Dear parents, students, and community members:

It has been said a million times this year, but this year has been like no other and the challenges we have faced and overcame will have a lasting impact on our program for years to come. This year, we have spent time reflecting on our program. Many questions were considered, but most importantly what do we need to adapt to not only survive, but thrive in the current conditions. Students identified areas of improvement and addressed adaptations that would have to take place, but the overwhelming response was that of gratitude. While it is easy to focus on the negative, the Thanksgiving season serves as a strong reminder that we have much to be thankful for in our music program.

As our program continues to develop and additional opportunities are provided to our students, we thank those that make it possible!

Our DHS Band Leadership
Shout out to our De Soto Bands Leadership team who have provided input, guidance, and support throughout this crazy Fall. I am constantly impressed by your own advocacy of the Fine Arts, yourselves, and your counterparts. Our student leaders serve as the backbone of our program and have been incredibly helpful in providing a consistent band experience to all incoming band members. From aiding instruction of our unwritten rules and customs, to helping tutor other members in music theory, our De Soto Bands Leadership team members have been a constant reminder of why I chose this profession.

Special recognition of our DHS Drum Majors, James Innes and Olivia Hartwell, for their incredible leadership this year. James and Olivia serve as President and Vice President respectively of our Tri-M Music Honor Society and editors of the De Soto Bands Directory. The De Soto Bands Directory is our weekly newsletter sent out to all DHS band members and interested community members. The De Soto Dragon Pride has had some of the finest student leaders and drum majors in the area, and this year's drum majors are no exception.

Composition Contest Supporters and Performers
This year with the COVID spring closure, our Spring Band Concert had to be canceled. I am thankful for each of the musicians from across the country who volunteered their time to make our winning composition performance a reality. Being able to offer our students the opportunity to learn to write music is an incredible experience in itself, but allowing them to get feedback from professional composers and then HEAR their piece takes it to a whole new level. A sincere thank you to all of the composers from across the country that volunteer some time to give our student composers feedback. It has always been my goal to provide students opportunities that were not afforded to me, and thanks in part to these professionals I am able to augment my music theory lessons to better serve our high achieving students!

Our Board of Education
A sincere thanks are extended to our De Soto Board of Education. We continue to enjoy an ongoing open dialogue focusing on the role of music as part of a complete curriculum offering. As we continue to develop the instrumental music program at De Soto, I am thankful to our Board of Education members for their continued dialogue and support of the De Soto Bands.

Community support of the arts remains strong!
From a community vantage point, we must be thankful for local leaders who are solid supporters of music in our schools; they realize music education offers heightened performance in all aspects of life and they are outspoken advocates of music education. Evidenced by the many local businesses that donate to fund scholarships, equipment, and music purchases and the passage of the previous bond issue to build a wonderful performing arts center.

Thanks to the consistent support of our fundraising efforts, we have been able to continue to offer our students collaborative music-making experiences, whether they are on campus or distance learning. This month the DHS Bands and Choirs were able to purchase Soundtrap for our DHS music students thanks to our fundraising efforts! Soundtrap is the first cloud-based audio recording platform to work across all operating systems, enabling users to co-create music anywhere in the world on any device. This digital audio workstation (DAW) affords us the opportunity to provide our students with instruction on a variety of topics from audio production and mastering to live looping and mastering. Community members, organizations, and businesses are sponsoring our efforts to provide incredible opportunities for our students! Thank you to ALL that provide services, aid, and financial support so that we can continue to provide for our program.

Music as a Core Subject
From a national perspective, we must be thankful that the arts are written into federal law as part of the CORE curriculum for every school in the Every Student Succeeds Act. Students have a right to a well-rounded education that now includes MUSIC as a core class.

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Personally, I want to give a heartfelt THANK YOU, to all of the parents and families that have shown support this year! Your keen interest, loyal support, and active participation are the essential elements of our successful past, our exciting present, and our promising future. Each year, dozens of parents reach out asking how they can best support our efforts with the De Soto Bands, and each year dozens of families provide much-needed support. From physical labor to working behind the scenes to help provide for a kid in need, our parents are consistently one of a kind!

Collectively, we must extend thanks to the young men and women who spend countless hours in the learning, rehearsing, and performing of music. It is a privilege and an honor to work with the finest students here at De Soto. These music makers of today are preparing to be the leaders of tomorrow. The great thing about teaching band is that in any of my band classes, I have such an incredible mix of students from varied backgrounds and experiences. I have students that are top of their class sitting next to students that struggle in every class. Students from different backgrounds all come together for an hour to make music. We want students to continue to find their spot, take a seat, and enjoy music at De Soto. More importantly, we want our students who have benefited from our program to go out into the world with a music background. These students will be our greatest advocates as they enter their adult lives with an appreciation of the arts.

