Camden County Bands

Congrats to the Marching Bruins.

The Blue Machine opened their competition season this weekend with a Pre-Season competition at Princess Anne High School. In their class, the Marching Bruins received 3rd place overall award. Despite being the smallest school, of the 15 total bands at the contest, our marching band was 7th overall including outscoring of bands from larger schools with a student population of over 1500 students.

It was a busy weekend, as we performed at the Camden Heritage Festival on Saturday morning. Friday night's game was also the debut of our new uniforms. (See attached photo) We wanted to say a quick thanks to the school community for your support in making that a reality.



Our next competition is Saturday, October 4, in Edenton. We perform around 4:30. We'd love to have your support!

- Chris Whitehurst

Band store officially opens this week!

Below is a link to the band store. You can purchase our logo shirts, hats, etc. If you order, all items will be shipped to the band room at CCHS, and we will get them to you.

Show your support! We appreciate it!
https://store.sundogzdesign.com/camden/shop/home

We only have the fan shop open once per year. If you'd like to purchase items and show your support of our award winning CMS and CCHS bands, this is the only opportunity to get those shirts, hats, and other band logo items. The store is only open until September 20th. Don't miss it. https://store.sundogzdesign.com/camden/shop/home Thanks for your support!

The Middle School and High School bands cordially invite you to our annual Spring Concert events. Come out and share the evening with us. We only have a few of these events each year, and we'd love the opportunity to share them with you. I think you would be AMAZED at the level of musicianship and professionalism our ensembles create. The CCHS/CECHS Concert is this week on Thursday. The CMS Concert is held on Tuesday May 14. Both events are at COA beginning at 6:30. Both events are free and open to the public.

All students interested in being a member of the 2024 blue machine must attend a meeting with their parents in the CCHS cafeteria on Tuesday, March 27 @ 6:30 pm . The meeting is required for all new and returning members.

Do you need a small gift for someone impossible to shop for? Do you need a stocking stuffer? The Camden Band Discount cards are now available. Priced at just $5 this is a very good deal and a gift that will keep on giving until 12/31/2024. Let’s show these local businesses how much we appreciate their support of our program! - 3 AMIGOS Elizabeth City, Hungry Panda, Copper Canyon Soap Co - Elizabeth City, Shut Up & Listen Records, Small Town Trendz in Elizabeth City, Small Town Trendz in Hertford, Albemarle Lanes, All That Glitters Boutique, Harbor Treatz , Electric Garden, Water's Edge Boutique & Gifts, Elizabeth City General Store, Elizabeth City Pizza Co, Kitchen Kuriosities, Cypress Creek Grill, Big Boss Burritos, RCE Theaters - Elizabeth City, Hoppin' Johnz New South Cuisine, Bijoux Vibes, PAGE AFTER PAGE BOOKSTORE, Taylor's Oak Restaurant, Mi Cancún -Elizabeth city NC, Southern Maid Donuts of Elizabeth City, The SweetEasy, No Loose Ends, Waterfall Blossom Cafe, Merle Norman Cosmetics Elizabeth City North Carolina, Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning, The Candy Bar

We will not be performing halftime this week due to homecoming court at halftime but we will be performing our 2023 show "Machine" at the remaining home games. Our Fall contest season begins next week at Princess Anne HS in VA beach. 9/23 Princess Anne HS 10/7 Edenton Peanut Festival Battle Of The Bands 10/21 Panther Band Classic Pasquatank HS 10/28 Crystal Coast Band Classic-Havelock NC

Our 2023-24 band store is currently open for another week. This is your opportunity to show your band support and money goes to a good group of our students to help with our expenses for the school year. Items will be paid for online, and shipped to CCHS. We will then deliver to the schools individually. https://store.sundogzdesign.com/camden/shop/home?fbclid=IwAR11FVPLAeLsjfTlUsywuY-dEXzHvfdohheSwfurHGGlyzZa5O6zQdQifk4

Camden County Schools has approved the school calendar for the 2023-24 School Year. The calendar is now posted in the Events Section on the main District page. https://www.ccsnc.org/documents/information/calendars/432053

March 22, 2023 the Camden Middle 8th Band and Camden High School Band traveled to Riverside for the NC Music Performance Assessment. This is our end of course test. The event is sanctioned by the NC Bandmasters Association and is a measurement tool to assess our students' knowledge of the NC Standard Course of Study for Instrumental Music. In the band world we consider this the most important musical performance of our school year! Each group prepared 3 pieces of music for the stage performance. In addition each group is given a piece of music they have never seen before and asked to perform it for a judge after a brief 5 minute preparation session. Both ensembles received a Superior Rating on stage and in Sight Reading an overall rating of Superior. NEVER in school history have both groups received a superior in the same year and this is the 2nd Superior in a row for the high school. To really understand the significance of these accomplishments, I think it's critical to note that the 8th band was formerly the 6th grade band that began learning their instruments via zoom. The majority of the high school band is made up of students who also spent the bulk of their middle school and early high school band experience behind a computer screen. In an educational environment where we are talking about learning loss from Covid and measuring growth, I don't think there's a better example of growth the band students could demonstrate. Rose and I really do not like to "toot our own horns" but this major success and milestone for the county's band program was just too big to not share with everyone! Sincerely Chris Whitehurst Director of Bands-CCHS