CN Band Newsletter 10.15.2025
- Clovis North Band
- Oct 15
- 6 min read
From The Director's Desk
We have three exciting events this week. The first is our Fall Concert… TONIGHT!!!!
Please join us beginning around 4:30 for food trucks outside the concert hall. Our concert will begin tonight at 7 pm. If you were one of the families who pledged $500.00 or more and we received the full donation by August 29, you will have complimentary tickets to the concert this evening. Your name will be on a list at the table in the lobby.
Reserved seating available in Rows L, M, & N.
We hope you enjoy hearing three of our concert bands first performance of the school year. The high school students have worked hard only having 9 rehearsals to put this evening together.
Second… this Friday is our Granite Ridge Band night at the football game vs. Buchanan. We are looking forward to having our future CN Bronco Band and Color Guard members perform pregame with us and share some time in the stands.
Third… The time is now! This week starts six weeks of what we have been working towards since band camp. Thank you to everyone who came out to watch the band's first run-through Saturday night at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium. We were proud of the band for the work they did last weekend. They added a bunch of new material and kept things pretty well together during that first run-through.
We have many students who still need encouragement at home to practice their marching and concert band music to achieve proficiency. Please help encourage regular practice after school!
We will travel to San Jose to perform at Independence High School this week. For more information about the contest, please visit the WBA webpage.
Our daily schedule is posted on the calendar in CutTime.
We hope to have an awesome rooter section at each of our competitions. It is great to see lots of Bronco spirit in the stands. Often, our parents find a way to sit in the same area to provide a strong rooting section for the CN Band. We hope you will join us in traveling to see the growth and progress of our students and program over the next six weeks.
Etiquette at Competitions
Here are a few reminders when attending a marching band contest to allow you and everyone around you to enjoy the performances of ALL student musicians
Support every band - No matter who is on the field, cheer for their work and effort. Crowd response inspires students to perform better.
Watch the whole show - Pay attention to every element. Usually, several things are happening at once.
Show up early - Bands in smaller classes often perform fabulous shows. If you’re only there to hear your band, you could miss a lot of great performances.
Buy concessions - The prices are less than at a movie theater, yet concessions revenue often funds a large portion of the host band’s operating costs.
Pause your conversation during the show - Unlike sporting events, band competitions are an audio activity. You want to listen for the clarity as well as the content of each ensemble. Respect your neighbors’ right to enjoy the performances they paid to see and hear.
Turn off your phone - Talking on the phone during a performance is inconsiderate. Save the important phone call for the several minutes that pass while one band is leaving the field and the next band is setting up.
Do not enter or exit bleachers during a band’s performance - please stay put until the interval between performances. Blocking or disrupting the spectator's views or sounds of a performance is rude.
Be nice - Maybe you aren’t a fan of a certain uniform or band arrangement. Please remember someone sitting within earshot probably has a friend or family member on the field. Each student and family has invested considerable time and effort over the last few months. Please be a positive, contributing member of the audience and help appreciate every performance for the student's hard work and parent support.
HOW DO WE GET OUR SCORE?
Each ensemble will receive a score based on the total possible 100 points, computed to the nearest thousandth of a point. The score will be the total of the scores given by each of the eight adjudicators, less any penalty points.
The calculation of the total score for each caption is:
Points Average
30 Effect Music + Effect Visual -1 judge each caption - adjudicate from the press box
30 Ensemble Music + Individual Music - 1 judge each caption - ensemble music in the press box, individual music on the field
20 Ensemble Visual + Individual Visual - 1 judge each caption - ensemble visual in press box, individual visual on field
10 Percussion - 1 judge in press box
10 Color Guard - 1 judge in the press box
Total = 100
The percentage of the total score for each caption is:
Effect Music: 15%
Effect Visual: 15%
Ensemble Music: 15%
Individual Music: 15%
Ensemble Visual: 10%
Individual Visual: 10%
Percussion: 10%
Color Guard: 10%
How judges generate scores:
Each judge gives two scores that evaluate the “What” - students are doing & “How” - well the students are doing it.
