CN Band Newsletter - 07.24.2025

Clovis North Band
Jul 23, 2025
8 min read

Band camp is just a week and a half away!

Thanks to everyone who has been attending summer workshops, practicing on your own, and completing a class in summer school to allow band to stay on your schedule.

Below you will find a tremendous amount of information paramount to ensuring we all start the year off on the right, (left) 😉 foot! – (That’s a little bit of marching band humor).

CUTTIME

We are now on our second year of using Cuttime. At the time of this message going out about t98% of the fall calendar has been posted on Cuttime.

BAND REGISTRATION FORMS

Some of the forms needed to complete are located in the document section of Cuttime. These are completed by the digital signature of a student and a guardian. Other forms will need to be completed on Permission Click.

Cuttime forms forms must be completed by Monday Aug 4, 2025.

Varsity Letter Application Acknowledgment
25-26 CN Band Handbook
CUSD Field Trip Code of Conduct
Concert Etiquette
Student Permission Slip for off campus events

Pledge Form:

The 25-26 CN Band& Color Guard Pledge Form will be sent out during the first week of school.

PARENT VOLUNTEER INFORMATION/SCREENING

The Clovis North Band is unable to function without the help of many parent volunteers. To volunteer you must complete online verification.

Please click the link or copy the link and complete the online volunteer form and procedures:

https://apps.raptortech.com/Apply/MjIyNTplbi1VUw==

UNIFORM CHECK OUT: MONDAY AUGUST 4

Monday, August 4 kicks off our new season and is our uniform check-out day. We strongly encourage a parent to accompany their student to this day. Especially if you and your student are new members of the band and color guard. On this day your student should arrive during their block of time and come with their band camp forms completed, and payment if they need to order shoes or gloves. Payments may be accepted by check or credit card.

Uniform Fitting VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

If you can help for a while Monday there is a need for both student and adult help. You can volunteer on CUTTIME. We need help in a variety of areas: fitting students, ironing pants, checking out hats, sizing for shoes, collecting registration forms, etc. Thank you for your help. Student volunteers will need to be added by parents at this time. Parents will need to click the submit button on their Cuttime account to act as a placeholder for students.

Uniform Check Out Schedule:

12th grade and Drumline - 9:00am - 10:30am

11th grade – 10:30am - 12:00pm

10th grade – 12:00pm - 2:00pm

9th grade – 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Front ensemble please arrive at your grade level time.

PLEASE OBSERVE TIME SCHEDULE

(This is to allow smoother fitting for ALL students and families)

WHAT TO WEAR FOR UNIFORM FITTING

Please arrive at school in the attire you will need to wear under the band uniform. This includes black compression wear with short or long sleeves, black gym shorts, or compression wear, black calf-length or higher socks, and black band shoes. (If you do not have band shoes or need new ones we have samples you can use to try on the uniform).

If you have long hair please make sure to have it up to try on your shako. If you are new and not sure how to have your hair up, we can help. Please bring some rubber bands or hair pins.

Here are some links to purchase compression wear. If you choose not to purchase from Amazon, please make sure all compression wear is ALL BLACK

Mens Top Long Sleeve

https://a.co/d/6BxSo8C

Men's Top Short Sleeve

https://tinyurl.com/yeyskjxu

Mens Bottoms

https://a.co/d/ffRZc3m

Female Tops Long Sleeve

https://a.co/d/fXPIPrk

Female Tops Short Sleeve

https://tinyurl.com/3pvpumt3

Female Bottoms

https://a.co/d/1zOzzb1

Marching Shoes & Gloves

ALL 9th grade wind and percussion students will need to order a pair of marching shoes. These shoes are specific to the marching activity and will be ordered in mass by the band. Brass and Woodwinds will need to purchase a pair of gloves on the day of uniform checkout. Shoes are $60.00 and gloves are $25.00.

2025 Show Shirt

Each member will receive (1) 2024 CN Band show shirt. This shirt will be worn for multiple occasions and on SPIRIT Fridays in the fall semester. It will be worn during specific events, school rallies, pep band performances, some fundraiser performances, etc.

COLOR GUARD

Color Guard warm-ups, shoes, undergarments, and additional equipment will be discussed and explained either during band camp or once school starts. There will be additional costs for those materials.

BAND CAMP

Tuesday, August 5 first day of band camp

We will all begin in the band room at 10 am. Please don’t be late. The band camp schedule will be updated on CUTTIME sometime this week.

Here are some general band camp reminders for ALL:

· Make sure you begin to stay well hydrated now. Drinking your weight in ounces of water per day is a good start at staying hydrated in what is sure to be a hot band camp.

· Eat regularly. Be smart about food choices. Work to be healthy.

· Have a good pair of athletic-style tennis shoes for rehearsal. We will be physically active. If you can bend your shoes it is probably not the right type of shoe. We suggest: Asics Nike, Addidas, Brooks, New Balance etc.