Yes, music does make a difference, and we are thankful for each and every student that has chosen to join their fellow musicians as part of our musical family. The disciplines learned in music classes reinforce a standard of excellence that is required for success in all of life. As we approach the halfway point of our academic year, I extend a sincere vote of thanks to everyone who has made it possible for our music program to thrive and prosper. Your investment of time, effort, and energy is the key to our success.

With gratitude,

Darrell Boyer, Ed. S.
Director of Bands
De Soto Schools #73

Tri-M Chapter 8124 Advisor
East Central District #7 Webmaster
Soundtrap Certified Expert

Facebook: /desotobands
Twitter: @DeSotoBands
www.desotobands.org

Looking for a way to support the bands?

We are looking for some crafty supporters to sew some specialized masks for band. For the safety of our students, staff, and community we are requiring that all band members wear masks during band camp when not playing their instruments.  These masks would allow students to wear their masks while playing, limiting the amount of times they need to adjust their mask. 

​If you are able and willing to help please comment below or contact Mr. Boyer.  The full plans are below.

An update for the Dragon Pride Marching Band.

Dragon Pride 2020

First, thank you to all of the Band family for their patience during this time. In a typical year the band calendar would have went out, CHARMS groups would have been reorganized, the summer mailer and student equipment purchases would be well under way. With school closing down before auditions were complete, setting the bands this year became more difficult. I hope the information below will provide you with answers to many of the questions that you have. Feel free to email any additional questions as they come up.

This year the Dragon Pride Marching Band will be changing course. This year, instead of working on one show for the Fall season, the DPMB will be learning and performing multiple shows for Fall semester home shows. At this time, multiple band competitions are cancelling and a competitive season is uncertain.

ALL students in the DPMB will need to attend both weeks of band camp this year as we will be passing out 10-20 pieces of music for the Fall and learning choreography for our first shows. The first week of camp (July 27-31) will run from 8-noon and the second week (August 3-7) will run from 2-9pm.


What will students need?
A signed D73 waiver (must be signed prior to participating in summer activities)
A personal water jug
A flip folder and lyre (additional pages available in band office)
A PPE for indoor visual work (To be worn while indoors, when not playing instruments)

If your child is NOT in CHARMS or the De Soto Bands 2020 Google Classroom, please email Mr. Boyer ASAP (boyer.darrell@desoto.k12.mo.us) for access. ​

FOUNTAIN CITY MUSIC COMPETITION

The 3rd Annual Fountain City Music Competition wrapped up April 22nd with a world premiere virtual performance of De Soto High School Senior Caleb Smith's piece entitled Inspirations.

This is a music composition contest organized by Director of Bands, Darrell Boyer, that allows De Soto music students to practice their compositional skills and receive feedback from a national panel of professional composers.  The panel of judges listen to student submissions and then rank each submission after providing feedback.  The winner of this competition works with Mr. Boyer, to edit, refine, and arrange their composition to fit the De Soto High School Symphonic Band.  Throughout the Spring semester the Symphonic Band will read through the piece and assist making recommendations to the student composer.  The revision process continues and the piece is finally printed and distributed to the band for the "World Premiere" performance at the DHS Spring Band Concert.  

"This year, due to the current situation, things have not gone as they have in the past.  Caleb had learned that his piece was selected as the winning composition in the middle of February and we had just got ready for the first round of reading.  Unfortunately, Caleb was unable to hear his piece performed before school let out."

Due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, all spring band events were cancelled.  
"Our students, like many around the country have missed out on so many special moments that come with the spring semester in high school.  From performing with guest artists to taking our spring band trip, I felt like our students had missed too much."

That's when Mr. Boyer decided to take action.  He reached out on social media to solicit help and organized over 50 musicians from around the country to record parts of the winning composition.  After receiving audio and video recordings from the musicians he then mixed the audio and created a "Virtual Band" so that Caleb would be able to hear his piece.  "Inspirations" by C. Smith, which has been uploaded to YouTube, had its world premiere April 22nd at 7pm.  

"While nothing compares with making music together in person, this provided a shared experience for our community to gather and listen to Caleb's piece.  We had a watch party on YouTube and invited friends, family, and our community take part."

