Our school hosts the Evening of Jazz event which happens once every year.The event is held in our cafeteria and lasts for three hours. Those who attend must purchase a ticket which allows them to receive dinner and a great night of Jazz from out band.

This evening of jazz event took months to prepare. We practiced and practiced many many songs so we wouldn’t run out. We played at least 30 songs that day.

When we first got to the event there people were still walking in. We saw a couple of the concert band volunteers helping with serving the tables. By the time the event was starting, the cafeteria was filled. The parents started to serve the delicious food that they had to start preparing hours before the event.

Throughout the night we did many many other things than just play music. 30 minutes into the event we started our first cakewalk. In order to enter the cakewalk, a fee of 5 dollars had to be paid. For each round, we needed 12 people. We would play our music during the cakewalk and stop at a random part in the song. They would stop on a number and if their number was drawn out of the jar then they would win one of the deserts. We did a total of 4 cakewalks that night.

After the cakewalk, we would continue playing our music. We then did a raffle ticket drawing. We gave away prizes for each person whose tickets were drawn. We did a total of 5 draws until we continued on with our music. After another 20 minutes, we did another cakewalk. After the cakewalk, we got to have a 15-minute break.

During our 15 minute break, we talked to our fellow band members and had some refreshing drinks while others ate some bread. When our 15 minutes were up we went straight into the next cakewalk. After the cakewalk, students from the band went up and spoke about why we needed donations to purchase whiteboards and instrument repairs along with camp expenses and instrument mutes.

For the rest of the night, we did 2 more cakewalks and played the rest of our music. The band was having an amazing time playing all these songs together. After another 3 songs, the event finally ended. Since we hadn’t eaten dinner yet the band was served with the remaining food from the event! There was still so much food that hadn’t been eaten. There was potato salad, bread with butter, mac n’ cheese, ice cream, beans, and much more. We all ate until we were stuffed.

Thank you for reading “A Jazzy Evening”!

Make sure to check out our Go Fund Me page and our Free Services!

~Music Eagle Team

Rise and shine, 8:00 am. We head down to the breakfast bar. The bar was all you can eat filled with the usual American style breakfast of hash browns, eggs, bacon, and sausage. Once we filled ourselves, we made our way to the front of the hotel and joined up with our group. On the bus, we did a quick roll call and headed out and made our way down to San Diego State University for a clinic with one of the professors for musical studies. When we arrived on campus, we noticed the Spanish style architecture that was in every building in the school.

 The day was nice and cool making the campus very enjoyable. Once we made it to the band room, we met the professor and he welcomed us with arms open. He was a very energetic and on the tips of his toes the whole clinic. We all thought that after the clinic that we had all learned something new. After the very informational clinic, we drove down to seaport village and did a performance for anyone at the shopping mall. With the sun beating down on us, we played loud and expressively and dancing to the music in order to get the crowd a little hyped.

We played for an hour and filled the air with music. Once we packed all the equipment and instruments back onto the bus, everyone filed into the bus and we headed onto the highway to go to Belmont Beach park. The park is located at the Mission bay and is an expansive park with a beach kind of like Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. The sounds of people screaming and laughing on rides reminded us of Six Flags, but we only planned to go to the beach and grab lunch.

We went with a party of eight and had lunch at the Cannonball Sushi restaurant. We got the Rainbow roll along with a sunset roll. The Rainbow roll was made with a tempura fried shrimp and crab filling with tuna and salmon sashimi on top. The Sunset roll was made with a spicy tuna filling and avocado with sauce on top. Both rolls were very mouth watering and each bite filled our mouths full of flavor.

After roaming around the park for a while, we all got back onto the bus and drove back to the hotel to get ready for the dinner cruise. With everyone dressed glamoured up, we drove down 9 blocks to the port where the Hornblower Admiral ship was waiting for us. When we entered, we were greeted by a staff member and each of us was handed a champagne glass filled with apple cider.

We sat down at the round dinner tables and ordered what we wanted from four choices, salmon, steak, vegetarian casserole, and chicken. Out of the choices, we went with salmon. The salmon had a sweet and tangy glaze with some cheesy rice to go with it. The combination was stimulating in our mouths. When dinner was over, we were allowed to roam the ship and many of us went to the upper deck. We started heading back to shore and docked. Many of us were tired from the night and instantly passed out at the hotel. The next day we got up at 7:00 am and headed back to Sacramento. The trip was definitely one to keep in the books.

