We're coming upon the final weekend of our marching season, and it is a DOOZY! Thanks to our awesome football team making the PLAYOFFS we have an additional football game to staff this Friday 10/29. We did our best to keep volunteer assignments light for this game, requiring as few parent helpers as realistically possible. If you're free this Friday 10/29, please sign up to help!

While the football game on Friday is important, filling volunteer roles for KBA on Saturday 10/30 is CRITICAL. We are still in need of 10+ people to help. KBA is a state-level competition, so we have to be at the top of our game. We can only be our best with all hands on deck! 

Sign up to help Friday (important) or Saturday (CRITICAL) here: www.bvwestband.com/volunteer-sign-up.html

The time is here - the final week of our marching band season! Our last opportunity to refine and perform our show and share all the hard work our students have put in since band camp in August! 

Playoff Football:  Our Jaguars have earned the right to host a 1st round playoff game this coming Friday, October 29. For us it provides an opportunity to perform our full show for our home audience. The schedule works the same as all other home games and can be found HERE.

KBA Championships: Our final performance of the season and our State Championships. The schedule can be found HERE as well as below. A couple of notes for parents:
1. We could still use some more volunteers to help make the day run smoothly. Please visit our Volunteer page for sign-ups.
2. Parking for the event will be in the lots to the West of Memorial Stadium or in the Parking Garage off of Mississippi Street (Pay to park.)
3. T-Shirts, videos, and more will be available for purchase.

KMEA Auditions: A reminder to complete the recording form so that we know how you are planning to complete your audition. Recordings are due to Mr. Love per instructions by November 2.

This Week:
Tuesday, October 26:
6-9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal

Thursday, October 28
6- 9 PM - FINAL EVENING BAND & GUARD REHEARSAL

Friday, October 29 - Playoff Football Game @ BVW. Click HERE for the schedule.

Saturday, October 30 - Kansas Bandmasters Association Championships - Lawrence - Click HERE for schedule. Final Marching Band performance of the 2021 season.

Next Week

Monday - Tuesday, November 1-2:
KMEA District Band Audition Recording Sessions - see email for additional information

Thursday, November 4
7:00 PM - Fall Jazz Ensemble Concert

Friday, November 5
Fall Recognition Assembly - Band will perform - wear SKEWED shirts

Saturday, November 6
ECKMEA Honor Band Audition judging - Directors only - results released the following week

Two Weeks

Tuesday, November 9
Veteran's Day Assembly - Wind Ensemble Performance (Concert Black)

Winter Guard Clinics / Auditions Begin 5-8 PM

Thursday, November 11
Winter Guard Clinics / Auditions, 5-8 PM​

Congratulations again to our Senior Band and Color Guard Members! Thank you for your dedication and leadership over the past four years! We have just two short weeks left in our marching season as we push to the KBA Championships! Thank you to all our band family on making a special night for our 8th grade guests as well! Having 170+Band and Color Guard members in the stands definitely made for a fun environment on Friday!

Congratulations to senior Horn player Ethan Guo who auditioned for and was named as an Alternate to the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) All-National Honor Band. Students must make their respective All-State Band to be eligible and then compete against hundreds of entries from all 50 states. This is a tremendous accomplishment and recognition for Ethan! West has been fortunate to have had a handful of students selected as alternates or members of one of the All-National Honor Ensembles through the years.

KMEA Auditions: Those participating in auditions have 2 options to record: A. Record with your private teacher or at home or B. Record at school. All participants were emailed a link to sign-up for recording times if choosing option B. Reminder that KMEA auditions are due on November 2 so we can upload them in time.

KBA Championships: Our state marching event takes place on October 30. The schedule can be found below. We will have some updates from KU hopefully by the end of this week for parents planning to come and watch. The KBA Championships began in 2015 and are always an exciting day showcasing the creativity and hard work of band students across the state! We cannot wait to share our fully finished show and the efforts our students have put in over the past couple months!

Playoff Football:  Our Jaguars still have the potential to host a first round play-off game at BV West on Friday, October 29. Whether or not we have a game on that night will not be determined until the week prior (when KSHSAA District Football Standings are finalized.) Schedule for that evening would be the same as our regular Friday night football games. State Football playoffs run from October 29 - November 27. If our Jaguars advance out of District Play, we will provide a pep band for any future games. Details will be shared as needed, but attendance will be flexible as we have many students involved in a range of activities in November and December. 


