like both ensembles will have very successful seasons.