Thank you for reading part 2 of The San Diego Trip!

Make sure to check out our Go Fund Me page and our Free Services!

~Music Eagle Team

Last weekend, our band made our way down to southern California for our annual spring tour. We went Six Flags Magic Mountain and San Diego. The tour lasted for a total of 4 days.

   On the first day if the tour, everyone got to school at 4:00 and we departed around 4:45. We arrived at Six Flags at around 11:00 and everyone was antsy to get off the bus. Right when the doors opened, everyone squeezed through. The sun was beating down on us, our minds were pointed to the fun that awaited in the park. We went with a small group of 6 people. We started on one of the famed roller coasters the X2.  The ride seemed pretty small from the ground view, but our whole perspective changed when we arrived at the top of the drop. A straight vertical 215 ft drop. I could hear the piercing screaming of those behind me as we plummeted down the track to the bottom and zoomed up the hills and through the twists and turns. We were thrown in every direction possible and the G’s we experienced were nauseating. The breathtaking two minutes made my pulse spike and my throat hurt from the excitement and screaming. For the rest of the day, groups of students ventured around the park waiting in the lines and having the time of their life on the rides available to them. When the night approached, everyone was exhausted and we headed to the hotel. A fun day and an early morning tomorrow.

   The next morning we woke at the break of dawn and made our way down to the San Diego Naval base for a clinic with the navy band. The Naval base was a very large and expansive complex. We roamed the halls of the building with an officer leading us. We arrived in one of the rooms they had prepared for us. The Navy band played a marching piece for us when we arrived in the room. Their playing was extraordinary and everyone was in awe looking at the poise. We were then given a clinic for an hour and a half. The clinic was well worth it because each and every one of us came out knowing something new.

   We then made our way to the USS Midway where we did a performance. It didn’t go that well because we were placed on the outer edge of the ship and not many people walked by to listen. The conclusion of that day was a buffet at a Mexican restaurant in old town San Diego.

Thank you for reading part 1 of The San Diego Trip! We will post part 2 in next week’s blog!

Make sure to check out our Go Fund Me page and our Free Services!

~Music Eagle Team

It is a question that many high schoolers want answered. High schoolers have asked this over and over again. How do you get good grades? I used to be one of those people.

I would always ask my friends and teachers what I’m doing wrong but they just told me to do my homework, and that’s exactly what I did. It still didn’t work. I had the answer hanging right in front of me the whole time but I didn’t see it. For those of you that still can’t see it, I’m here to give you 4 tips on how to get good grades!

TIP #1: Don’t procrastinate!!

Procrastination has got to be the most popular thing in high school. How would you avoid procrastination you might ask? Well, it’s very simple. If you have ANY spare class time get some work done. This advice is good especially for people with after school activities. People procrastinate the most when they get lots of homework. The best thing to do is just get it over with and do your homework as soon as you get home. It could even give you some free time after homework.

My experience with projects had never been good. I would always wait until the last day to start it. I would have to stay up extremely late doing them. Soon I started to learn not to procrastinate. As soon as I would get a project I would start it that day. I would work on it 30 minutes a day and it wouldn’t give me as much stress. The last day to work on your project should be the final touches, not the day you start the project.

TIP #2: Find your own learning style!!!

Finding your learning style is very important. Everyone has their own learning style. Some like visual learning and others like verbal learning. The reason it’s important to find your own learning style is because it could give you a huge headstart on a new subject. It could maximize your potential and a new subject much easier to understand. Finding your own learning style will reduce so much more stress and frustration. Finding your own learning style can also help you adapt to using techniques on tests to help you score higher and also expand your studying strategies.

TIP #3: DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!

Homework is crucial to getting good grades. It might not be worth many points but it’s very important that you do it. You might not know it but homework is actually a study guide. It helps you understand the subject more and prepares you for a test. Doing homework also helps you develop great study skills and habits.

TIP #4: Time Management

Time management is very important, especially when it comes to sleep. Lack of sleep prevents you from learning as much during class. You could be drifting off to sleep or zoning out just as your teacher is giving the class important information. Time management is important for getting good grades because it allows you to turn projects and homework in on time. Lack of time management could cause you to turn things in late or not getting to where you need to be on time.

