End-of-year Concerts: June 7 & 9

The last chance to see our ravens play in-house.

Orchestra & Guitar Concert: Tuesday June 7, 2022 @ 7pm
Band Concert : Thursday June 9, 2022 @ 7pm

Everyone is welcome to attend the live performances and masking is optional. Bahn mi sandwiches ($8), baked goods ($1), and drinks ($1) will be sold at the concert (CASH ONLY) so come early and plan to have dinner at the concert! Food will be available starting at 6:30pm until food is gone.

We will only be live-streaming the Band Concert. See hot link above.

For musicians, performance attire expectations are listed in the Band Handbook (p13) and Orchestra/Guitar Handbook (p10). Students should wear all black.

Storm Game Halftime Show: June 5

The RESMS marching band was invited to perform at the WNBA Storm game vs. Connecticut Sun on June 5 at the Climate Pledge Arena, which was a huge honor. After hours of rehearsals, the band brought a polished performance to an excited audience, and gave a lively debut of their new single “SOAR”, with Marlon Wood rapping along side the band. The show’s energy-filled MC was Curtis Akeem.

Check out the official footage of this halftime show on our youtube channel. If you are on social media, you can also see more content from Marlon Wood (@brucewaynedk83) and Curtis Akeem (@curtis.akeem) on their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter profiles.

SOAR — A powerful song with a powerful message

It is with great pride and excitement that we announce the release of the Robert Eagle Staff Marching Band’s first single, entitled “SOAR”, in collaboration with Tampa-based Billboard-charting rapper Marlon Wood aka Bruce Wayne/Dark Knight. It is available now on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music!

SOAR, influenced by the school’s motto of Scholars who show Ownership, Academic focus, and Respect and Responsibility, not only serves as a song for the school’s students and community, but also as a general “spirit/fight song” to help uplift listeners through trials and tribulations. It is an anthem centered around the themes of hope, motivation, pride, and perseverance. SOAR is a means to encourage us all to strive for the highest: to keep our chins up when the going gets tough, to be in each other’s corner when we are in need, and to contribute to a more beautiful and loving world.

The song features the talents of Mr. Wood, The Marching Ravens, New York-based singer Alexandra Fresquez, and our very own RESMS instructional assistant Mr. Philip Durant.

Our collaborator, Mr. Marlon Wood is a multi-faceted educator, musician, and former professional athlete. By day, he's a learning specialist at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida and by night, a rising rap star in the music world. His powerful and uplifting hip-hop video Wavve On Em eclipsed a million views— another clean and positive song meant to inspire students and fans. As a former football player for the University Of Washington, he has ties to this community and he has graciously arranged for all royalties from this song to be donated back to the Eagle Staff Band program. Thank you Mr. Wood!

UW Side by Side Concert: May 25

In conjunction with the University of Washington, our Wind Ensemble has been selected to perform a side-by-side concert with the UW Concert Band as a part of their annual school run-out series. This is the 2nd time that the RESMS Wind Ensemble has been selected for this run-out series in 5 years. This will be a great opportunity for our students to see what band and music can look like after their middle school, and for our students to hear the experience of the band members who have continued playing their instruments despite not being music majors at the UW.

Location: Robert Eagle Staff Middle School
Time: 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm)

Go Dawgs! and Go Ravens!

Syttende Mai (17th of May) Parade

The RESMS Band took to the streets of Ballard this year in the annual Syttende Mai parade, holding their own against many other high school marching bands! This Norwegian festival celebrates constitution day which brought out big crowds to cheer on our musicians and dancers. All parades and outdoor performances this season are live-streamed here where you can also view the recordings.

Succesful Tutta Bella Fundraiser: May 1-5

A HUGE thank you to Tutta Bella for donating almost $500 to our music program. Tutta Bella donated 20% of sales (both online and in-person dining) for five days, from Sunday, May 1st through Thursday, May 5th, 2022.

We appreciate the generosity of Tutta Bella, and to all of you who bought tasty pizza, pasta and salad to support this program.

“Build for the Future”: Direct Ask Fundraiser a success!!!

March 28-April 8, 2022

The March concerts kicked off our Build for the Future campaign - a lightning quick fundraising drive with a goal of $14,000, which WE ACHIEVIED, thanks to all of you! Your donations will support specialized coaching for students, instrument purchases and repairs, student scholarships, teacher professional development, and more. The district only provides funds for a basic music program. Without this booster group, and the efforts of our members, our students would be limited and would not have the same field trips, livestream performances, collaborators, coaches, and quality instruments they do today. This group makes sure that there are no financial barriers for students, and that everyone has the opportunity to participate in an exceptional music program.

