Band Update 2/27/2026

Hello Band Families,

The end of February is near and THANK HEAVENS!!! There are so many things that have taken place during this month. We cannot thank our families enough for your support in ALL THE WAYS you supported us! 

See below for LOTS of important information and updates! 

BAND BOOSTER UPDATES

NEXT BAND BOOSTER MEETING

This group has been growing every time we meet! How AWESOME is that!? Please consider attending our next Band Booster meeting, Thursday, March 5th at 6:30pm! Meetings take place in High School band room s122 and are open to all, regardless of whether you are a regular attender, or interested in checking it out. Students even receive letter points for attending! 

JAZZFEST DEBRIEF MEETING

A HUGE THANK YOU to all that volunteered their time, talents, and resources to help make JazzFest a success! If you helped out with JazzFest in any capacity and have any ideas about what went well or suggestions for improvement, please consider coming to the JazzFest debrief before the band booster meeting on Thursday, March 5th at 5:30pm in HS s122 (band room). We welcome all suggestions for improvement!

CONCERT ENSEMBLE UPDATES

MARCH CONCERT BAND CONCERT - Tuesday, March 3rd

Our next home concert performance is this coming Tuesday evening, March 3rd beginning at 7:00pm in the HS Auditorium. We are looking forward to you all experiencing the musical growth of all of our students thus far this year! The order of performances that evening will be: Symphonic Band, Solo & Ensemble “Best of Center” award winners, Wind Ensemble and we will end the night with a special surprise!! 

CONCERT REPORT TIME INFORMATION: 

Symphonic Band - Bottoms in chairs by 6:20pm ON STAGE.

Wind Ensemble - Bottoms in chairs by 6:20pm in S122. (If in both, go to Wind Ensemble) 

SOUTHEAST POLK WIND ENSEMBLE AUDITIONS for 2026-27

Audition materials are now available to students interested in auditioning for next year’s Wind Ensemble. Auditions will take place on Thursday, April 2nd. Interested current 9th grade students will audition on Friday, April 3rd. 

SOLO & ENSEMBLE UPDATE

Solo & Ensemble Festival took place this past Tuesday evening, February 24th. It was a tremendous night that showed off the amazing talent of our band students here at SEP. Thank you to everyone who played a part in making the evening run smoothly and to everyone who attended performances in support of our musicians! Here is a link to the results if you are interested! 

Please be sure to congratulate our “Best of Center” award winners this year. They will be performing their solos for you at our concert next week. Saul Ramirez(12) Horn, Bella Justice(12) Bass Clarinet, Jordan Evans(10) Flute and Jacoby Marshall(12) - Snare Drum.

MARCHING BAND UPDATES

2026 MARCHING RAMS CALENDAR

The 2026 Marching Rams Calendar has been available for a few weeks now. Please keep an eye out for any updates over the next few months. Hopefully there will be none! It is also our hope that with having the schedule this far in advance that family vacations can be worked around our MB camp dates… Thanks in advance for trying! 2026 Marching Rams Calendar

2026 MARCHING RAMS LEADERSHIP AUDITIONS

Leadership applications will be available on 3/6. All applications will be due by the end of day, 3/26.

2026 MARCHING RAMS - INCOMING FRESHMAN AUDITIONS

Auditions for incoming freshmen will take place on March 24th and 25th. Any students currently in 9-11th grade do NOT need to audition, even if they’ve never participated in marching band before. Reach out to a director with any questions. 

Be sure to have the “Marching Band Information Night”, Thursday, April 30th from 6:30-7:15pm in the HS Auditorium, on your calendars. This is the night where EVERYONE will be given IMPORTANT information regarding next year’s season! 

One important thing to keep in mind when scheduling for band classes this fall, in order to play in marching band, jazz band, pep band or any other extracurricular band, you must be signed up for either Symphonic Band and/or Wind Ensemble.

JAZZ BAND UPDATES

SEP JAZZ ONE & TWO CONCERT - NEXT FRIDAY, MARCH 6th

With the weather cancellation of the Tallcorn Jazz Festival, last Friday, 2/20 we wanted to alter next week’s clinic plan to instead provide another performance opportunity for our HS Jazz Band students. We apologize for the late notice, but are so grateful for all that are working to create this opportunity! 

Next Friday, March 6th both HS jazz bands will perform a concert at Adventure Life Church in Altoona (1700 8th St SW, Altoona, IA 50009) at 6:30pm. A huge thank you to Adventure Life for hosting this event!

Itinerary:

2:45pm - Jazz Band students load trailer w/ equipment (VG show choir students - load and go to rehearsal)

3:00 - Any jazz students not involved in VG - carpool to church

3:15 - Unload & set up at Adventure Life Church

3:45 - Break

5:45 - Jazz One warm-up

6:00 - Jazz Two warm-up

6:30 - Concert

7:30 - Pack/load equipment, return to SEPHS, unload

GENERAL INFO/REMINDERS

REMIND CODES:

Please take a moment to make sure you and your student are enrolled on Remind in each class that your child participates in. To enroll, text the code below to 81010:

Parents without band students and Alumni who wish to volunteer to help with things throughout the school year, please be sure to sign up for our Remind App class dedicated to you… (Pass it on!!)

No students in band: @phnostud

Pep Band: @25seppep

Show Choir Band: @shchb25

Jazz One: @25sepjazz1

Jazz Two: @25sepjazz2

Symphonic Band: @sepsb25

Wind Ensemble: @sepwe25

Band Boosters: @sepbooster

BAND WEBSITE:

https://sepbands.southeastpolk.org/home

SEP BAND APPAREL STORE

Check out the store for all of your SEP Band apparel needs! https://www.515creativedesigns.com/collections/sep-marching-rams

AMAZON WISH LIST

The wishlist has been updated! If you’d like to help the band program in tangible ways, please check out our wish list. It is constantly changing and evolving. 

Amazon Wishlist Link

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES

3/3 - HS Band Concert

3/5 - Band Booster Meeting

3/6 - HS Jazz Band Clinics (Jazz One & Two)

3/31 - Jazz Band Spectacular Concert

4/7 - Central Iowa Jazz Exchange Concert @ Urbandale HS

4/21 - Jazz One Noce Performance

4/24 & 4/25 - Adventureland Festival of Bands

4/30 - Marching Band Information Night & Final Band Booster Meeting

Go Rams!

Mrs. Jacqui Meunier (jacquelyn.meunier@southeastpolk.org) 

Mr. Gabriel Schott (gabriel.schott@southeastpolk.org)