· Bring lots of water & sunscreen to band camp.

· Have a hat to wear outside.

· Shorts and a light-colored T-shirt is strongly recommended.

· Please make sure your instrument is in good working order with plenty of reeds for woodwinds, valve oil, and other materials needed for brass instruments.

· Make sure to have a flip folder/lyre/and black binder with plastic sheet protectors for your music.

Link to order flip folder (If you wish to not order on Amazon, it should be something similar to this)

https://www.amazon.com/Grover-Trophy-Window-Folio-Folder-Marching/dp/B01DALGSVA/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Flip+Folder&qid=1626730295&sr=8-2

Link to lyre option to purchase. You will want to check with your instrument to see how to attach the lyre for what to purchase.

https://www.wwbw.com/Lyres-Flip-Folders.wwbw

Please pay attention to the schedule for the second week of band camp. It is different each day. You can also find a more detailed description of the band camp in the forms section of CHARMS.

Join Us for Family Night in the CN Large Gym on Thursday, August 14, @ 6:00pm

Please join us for our first official performance of the school year. We will also have a pot luck. Please check the events page to see how you can help sign up to volunteer, as well as find out what you can bring!

Performance for Teacher and Staff Return to School – Monday, August 11

On Monday, August 11 the band will have their first performance welcoming teachers and staff back to school.

Dress for this event will be either the 2025 – CN Band Show Shirt (if ready) or any CN or GR t-shirt, shorts in the CUSD dress code, and tennis shoes.

We will be performing the fight song and pep tunes for football games. All music will need to be in the flip folder.

CONCERT BAND AUDITIONS – NEW FORMAT

Auditions for concert bands will take place during the first week of band camp. Please look at the event calendar to see what day your section will be auditioning.

All wind and percussion students MUST audition for chair placement in one of our concert bands.

· Students will audition during their slotted day. We will begin with the first section during the first block of the day and the second section after lunch. Those students will go to the band room and warm up then enter office one at a time to perform their audition. Once they have finished their audition they will return to normal band camp participation.

· Students will be required to perform the excerpts for the 2026 CBDA All-State Honor Band. Students were given this music before the end of the 2024-25 school year.

· There is no grade associated with this audition. It is strictly for placement in Wind Ensemble or Concert Band for the school year.

· Results will be posted sometime before the beginning of school on Monday, Aug 18.

· Our first rehearsal for the wind ensemble and concert band will be Tuesday, Aug. 29.

· If you do not audition for concert band chair placement, you will be placed last chair in the concert band.

MANDATORY PARENT MEETING

TUESDAY AUGUST 5, 5:30 PM BAND ROOM

This is a general meeting and overview for the entire school year where we would like to answer as many questions as possible as well as give out as much information as we have, to help our families navigate through the school year. One parent or guardian for each member family is required to attend.

IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGY FOR CN BAND AND COLOR GUARD MEMBERS AND PARENTS

REMIND TEXTING APP

Other than CUTTIME we use the remind group text app for official up-to-date notifications, schedules, changes, and info for the band and color guard. If you have not added yourself to the appropriate CN Marching Band Remind text group, I urge you to do it immediately. This is the main way I will communicate with the ensemble during the fall.

Please join the following appropriate group...

Woodwind students and parents text: @cnmarww to 81010 to join this group.

Brass students and parents text: @cnmarbrass to 81010 to join this group.

Percussion students and parents text: @cnmarper to 1010 to join this group.

Color guard students and parents text: @cngua to 81010 to join this group.

GOOGLE CLASSROOM

CN MARCHING BAND GOOGLE CLASSROOM JOIN CODE: 25vewrz

We will be posting ALL music and drill to the CN Marching Band Google Classroom. We will NOT be handing out any printed music at band camp. ALL music will be posted before band camp. There will be a roster with part assignments, so you know what to print. You will need to print music before arriving at band camp.

Students will receive 1 copy of the drill. If it is misplaced or lost, students will need to reprint it on their own

Music for flip folder: Fight Song, Alma Mater, National Anthem, all football pep tunes.

Music for the binder: All Warm-ups, technique exercises, fundamentals, and 2024 “Nexxus” show music, Nutcracker Parade March.

MUSIC CHECK OFF’S

All woodwind, brass, and percussion students will be required to check off the proficiency of their music parts for, Sculpt, CN Fight Song, and National Anthem. These due dates will be posted on Cuttime. These will be assessment grades. More direction will be given shortly on how these assessments will take place. They will be a combination of recorded individual performances submitted to Google Classroom and individual performances for Mr. Lesser, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Gabrielson, and Shawn Glyde. They will be in a scaffolded approach where we will begin the year with shorter excerpts and are designed to reward students for proficiency and growth throughout the semester.