Did you know that…

$15 buys one method book for the classroom
$60 buys sheet music and rights for 1 song.
$150 buy amplifier cables for a higher quality audio experience
$400 buys microphone stands
$550 buys a snare drum
$1000 buys a stereo pair of microphones

The suggested donation is $50 per student, but ALL donations make an impact. Together we can ensure our teachers have the resources they need to continue to provide musical opportunities for every student.

How else can you support the music program?

Volunteer! This booster group, FORESMA, raises money throughout the year and always needs volunteers. Among other jobs, we need two FORESMA presidents (1 representing band and 1 representing orchestra) as well as a fundraising chair for next year. Please volunteer here. Many hands make light work!

Spring Concerts

Our students have been practicing diligently and are excited for their March live performances!

Orchestra & Guitar Concert: Tuesday March 29, 2022 @ 7pm
Band Concert “A Night at the Movies”: Thursday March 31, 2022 @ 7pm

Everyone is welcome to attend the live performances. Students are no longer limited in the number of audience members they can bring, and the auditorium will be seated to full capacity. This is a recent change as of 3/21/2022 when SPS removed masking and vaccination requirements for all performing arts performances. Therefore for these events, masking is optional.

We will still live-stream these events. Anyone unable to physically attend, who wants to support our musicians can still give standing ovations remotely in their living rooms! Live-stream will be through Microsoft Teams. Click the links above to join. Unfortunately du to copyright issues, the recordings will not be posted.

For musicians, performance attire expectations are listed in the Band Handbook (p13) and Orchestra/Guitar Handbook (p10). Students should wear all black.

Daffodil Parades: April 9, 2022

Our marching band spent a day performing in 4 parades in townships south of Seattle. These parades are a time-honored tradition and this year celebrated the 89th year of the Daffodil Parades!

DATE: Saturday April 9th, 2022
TIME: 9:00AM-9:00PM
CITIES: (in order) Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner, Orting

While buses take the students to and from these parades, spectators we plentiful. And the weather was unbelievable. encouraged. Visit our YouTube channel to view the recordings of the live streamed parades!

All-City Band Sign Ups (8th Graders)

Graduating 8th graders are encouraged to sign up for All-City band for a summer of music-making and marching in parades. This will be the 71st year that students from all Seattle Public high schools get together to form one unified band. This is a no-audition band; all public-school musicians (8-12 grade) are welcome. They practice and perform from early June through early August. Scholarships are available if finances are an obstacle, so if everyone who is interested and committed should sign up!

Marching Band Debut: St. Patty’s Day Parade march 13

Thank you to everyone who came out to cheer on the Marching Ravens as they performed in their first parade! Seattle's 50th Anniversary St Patrick's Day Parade was held on SUNDAY, March 13, 2022, the the roar of our band was heard echoing through downtown while they marched along 4th Ave between James St and Westlake Park.

While the Robert Eagle Staff Marching Band has participated in parades in previous years, none of the students currently in band had due to the 2-year parade shut-down due to COVID-19. This was their first parade EVER! And they were polished, professional, and full of fun energy. If you missed the live performance, don’t worry— we live streamed it!

The recording of this parade is on our YouTube channel.

dine out fundraiser!! - March 10, 2022

Three local restaurants participated in a fundraiser that exclusively supported our music program. They donated 15% of all proceeds from one day of sales, and donated it to our music program. In one night, and we raised over $1200. Thank you to everyone who chose to dine out!

Hangry Panda — 7815 Aurora Ave N / (866) 842-6479

Hummus Cafe — 8420 Greenwood Ave N / (206) 706-9300

Valhalla Sandwiches — 8202 Greenwood Ave N / (206) 257-0658

And a very sincere thank you to these establishments for their generosity! If you weren’t able to patronize these restaurants on our Dine Out night, consider patronizing them another time in the future. They are a valuable part of our community, and we are truly grateful!

Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival – February 23-26, 2022

Congratulations to Jazz 1 for earning first place at this year’s festival!

Both Jazz Bands participated (virtually) in the 2022 University of Idaho Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, the largest jazz festival west of the Mississippi featuring over 400 elementary, middle school and high school student instrumental and vocal performances. In a typical year, the students would embark on a 4-day trip to Moscow, Idaho in which they would perform for esteemed jazz adjudicators, receive feedback and analysis on their learning, engage in meaningful workshops centered around jazz, and watch professional jazz musicians put on a show at the end of each festival day. This year, our school participated virtually instead, and both jazz bands submitted pre-recorded videos of their performances for the adjudicators to critique. Both bands were recognized for their outstanding performances, and both receiving a ‘Superior Rating’ from the judges.