Effect Music:
What - Coordination of audio to visual, pacing, variety of effects
How - The ability to communicate the concept with expression, emotion, and understanding of the music
Effect Visual:
What- Support the concept with costumes, flags, set designs, and colors. Coordination of visual-to-visual and audio-to-visual
How - Provide sustained mood over productions and over the total program. Communicate the concept with expression, emotion, and understanding
Ensemble Music:
Musicianship/Intonation: Quality of sound and tone production in a variety of ranges and dynamic levels.
Balance/Timing/Technique: Overall clarity, focus, uniformity, accuracy of rhythms, consistent technique, vertical alignment of the full ensemble
Individual Music:
Musicianship/Intonation: Quality and consistency of sound, quality, and consistency of tunic, melodic and harmonic intonation, breath support, and embouchure refinement
Accuracy/Technique: Clarity and uniformity of articulation, attacks, releases, accuracy of rhythms, control during environmental and simultaneous challenges
Ensemble Visual:
Composition: Quality of Design Elements in form, body, and equipment, placement of musical voices. Considering all components, whose design was best composed
Excellence: Achievement of Spacing, Line, and Timing. Training, including concentration, stamina, and recovery. Considering all responsibilities, whose excellence was best achieved.
Individual Visual:
Vocabulary/Content: Range and variety of responsibilities, consider environmental issues created by the layering of responsibilities, consider musical challenges such as tempo and metric variations. Reward the range/variety, including form, body, and equipment
Achievement: Reward achievement, considering “what” and “how well” they do
Percussion:
Content: Musical and technical vocabulary, range of content, variety, clarity, simultaneous responsibilities
Achievement: Articulation and attacks/releases, uniformity of technique, rhythmic accuracy, vertical and horizontal alignment.
Color Guard:
Composition: Which color guard better enhanced the full ensemble
Excellence: Which color guard better demonstrated training and excellence
COMPARING SCORES FROM ONE GROUP TO ANOTHER
WBA has a two-tiered scoring system that awards achievement based on the size and ability of each ensemble. Scores are comparable between 1, 2, 3A class groups & 4, 5A class groups. A score of 80 for a 3A band would be different than a score of 80 from a 4A band
When looking at spreads between each Caption score and the total score, a tenth of a point means the following:
1-2 tenths - groups are very comparable
3-4 tenths - there are minor differences between groups
5-9 tenths - there are definitive differences between groups
1 point or more - there are significant differences between groups.
STANDARD OF THE WEEK
No Excuses
Now that we have been doing band and are entering the second part of the season, ALL students should understand the expectations and procedures for being a member of the Clovis North Marching Band. This means there should be fewer questions and faster output.
We all have to make the push to championships to have NO EXCUSES when it comes to performing every note of every measure in our music as well as marching an awesome performance with feet in time, great body alignment, and an emotional dynamic performance.
GSTOB
We still have eleven volunteer slots needed to fill before next weekend’s competition at Clovis HS. We need these positions filled by this Friday to be able to earn all of our portion of the proceeds from this event. Please sign up on CutTime to help out.
2026 BAND CALENDAR
It’s time to order your 2026 Band Calendar. Please order RIGHT AWAY!!! There is a quick turnaround on this order. Orders will be due next Friday, October 24. All orders must be done online.
Here is a link to the order page. https://www.clovisnorthband.org/cnec-2026-calendar-sale
HOLIDAY PIE FUNDRAISER
It's happening now. Please order lots of pies for the holidays. They maintain well in the freezer for a year. Here is a link to the order form. https://www.clovisnorthband.org/the-pie-company-2025
Please feel free to print the flyer with QR code and take to your place of business or send it to friends and family to make their pie purchases.
Winter Concert… CALLING ALL MUSICIANS!
Were you a member of your high school or college band? If so, we would love for you to join us in a holiday tradition performing with the Clovis North Wind Ensemble on the last piece of our Winter Concert.
The concert is on Wednesday December 3. We will have a short rehearsal @ 6:30 in the band room.
Send an email to davidlesser@cusd.com with the part you would like to play.
Don’t be afraid. It is lots of fun. *you must provide your own wind instrument*
Don’t forget to join us for the last 30 minutes of our Tuesday night rehearsals.
We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events!
Have a great rest of your week!
David Lesser, Director of Bands
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