Important Information Regarding Citrus Sales ***Update***

Due to the fact that students will not be in school on Nov. 8th, I have amended the deadline for fruit orders.  See below!!

The Citrus sale is now in full swing both online and in the hands of the student sellers. The deadline for all orders is THURSDAY November 7th. We will be placing our overall order to Florida Indian River Groves at that time. If we do not have the order forms and payment by that date, your sales will not be added to our order and you will have some very disappointed citrus lovers.

Please be sure you have completed the order forms and have collected payment at the time of the order.
You are responsible for turning in the orders AND the payments by November 7th. If you do not bring in the payments, the order will not be placed.

Please see Mr. Trombley or Mrs. Renner if you have any questions.

Offline Citrus Sales Begin On Monday!

On Monday the 28th, students will begin to receive order forms for Citrus. The online sales have been going strong for the past couple of weeks. A number of students have been actively making sales online and are putting quite a dent in the cost of their trip. Please take advantage of this wonderful fundraising opportunity. Please see myself or Mrs. Renner for order forms and price lists.

Central District Audition Time 1PM

GHS student auditions for Central Districts are scheduled for 1pm. on Saturday Nov. 16th.
Students scheduled to audition will meet at the registration area at 12:30pm.
Please see Mr. Trombley or Mrs. Renner for more details.

Central District Volunteer Sign-up Form Now Up!

For those of you eager to sign-up as a volunteer for Central Districts, the form is now available.
You can find the link HERE.
The link can also be found in the important links section on the right hand side of the page.

Thank You!

Halloween Costume Concert at GHS

On Wednesday October 30^th, the GHS music program will be presenting a Halloween Costume Concert. There will be music and costumes and special treats for all the youngsters who come to the concert. The audience is invited to come in their costumes for this fun and none too spooky evening. The bands and choruses at the high school will provide a showcase of music. GHS Music Boosters will be hosting a bake sale, so you can stock up on some goodies. We look forward to seeing you at this family friendly event. Tickets are $2 per person and the concert begins at 7pm in the GHS auditorium.

Online Citrus Sales Available Now!

You may have noticed the banner above the blog posts and the one embedded in this post. This portal will allow you to begin ordering citrus for your music student immediately!
We will begin the 1:1 sales on the 28th of October but the website is up and running and can accept orders from friends and relatives across the country.

When ordering online, you have two options:

1. Have your fruit shipped to GHS
2. Have your fruit shipped to your door.

Most orders will come via option 1. Once the fruit is delivered to the school, families will collect the order and distribute it themselves to friends and relatives. This option gives the maximum profit for the students as it cuts down on additional shipping and handling costs.

For friends and relatives who want to lend support from far off lands, then option 2 will ship the fruit directly to their door with additional shipping and handling costs.



The fruit is expected to be delivered during the first 2 weeks of December. As we get closer to the delivery window we will receive more specific delivery information.

More info to come as we gear up for the big sale!

One for the Percussionists!

If you are a percussionist, then you have some familiarity with the name Vic Firth. His company has been the leader in making stick and mallets for percussionists for decades. His company also has one of the best educational websites for musicians that I have ever come across.

Percussionists, we are going to be focusing in on the Essential Rudiments as outlined by the Percussive Arts Society. Over the years, the number of rudiments have grown to the current list of 40. Rudiments are to percussionists what scales are to wind players. They are the building blocks of technique. The Vic Firth site has a tremendous rudiment section that includes video of the rudiments being played, play-along tracks at ever increasing tempos, as well as applications of the rudiments in exercises. I encourage you to check out this site and enjoy spending time with these technique builders.

Essential Rudiments

Gold Collection Night This Thursday!

Our Gold Collection Fundraiser will be this Thursday night Oct. 17th from 6-8pm in the Chorus Room.

Please review the packet that was distributed at our meeting and to the students. Keep in mind that only parents will be able to turn in packets with gold.

Please bring your driver's license for identification!

Virginia Beach Deposit and Permission slip due by Oct 15th!

Please be reminded that the $100 Deposit and permission slip are due by Tuesday Oct. 15th. Students planning to attend the Virginia Beach trip can turn in their deposit and permission forms to either Mr. Trombley or Mrs. Renner.

Thank You!

Cool Student Project

Senior Peter Nolin has been involved with an independent study related to audio recording this year. I asked him to share one of the projects he has been working on. With this project Peter re-imagined a saxophone quartet piece for acoustic guitar. The piece, "The Diamond State Rag" was written for soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone. Peter transposed all of the parts and recorded each part through the iPad Garageband app. The results are pretty impressive. Les Paul would have been very proud.

The Diamond State Rag for acoustic guitar- performed by Peter Nolin

A Friday Visit to the Middle School

I had the great pleasure of conducting the 7th grade band today over at the middle school. Approximately 20 members of the high school band came along to work with and play along side the 7th graders. All the students were (no surprise) fantastic. I am always grateful for the opportunity to make music and to hear these young people make music together today was just awesome. Thank you to Mr. Singley for inviting us to work with the students.

Thank you for 10,000 views!

In just under 9 months graftonmusic has broken the 10,000 view plateau. I hope you continue to find the site informative, entertaining, and absolutely essential to your daily life.
Let's celebrate with a video of GHS Pep playing Nick's arrangement of "Lose Yourself" by Eminem.

A New Look at 1:1 technology

So what does a 70 piece iPad band look like when the lights are dimmed? See for yourself...