Watch their performances here:

Eagle Staff Jazz I  – 1st Place Junior Instrumental Ensemble & Junior Sweepstakes Award Winner (overall award)
Eagle Staff Jazz II – 3rd Place

Our mission at these festivals/competitions is to not chase first-place or overall awards, but rather to garner critical feedback and analysis from renowned music educators to not only validate our work in the classroom, but more importantly, to continue to grow and improve our craft. Not only are we “leaving” this festival with an increased knowledge of music and a better understanding of the groups’ skills and potential, we are also bringing with us a much stronger bond and “family” camaraderie that will help fuel the students to higher grounds as we continue their jazz education.

Congratulations to both bands, and BOTH band directors!

Black History Month

Last year, the marching band and orchestra combined (remotely) to produce an amazing version of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ with musician Kevin Ross, honoring black history month. What an amazing collaboration!

If you haven’t listened to it in a while, here is your flashback performance.

Strings Donations

Thank you for the generous gift by David T. Stone Violins and his consignors, who donated several instruments and bows to our program this month. Donations included two violins, two violas, bows and a cello case. Mr. Stone was a sweet man who would sit down and talk to you all about the instruments and especially about bows. He also would show you a video on his phone of his talented musician daughter, with his enthusiasm for music amplified by his love and pride for his daughter. His store is closing this month.

Special thanks to his daughter, and to Jess Falk, a RESMS parent who worked with the Stones, for coordinating the donations. They will be put to good use!

Winter Concerts are back!

It’s official! Our students were able to showcase their talents and perform winter concerts in December. And yes, we were able to live-stream and record performances for everyone to watch from home. If you enjoyed the concert, please consider donating to our music program.

Entire TEAMS Recordings are here: ORCHESTRA, BAND
Post-Production recordings (separated) are here: JAZZ 2, JAZZ 1, CONCERT BAND, SYMPHONIC BAND, WIND ENSEMBLE,

As for a live audience… seeing a live-streamed event pales in comparison to witnessing it live. We know! And a live audience enhances the performance experience for students and is important for their growth as musicians. So in addition to the live stream, a limited number of audience members were allowed at the event. Each performing student was allowed to invite one family member to attend in person. (For Orchestra on 12/7, which was a smaller performance, each musician was able to invite 2 members).

Attendees were required to be fully vaccinated. Please read the 11/23/2021 letter from Principal Campbell about the safety plan in place.

For musicians, performance attire expectations were in effect which are listed in the Band Handbook (p13) and Orchestra/Guitar Handbook (p10).

Don’t have any of these things? There is a bin of all-black clothes & shoes is in the instrument room. Encourage your students to look through it before buying something new. If your student has out-grown their performance wear, it can be put to good use in this bin.

Fundraiser successful: MOD Pizza

Due to an oven malfunction, MOD was closed Nov 17 for our original date but was rescheduled for Wednesday 12/15.

Thank you to everyone who participated, (and made pizza!) on Wednesday, Dec 15. MOD Pizza generously donated 20% of all purchases that day to our music program. Final totals still pending…

New Purchases

Our fundraisers throughout the year allow us to purchase equipment for our music program that we would otherwise be unable to afford. And quality instruments are essential for a high-level program. This year we've made several major instrument and equipment purchases totaling over $6000, including an alto saxophone, two saxophone rentals, new drum heads for the drumline, method books for both band and orchestra, a new PA, microphones, and a bass guitar and amplifier for the strings program. This is a sampling of the new equipment our students get to use. Thank you again for everyone’s support!

Evergreens Fundraiser a Success!

Thank you to everyone who purchased Holiday Wreaths and Garlands! We exceeded our goal and raised $3500 for our music program! We will use this money to partially fund some of our new equipment purchases this year, including new instruments, drums, microphones and amplifiers.

Greens were picked up in person at school Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week 11/22 - 11/23 from 4-6pm.

Performance Calendar 2022 (upcoming concerts)

FEBRUARY
The Northwest Region Band Concert @ Ballard High School (Wind Ensemble) TBD*

MARCH
St. Patrick’s Day Parade (Marching Band) 3/13 @1PM
Spring Concert (Orchestra) 3/29 @ 7PM
Spring Concert (All Bands) 3/31 @ 7PM

APRIL:
Daffodil Parades (Marching Band) 4/9

MAY:
Ballard Syttende Mai Parade (Marching Band) Tuesday May 17 @ 6pm
Port Townsend Rhododendron Parade (Marching Band) Saturday May 21 All Day
Side-by-Side Concert with the University of Washington Concert Band (Wind Ensemble) Wednesday May 25 @ 7pm
Feeder Elementary Schools Outreach Concerts (Wind Ensemble) TBD

JUNE:
Halftime Performance for the Seattle Storm @ Climate Pledge Arena (Marching Band) Sunday 6/5 @ 3pm
End of the Year Concert (Orchestra) Tuesday 6/7 @ 7PM
End of the Year Concert (All bands) Thursday 6/9 @ 7PM
Eagle Staff 8th Grade Promotion (Marching Band) Tuesday 6/14 @ 7PM

*To be determined

Drumline performed at Light Rail Station Opening

Soundtransit began daily passenger service from the Northgate Light Rail Station at 5am on Oct 2, 2021. In honor of this much-anticipated opening, our drumline was invited to perform at the Opening Ceremony on Oct 1. The drumline most recently performed last year at our 8th Grade Promotion event in June, and as an opening performance for Seattle Public Schools board meeting.