Thank you for reading these tips for better grades! I hope these tips will help improve your grades! Please leave your comments down below!
Remember to check out our Free Services and Go Fund Me account!

Your help will make a difference!

~Music Eagles Team

By Zac J

The Game Brings Students Together

On Friday, our school’s Pep Band attended annual high school Powder Puff football game. Powder Puff football is a flag football game between junior and senior girls. The game has 2 quarters of 20 minutes with a running clock. During the last 2 minutes of each quarter, the clock will stop.

When we first got there the stands were almost empty. We didn’t think the game was going to be that good. The Pep Band sat down and the game was about to begin. We started to see loads of people filling the stands. There was almost no room left on the bleachers by kick off. The seniors had kickoff and the juniors were receiving. The ball bounced a few times and by the time one of the juniors got it the seniors were closing in. It was beginning to like a bad ending for her, then all of a sudden she broke into a fast sprint and ran right through the seniors. She made it all the way down to the 20-yard line until her flag was finally pulled. Everyone was on their feet cheering and screaming.

Less than 3 minutes into the game and the juniors had already scored a touchdown. The seniors had underestimated the juniors. There was some occasional pushing and shoving but nothing more. At one point of the game, one of the seniors was running down the field and shoved a junior right out of the way and just kept on going until her flag was pulled at the 40-yard line. Everyone was screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs.

The senior team’s scores were always close but they were never able to catch up with the juniors. The game started to get more intense the longer it went on. The match started to get less friendly as time went on. The Powder Puff game was meant to be friendly and help promote female power, but the teams treated each other like rivals. They would shove each other to the side and sometimes grabbed another person’s shirt.

We the clock ticked zero in the second quarter, the male cheerleaders went out and did their piece. They twerked, did flips, one of them even did the splits! At the end, the crowd was going crazy and laughing hysterically.

The juniors were still ahead by 10 points with 6 minutes left on the clock. The seniors tried to make a play but they ended up going back a few yards. 5 minutes left and they still hadn’t scored. The senior quarterback finally got a good throw. One of the seniors caught it and scored a touchdown. The scores were getting closer and closer. The juniors scored another touchdown in just 1 minute with 3 minutes left. Time was running out. The seniors had to score. 2 minutes left and the clock started to stop. The seniors made a running play and scored an easy touchdown. They were down by only 4 points now. 30 seconds left on the clock and the seniors knew they had lost. The juniors had the ball. Their quarterback threw it and the ball was caught. The junior ran it all the way down to score another touchdown which got them ahead by another 6 points. 10 seconds left on the clock. The seniors tried to get down the field but it was too late. The clock hit zero and the game was over. The juniors had won. Everyone was screaming and jumping. The commentator tried to calm everyone down but it was far too loud.

The game came to an end and everyone headed home either happy or disappointed. We now realize that our school takes powderpuff pretty seriously. About 60% of the school’s population came out to support both sides and promote school spirit. We are thankful that this event was able to help further unite our school’s students.

Don’t Forget To Check Out Our Free Services And Go Fund Me Page. Your Help Is Appreciated!

Thanks For Reading!

-Music Eagles Team

During the last meeting, the Christian club from our high school decided to volunteer and help the Don’t Be Pimped organization. Don’t Be Pimped is a Christian organization that sells clothing and hosts charities to help end Human Trafficking and also helps local homeless communities by giving away food and clothing.

The people from Don’t Be Pimped that helped out yesterday were once homeless themselves. They told us their story of how they learned of the Gospel and became believers. Every day they prayed for help to get themselves back onto their feet. Eventually, they were able to get steady jobs and now live with a roof over their heads. Knowing the pains of being homeless, they want to help homeless communities and give them a second chance at life.

Yesterday, we went to downtown Sacramento and helped give food, water, clothes, and toiletries to the homeless. It might not sound like much, but this was our first time doing it. We thought it would just be walking around giving out clothes or bottles of water and food to a few homeless people that we would come across. That’s where we were wrong.

We had just gotten off the highway to downtown Sacramento and we hadn’t seen any homeless people yet. We drove around to find our location. The first corner we turned, no one, another corner, no one. On the third turn we knew we had reached our destination. It was an entire community of homeless people. They filled at least 3 streets. There were tents lined up on the sidewalk with blankets and clothing hanging on every part of a metal fence. Cop cars were around every block in that area. At least 3 units were driving around keeping an eye out for any trouble.