Caleb will be attending Southwest Baptist University to study music.  Past winners of the Fountain City Composition Contest include Gavin Luther (2018) and Kylie Mitchell (2019).  

We hope that you will take time to celebrate the arts with us in the month of March.  The De Soto Bands and the Fine Arts Department are working on numerous artistic events that are open to the community.  From the beginnning of the month to the end, there are a plethora of events that will be taking place on or near campus.  From the Spring Musical to multiple music festivals and performances, there is certain to be a performance for everyone to enjoy.  Please read on for a highlight of some of our upcoming events.  For a complete listing of all March into the Arts events that are occurring, click here.

The De Soto Bands in association with Tri-M Chapter #8124 invite you to the 3rd Annual Fountain City Jazz Fest with headliner Funky Butt Brass Band! Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday area jazz bands will perform on stage. They will receive one on one clinics with some of the finest jazz musicians and educators. During lunch two clinics will be provided for students and directors, in order to assist them in growing the jazz skill set and program.

Come see the DHS Jazz Ensemble and Funky Butt Brass Band at our concert finale March 21st, 2020 at 7pm. Ticket prices for this concert will be $7 for adults and $5 for students. An exciting night of jazz and funk is sure to ensue, with some killer solos and licks. You won’t wanna miss this amazing concert!

In partnership with the HWY 67 Band Consortium, the DHS and Farmington HS Symphonic Bands will be presenting a combined concert on March 26th in the DHS Auditorium. The concert will begin at 6pm, and is free and open to the public. ​

This concert provides our students the opportunity to work with another clinician, share their progress with the community, and meet other area band students that are also preparing for state music assessment and the Missouri Music Symposium.

The DHS Fine Arts Department invites you to come see all of the arts in one night! The DHS Fine Arts Night brings together Art, Band, Choir, and Drama students performing for the community in order to showcase the amazing talent in our schools. The students in our district have grown immensely throughout the year by creating, improvising, and challenging themselves in all area of the arts. This night is a collection of all of their hard work.

There will be live music provided by band and choir members, performances by members of the Drama classes, and live art demos in the lobby of the auditorium. Come see the incredible achievements of the DHS Fine Arts students!

On March 28th, the DHS Tri-M Chapter #8124 will host the De Soto MS Band Festival. This event brings music students from across the region to perform for expert clinicians and receive feedback.

Winter Concert Dessert Auction
This Holiday tradition has been a perennial favorite of mine. The De Soto High School Band and Choir students work incredibly hard to produce several high level performances during the holidays. From tree lightings and caroling to parades and concerts our students and directors work hard to put a quality product together for the community and our school district. Thank you to the families that came and stayed for the afternoon to support all of our musicians and thank you for the help putting equipment away after the concert.

The overwhelming support of the community for the De Soto HS Music Department is moving to me as an educator. The funds raised from this event and our other fundraisers will go to continue our efforts of providing students with guest clinicians, equipment, and additional support.

Jefferson College Community Jazz Project
Thursday night, we had multiple events going on involving the De Soto Bands. We had our DHS Color Guard sponsoring our Mini Guard performance, the DJHS Winter Band Concert, and the DHS Jazz Ensemble participating in the Jefferson College Community Jazz Project.

At the Jefferson College Community Jazz Project last night, the DHS Jazz Ensemble lit the room on fire. This group demonstrated independence and mastery as the student musicians held together and put on an incredible show. I was able to stand to the side and let our musicians shine.

An incredibly gratifying moment occurred last night. At the Jefferson College Community Jazz Festival, Dr. Joel Vanderheyden led the JeffCo Jazz Band to end the concert. Before their last piece Dr. Vanderheyden spent time talking about one of his students. He said he had watched this student throughout his high school career and how developed as a young musician performing in an area high school. Dr. Vanderheyden mentioned how this talented young man had developed a passion for creating music and that he was sad to see him moving on from JeffCo, but happy to see that he will be continuing his studies pursuing a music composition degree. This student is De Soto alumni Gavin Luther, winner of the inaugural Fountain City Composition Competition. The audience recognized Gavin with thunderous applause. The Jefferson College Jazz Band finished the concert with a piece featuring an impressive drum solo by Gavin. It was a wonderful moment and feeling as an educator.

Tonight is the All-District Jazz performance. If you are available come see our students performing in the East Central JH Jazz and both of the East Central HS Jazz Bands tomorrow December 14th, 2019 at 6:30pm in the Jefferson College theater.