This Week:
Tuesday, October 19:
6-9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal

Thursday, October 21
6- 9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal 

Next Week

Tuesday, October 26:
6-9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal

Thursday, October 28
6- 9 PM - FINAL EVENING BAND & GUARD REHEARSAL

Friday, October 29 - POTENTIAL Playoff Football Game @ BVW

Saturday, October 30 - Kansas Bandmasters Association Championships - Lawrence - Click HERE for schedule. Final Marching Band performance of the 2021 season.

Two Weeks

Monday - Tuesday, November 1-2:
KMEA District Band Audition Recording Sessions - see email for additional information

Thursday, November 3
7:00 PM - Fall Jazz Ensemble Concert​

Thank you to everyone who ordered from Chipotle last Wednesday. We raised $251.60 for the band!

We have two additional fundraisers going on this month to help toward our annual goal of $13,000.

BUTTER BRAIDS- If you haven't signed up to sell Butter Braids, do so now at this link: store.myfundraisingplace.com/RegisterSeller/3fba024f-c71f-4f95-82b9-5be8e4636868 Once you're registered, you'll get a custom ordering link to share in email and social media. Many people love these products and they tend to sell themselves. Give it a try and raise $ for the band!

LOUISBURG CIDER MILL- BVW band and color guard will be selling concessions next Saturday 10/23 to raise money. We still need a handful of students and one adult to fill our shifts. Sign up here: m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10c0d4da9ae29a4fd0-bvwbands

Coming Soon:
BVW BAND MUGS- Very soon we will begin selling BVW Band mugs. A portion of the purchase will go to the band. Be on the lookout for an order link soon. These will make perfect holiday gifts!

GROCERY BAGGING- Save the dates February 12-13 for our HyVee grocery bagging fundraiser. This is Superbowl weekend; a very busy one for grocery stores! 

Other ways to help:
AMAZON SMILE - Choose Blue Valley West Band Booster association as your charity of choice on smile.amazon.com. A small percentage from every order you place will benefit the band.

CORPORATE MATCH PROGRAMS - Many companies offer charitable giving match programs this time of year. Please consider the band in your annual giving!

Congratulations Band and Guard on a very successful and busy two weeks! Saturday's performance at the Olathe Marching Invitational demonstrated continued progress! We placed 3rd in our class in Prelims and then 5th overall in Finals competition! A couple more weeks of work to prepare for our final competition at the Kansas Band Masters Association Championships on October 30!

KMEA Auditions: Last call for those interested in auditioning for the KMEA All-District / All-State Honor Bands. Make sure you have completed the online form in Canvas before Monday. See Mr. Love or Mr. Ramsey if you have questions. This is required for all Wind Ensemble members and open to students in Concert / Symphonic Bands. Details on audition recording will be shared later this week.

Sousa Auditions: Any 9th grade students who have been preparing the KMEA Sousa Audition Music - a reminder those recordings are due to Mr. Ramsey / Mr. Love this week. Recordings need to be emailed to us by Thursday, October 14 to ensure we can upload them properly.

8th Grade Night: On Thursday, 8th grade band members from PRMS and LKMS will be joining us for rehearsal, and then they will perform with us for the game on Friday. 

Senior Recognition: On Friday we will also be recognizing the hard work and contributions of our Senior Band and Guard members. As it is also senior recognition for football, we are waiting for a final determination if we will recognize our seniors during pre-game or halftime. Look for additional communication to senior families on Monday. 

Playoff Football: Our football team had a very successful game this past week (which made for a fun night for us in the stands!) Our Jaguars now have the potential to host a first round play-off game at BV West on Friday, October 29. Whether or not we have a game on that night will not be determined until the week prior (when KSHSAA District Football Standings are finalized.) This would provide one more opportunity to perform our show in our fantastic new stadium! 


