Welcome to the Butler Band page!

     I am looking forward to a great year with your son or daughter in instrument lessons and in the Butler Band! Please refer to my webpage throughout the year for such things as: Sign-Up Information, Lesson Schedules, Band Rehearsal Schedules, Audio Links to songs we're learning, Concert Information, and more. I welcome your emails with any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

     Mike Robinson, Band Director

msrobinson@cbsd.org

5TH GRADE PARENTS

In the first week of school I gave an assembly for all of the 5th grade students discussing and demonstrating the different band instruments. Central Bucks offers lessons on the following instruments: oboe, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, french horn, trombone, baritone, bells, and the snare drum. You can learn more about the different instruments and watch video examples here: Choose Your Instrument!

To play an instrument your son or daughter must return page 2 of the YELLOW PACKET to me or their classroom teacher asap. I use the yellow sign up forms to create the instrument lesson groups for the year. All students should have recieved the yellow packet from their classroom teacher, if they misplaced it the link is above.

NEED AN INSTRUMENT? To rent an instrument Central Bucks recommends using Zeswitz Music. Zeswitz provides quality instruments and service to all of the schools in the district. Zeswitz will also let you switch to a different instrument in the beginning of the year should your child not prefer the instrument they initially picked. You can rent an instrument with Zeswitz here: Zeswitz Music - Rent an Instrument. You can learn more about the pricing for the instrument rentals on page 3 of the YELLOW PACKET.  You do not have to lease an instrument from Zeswitz music, you may use another music store of your choice. If you are looking into buying an instrument online please send me a link of what you are looking at first. I can let you know if it looks good or if I think it could have issues. Many online instruments are of an inferior quality and tend to need repairs in a relatively short period of time: msrobinson@cbsd.org. 

NEED A LESSON BOOK? If you are renting an instrument through Zeswitz Music you will automatically receive the correct lesson book. If you are not renting from Zeswitz please be sure to order the appropriate lesson book for your child. We use the book, Essential Elements for Band, Book 1. Be sure to buy the correct book for your child's instrument. Here is an example of what the book looks like for the clarinet: Essential Elements for Band, Clarinet, Book 1. 

 6TH GRADE PARENTS

I am thrilled that your son or daughter will be continuing to learn an instrument and that they will be a member of the Butler band once again in 6th grade! This year your child will be a part of the winter concert as well as the spring concert. I have met with most of the band students from last year at a donut social in the morning to catch up and say hello, see how summer went, and to provide information, and answer questions. If you returned an instrument at the end of last year and need to re-rent from Zeswitz Music, you may do so online here: Zeswitz Music. To read more about Zeswitz's instrument pricing see page 3 of this informational packet: YELLOW PACKET. If your child would like to try a different instrument this year he or she may do so, just let me know: msrobinson@cbsd.org.

Weekly lessons will be beginning soon! I will be distributing lesson rotation schedules to students in classrooms asap.