So long class of 2009! It's been a great 4 years with you. I hope you all had an enjoyable experience being in  the Freedom Band and/or Orchestra. From the trips to the football games, concerts, parades, the side-by-side with Emmaus HS, the fife gigs, the jazz band festivals, and the Freddy awards. Thank you very much for your hard work and dedication to the program. You've help continue the long proud tradition of musical excellence that makes Freedom special. Best of luck to each and everyone of you. We wish you a successful future in whatever you do.

Congratulations to the special award recipients at the end of the year banquet. The complete list is later in this newsletter. Special congratz to the Ronald Demkee Scholarship recipients, Nicholas Conti and Sarah Grossman, and Outstanding Musician of the Year, Katherine Liu. 

We are pleased to announce that Diana Jolly and Jon Yu have been chosen as drum majors for 2009-2010. Stephanie Uliana has been chosen as head twirler. Clare Fried will be the head fifer for next year. The rest of the officers and student leaders have yet to be chosen and will be listed in the August newsletter. 

Those going on the Disney trip next March, please continue to follow the payment schedule and remember payments need to be sent to Mrs. Swigart over the Summer, not Freedom. 

The Summer band schedule and band camp schedule are later in this newsletter so please make sure to mark all of the rehearsal dates on your calendars and let's get a good head start on the fall marching season at these important rehearsals. The July rehearsals are especially important for all new members of the band. Orchestra will not be rehearsing over the Summer. 

The Freedom Wind Ensemble will be performing in Allentown at West Park on June 14 at noon for their flag day ceremony. It will be televised on RCN I've been told. Come out and see the concert or look for us on TV.

One big change for this year will be the use of email. More than any other year before, email will be the most important way to keep up to date with events, fundraisers, and general information. It will also be utilized for the first time to get music parts. All fall marching music will be available for download from our website at fhs-band.com. I will email the assigned part list later this week. Go to the website, look up the fall marching music page, click the piece, then download the part and print it out. All music will be in PDF format. The music we will be playing this fall are for pregame: The Klaxon, Stars and Stripes, National Anthem, Alma Mater, and Washington and Lee Swing (Fight Song). Our halftime show will be the music from Pirates of the Caribbean, arranged by Mr. Tim Eick. The parade numbers for this year are The Klaxon, Thunderer, and Stars and Stripes. 

There's so many people to thank for helping out this year, please don't feel slighted if your name doesn't appear.   Thank you to Mrs. Eick and Mr. Alonzo for being such great teachers and assistants. Mrs. Ingeno for heading up the Jazz Festival Committee. John Taylor for video taping everything. Mrs. Rice and Mrs.  Webb for taking care of our uniforms. Mrs. Nelson for the programs and tickets. Mrs. Swigart and Luz Rodriguez for the student accounts. The committee chairs, chaperones, ticket sellers, and everyone else that supported us and helped out this year, a huge thank you. It's been a wonderful year with all of you. Have a wonderful Summer and I'll see the band in July.