Watch the performance here!

Successful Fundraiser!

October’s Flower and Veggie Box fundraiser was a success! Thank you to everyone who participated, volunteered their time, and purchased bouquets and boxes. We sold 50 veggie boxes and 54 bouquets netting $900 for FORESMA while also donating $450 to Madrona Elementary, a Title 1 school in the district. This fundraiser, while supporting the local Hmong farming community, allowed FORESMA to purchase 'Band in a Box' for students this year, a software to aid in teaching improvisation to string instruments.

Thank you everyone!

Program Fee for 2021-2022

Thank you all for contributing a $40 program fee for the year. If you haven’t had a chance to contribute, you can donate to FORESMA at anytime. These funds supplement districts funds and our fundraising efforts and help pay for activities including small group coaching, instrument purchases & repairs, sheet music, instrument reeds, strings, oils, transportation to performance trips & competitions, a t-shirt for each student, and more. During remote schooling last year, these funds also paid for digital software so students could collaborate on a musical platform. Please use the paypal link above.

Volunteers still needed for the 2021/2022 school year

Please join us for our virtual meetings every third Wednesday of each month. The next meeting is Wednesday December 15 from 7-8:30pm. Click here to join our virtual monthly meetings via Zoom (available the night of the meeting):

Meeting ID: 823 5714 1937
Passcode: soar

FORESMA lost board members this summer when their students graduated. We need new faces to fill their shoes and help support our music program for the next school year. Don’t wait to start getting involved! Contact us directly to find out more information about any of the following positions:

• Board co-chair (ideally representing orchestra)-- assist with leading monthly FORESMA meetings, represent FORESMA at seasonal concerts, be point of contact for music teachers

• VP Fundraising-- research and coordinate community fundraising campaigns (flowers and veggie boxes, evergreens, concert concessions, direct ask). Note that these events have chairs; this position oversees them

• Videographer (non-board position)

Congratulations to Mr. John Aguilar: GRAMMY Music Educator Quarterfinalist

RESMS band teacher, John Aguilar, is one of 219 music teachers from this school year and 189 music teachers from last school year who have been announced as quarterfinalist for the 8th annual Music Educator Award™ presented by the Recording Academy® and GRAMMY Museum®. This award recognizes music educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education in the schools.

In September, one recipient will be selected from 10 finalists and recognized for their remarkable impact on students' lives. That recipient will be flown to Los Angeles to attend the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards® and a range of GRAMMY Week events. The nine additional finalists will receive a $1,000 honorarium, and the schools of all 10 finalists will receive matching grants. Additionally, 15 semifinalists will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants.

We are proud of you, Mr. Aguilar, and all you have done to advance high-quality music education at RESMS!

everyone can participate

Even 8th graders who have never played an instrument are welcome to sign up for music at Eagle Staff. More information can be found here:

• Power point presentation can be found here.

• FAQs (and answers!) can be found here.

• Contact info for our music teachers:

  • Mr. John Aguilar (all Bands):

  • Mr. Chris Mena (Orchestra & Guitar):

How can you get involved?

Volunteer

We welcome your help as a one-time gig (bake a batch of cookies?) or as an ongoing thing (be a band or orchestra concert coordinator?). See the volunteer page for details.

Follow Us on Facebook

FORESMA has regular updates on Facebook and is monitored by our Board so that you can get answers!

CHECK OUT OUR CALENDAR

See all the events Robert Eagle Staff Middle School music programs have going on. You can even look up events by the specific ensemble!

Make a donation

Funds support instruction, instruments and music, and opportunities for students to travel and perform. Donations are tax deductible. Please see corporate match info here.

ATTEND A FORESMA MEETINg

All are welcome! FORESMA will meet up again on Wednesday Oct 20 virtually. Get the link and read the previous minutes here.

Learn more about Robert Eagle staff MS

Check out the PTSA website

Check out the RESMS school website

FORESMA (Friends of Robert Eagle Staff Musical Arts) is a booster group that supports the music programs at Robert Eagle Staff Middle School. Through fundraising and outreach, it ensures all interested students, regardless of their background or musical experience, have access to music education and the opportunity to develop a passion for music. Last year almost 1/2 of the student body (350 students) were enrolled in music programs! Our goal is to get 100% participation.