This Week:
Tuesday, October 12:
6-9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal

Thursday, October 14
6- 9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal - 8th Grade Band Visit during rehearsal

Friday, October 15 - Home Football Game #4 - 8th Grade and Senior Night - Click HERE for schedule

Next Week

Tuesday, October 19:
6-9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal

Thursday, October 21
6- 9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal 

Two Weeks

Tuesday, October 26:
6-9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal

Thursday, October 28
6- 9 PM - FINAL EVENING BAND & GUARD REHEARSAL

Friday, October 29 - POTENTIAL Playoff Football Game @ BVW

Saturday, October 30 - Kansas Bandmasters Association Championships - Lawrence - Click HERE for schedule. 

Don't make dinner plans this Wednesday 10/13! Eat at the Chipotle at 151st and Antioch between 5pm - 9pm and a percentage of your purchase will be donated to the BVW Band. You can order online with promo code EDXB4LX or dine in and tell the cashier you're with the Blue Valley West band. Hope to see you there!

Our annual Butter Braids fundraiser starts Sunday 10/10! Selling is ridiculously easy. All you have to do is register to be a seller here: store.myfundraisingplace.com/RegisterSeller/3fba024f-c71f-4f95-82b9-5be8e4636868  You'll be given a link that you can share via email and social media.
Butter Braids make unique, handmade pastries and cookie dough. Orders can be taken until 10/29 and products will be delivered on 11/12 -- just in time for the holidays. These items are crowd pleasers and have a loyal following. With a couple posts and emails, you can raise a lot of $$ for the band!!
More information attached below, as well as a physical order form for anyone who would prefer it.

The quarterly Band Booster meeting for all band and guard parents is this Monday 10/11 from 7:00pm - 8:00pm in the PAC. Important information will be shared about our final competition and the fall/winter plans for the band program.

Our students are working hard and going through LOTS of water. In normal times, we would provide jugs for them to refill their bottles, but that is not currently allowable due to Covid-19 protocols. This means, we can only provide bottles of water to students when they're thirsty and it's very hard to keep up with the demand. If you can donate water (small or regular size bottles) to the band, we're always accepting it in the band room. Thank you!

 Congratulations to the Band and Guard on a successful performance at the Blue Springs Golden Regiment Invitational! We are very proud of how our students have stepped up and worked this past week and look forward to our next events this coming Thursday and Saturday! Thank you to the many fantastic parent volunteers who helped to make Saturday run so smoothly!

Schedule for 10/4 - 10/10: Reminder that due to a change in League Football schedules we have a game on Thursday night this week. As was communicated in September, we also moved our usual Thursday rehearsal to Wednesday in order to keep on track with our progress. Adjusting rehearsal schedules is not something we do frequently nor take lightly. Wednesday's rehearsal will be shorter. Please also note the game start time for Thursday is 30 minutes earlier (6:30) than normal.

KMEA Auditions: This week is our sign-up deadline for the KMEA All-District Honor Band Auditions. Students in Wind Ensemble are required to participate in the audition, and students in all other classes are welcome to participate as well. Details in Canvas for Wind Ensemble - all other interested students should check with Mr. Love.

Blue Springs Results: The Blue Springs festival featured a range of programs and a wide variety of shows. We hope you and your students enjoyed the experience! The band placed 3rd in their classification and 7th overall. Scores between us and 6th place were very close, and we received lots of terrific feedback to focus our efforts on in the next few rehearsals. Professional photos form our performance will be available in the coming days. Links will be sent as soon as we receive them.

This Week:
Tuesday, October 4:
6-9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal

Wednesday, October 6
6-8 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal - Change due to game schedule
KMEA Audition Sign-ups Due - See Mr. Love for details.

Thursday, October 7 - Home Football Game #3 - Click HERE for schedule. Note - the game begins 30 minutes earlier due to a League Rule regarding Football Games.

Saturday, October 9 - Olathe District Marching Festival
Click HERE for the Schedule

Next Week

Tuesday, October 12:
6-9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal

Thursday, October 14
6- 9 PM - Full Band & Color Guard Rehearsal - 8th Grade Band Visit during rehearsal

Friday, October 15 - Home Football Game #4 - 8th Grade and Senior Night - Click HERE for schedule

Looking Ahead

Saturday, October 30 - Kansas Bandmasters Association Championships - Lawrence - Click HERE for schedule. Note - schedule is still in draft form, however it is unlikely our general timeline will change much more than 15 - 30 minutes.