UCHS Music Department

Last Chance this Year to Buy an Ad or Shout-out for the Concert Program

B. MacRitchie — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:00:59 +0000

Purchase an ad or shout-out for the Pops Concert program. A business card size ad is $25, a half page ad is $50, and a full page ad is $100 (up to 4.4” x 7.5”). A shout out can be any of these sizes and we will include a music icon with it if you wish.

Download the order form here, Concert Ads May 2012. Make checks payable to the Centurion Foundation with “Music Boosters” on the memo line. Send your order form and check to:

UCHS, Attn: Music Boosters

6949 Genesee Avenue

San Diego, CA 92122

The deadline for ads is Wednesday, May 23. If you have any questions, contact Bonnie MacRitchie, Music Booster Treasurer, at treasurer@uchsmusic.com.

Jazz & Java at UC High

B. MacRitchie — Sun, 13 May 2012 23:23:01 +0000

The University City High School Music Department invites you to come out on Friday, May 18^th, from 6:30-8:30pm to enjoy an evening of live outdoor jazz music, desserts and drinks. Bring lawn chairs or blankets to the high school quad area and soak up the smooth sounds of the UCHS Jazz Band. The entire family is welcome, and don’t forget your friends and neighbors!

Admission is $3 per person and tickets will be sold the night of the event. Coffee, other beverages, both hot and cold, desserts, snacks, and other concessions will be available for purchase. 100% of proceeds benefit the UCHS music program. You won’t want to miss this fun, family friendly outdoor concert!

Congratulations, Jazz Ensemble!

Mr. Brown — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:55:57 +0000

Congratulations are in order for the UCHS Jazz Ensemble on receiving a unanimous “Superior” rating at the Valhalla High School Jazz Festival this past Saturday! To spend a fun evening listening to this “Superior” group, see the post below entitled “Jazz n’ Java at UC High.”

CMEA-SBS Fortissimo Choice Award Winner

B. MacRitchie — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:46:04 +0000

Congratulation to our Music Director, Mr. Cameron Brown, for receiving the Fortissimo Choice Award for Outstanding Music Educators for 2012. The prestigious award is given by the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Southern Border Section, in partnership with the San Diego County Office of Education. CMEA-SBS is the inclusive organization that supports and promotes all music education in the San Diego and Imperial Counties. Mr. Brown was nominated for the award by Principal Jeff Olivero and Vice-Principal Heidi Murphy. The annual CMEA-SBS awards banquet honoring city and county music educators and administrators will be held at the Marina Village near Mission Beach on April 30th.

The Music Program and Music Boosters are proud of Mr. Brown’s accomplishments for his first year as Director. In just one year he has expanded the Music Program, added festivals and competitions to the schedule for every ensemble, successfully reinstated the Orchestra after a two year hiatus, launched the UCHS Pep Band, performed at community events such as the La Jolla Christmas Parade and EdUCate’s Oktoberfest and Taste of the Triangle, and initiated the first ever annual Music Program Spring Trip to Music in the Parks, Knotts Berry Farm. At Knotts Berry Farm, Concert Band and Choir received ratings of superior, String Orchestra received a rating of excellent, and the school received the award they are most proud of, Esprit de Corps. In addition to his activities at UCHS, Mr. Brown served as Band Manager for the 2012 SDUSD Honor Band. Next year UCHS hopes to offer AP Music Theory. The UCHS Music Program is fortunate to have such an energetic, dedicated, and talented director!

Performance Testing Update (Updated 5/2/12)

Mr. Brown — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:30:02 +0000

Pops repertoire performance testing is in and chair placements will be posted for String Orchestra and Concert Band on Friday, May 4th. While the vast majority of students in these ensembles submitted tests without issue, there are still a high number of tests either not being submitted, being submitted late, or being submitted with incorrect material in them. Examples of the latter include, but are not limited to, not meeting the minimum tempo requirement for scales, not using the required rhythm for scales, not including all required selections in the testing video, or including performances in the submitted video that the student clearly acknowledges as being substandard in the video itself. This year’s experiment of submitting videos for testing has been very successful in terms of efficiency and increasing home practice time, but there are still many students that are missing the mark in a big way.

The following announcement only effects a very small amount of students in the UCHS Music Department, but please take note that students who have habitually not submitted tests, or submitted tests after the deadline, are in jeopardy of being removed from the UCHS Music Department altogether effective at the end of this school year. Yes, Mr. Brown’s standards are high, but not meeting basic requirements, such as submitting a test with three to four weeks of preparation time, is unacceptable, and doing so repeatedly will not be tolerated.

In conclusion of this post, I would like to state that the final performance testing for String Orchestra and Concert band for the 2011-2012 school year is the May scales test. The keys we will be covering are Concert C#/Db, G#/Ab, and D#/Eb and the videos are due May 25th at 11:59 PM or earlier. Information on requirements for this test can be found below.

Online Video Submission Password-protect your video on Vimeo Scale Testing Details