We parked on an empty part of the street and met up with other Christian Club members and walked to the food table they had set up. The foods and drinks that we provided were green bean casserole, minestrone, crackers, water bottles, juice cups, and Capri suns. We also had a speaker set up playing Christian music. One by one many of the homeless walked by and picked up what they wanted. They thanked us with big smiles on their faces.

After setting up our stand, we decided to walk around with water bottles to hand out and talked with many of the homeless. We told them about the food table we had set out and had normal conversations with them. We noticed many of them felt that the government had given up on them and it saddened us that they felt hopeless. We prayed with many of them and gave words of encouragement. In about an hour and a half, we ran out of supplies and food so we cleaned the stand up. After cleaning everything up, everyone joined up in a circle and we prayed.

There are many drastic differences between a high school student and a homeless person. Most high school students have many of their living needs taken care of by their parents. Homeless people have to fend for themselves and fight to survive. It feels good being part of a group to give a hand to those homeless people who are far less fortunate than us. Our mission was to give them hope and show them that the communities around them care and haven’t given up because a lot of homeless people have lost hope over time and felt left in the dirt by everyone else.

Volunteering definitely gave us a new view of the world we live in. In our everyday lives, many of us don’t worry about where our next meal will be coming from or how we are going to take a shower. We should appreciate what God has given us and be thankful that we have been blessed with more than enough. We believe God provides for us so we can provide for those who are less fortunate and spread the Gospel so the homeless can have a chance at getting back on their feet.

Thank You For Visting Our Website

-Music Eagles Team

Golden Empire is a musical event at CSUS for choirs, small ensembles, large ensembles, and soloists to perform pieces of music in front of three judges. Each of the judges has 100 points each. If they think you can change something they can mark down points. The ratings are 90-100 superior, 80-89 excellent, 70-79 needs improvement, and <60 is lots of work is needed.

At the event, there were 45 choirs, 79 soloists, 37 small ensembles, and 60 large ensembles. The festival requires soloists and small ensembles to prepare 1-2 pieces of varying styles such as classical or jazz. For choirs, three pieces are required with three different styles. For large ensembles, three pieces are required with the styles of ballad/slow, fast/march, and a multi-styled.

At El Camino, we have 2 choirs, concert and madrigal, and 3 bands, concert, symphonic, and honors concert band. Our symphonic and honors concert bands received Superior scores while our concert band received a excellent rating.

At the beginning of January, we all received our music and began rehearsing. Each of the bands has 30-50 members in them. Every singles band member had to rehearse their parts at home so we were able to fix parts efficiently at school. We believe we were pretty efficient, but by the time march came around, everyone started feeling hopeless not being able to get parts down. In the end, it looks like everyone pulled through and contributed an amazing sound.

We are part of the Honors Concert band, which is the highest level concert band of El Camino. We have a good balance of instruments and everyone has an amazing sound. Our three pieces were Divinum Mysterium, Groovy Loops, and Fate of The Gods.

Divinum Mysterium is a slow song that gives people an eerie feeling and having the sound of royalty fanfare. Groovy loops is a fast and jazzy song that makes people and to move with the beat and has people on the edge of their seats wanting more. Fate of The Gods is a movie theme like song with fast, slow, loud, and soft parts all mixed in.

Every year the El Camino band has gone to Golden Empire Music Festival. Our bands don’t go to music festivals except for this one because we believe that we learn a lot from going, and we do. After performing we are given a clinic by one of the judges. The judges address the biggest issues and teach new techniques we can use. The clinic overall is very helpful on an extraordinary level because we can learn how to feel the music and use techniques to help us achieve that great round sound.

This year was a great year for our bands receiving 2 superiors and 1 excellent. The clinic judges said our bands were some of the very best. We were complimented a lot on Groovy Loops and Fate of The Gods because they are unknown songs and we gave a very good performance them both.

Thank you for visiting our website! Your support makes a big difference!

~Music Eagles Team

Today was a day filled with mixed emotions. Sad, happy, melancholy, joy,  they were everywhere. The final performance of our school musical and our best performance.

This year was hands down one of the best shows of El Camino performance and rehearsal-wise. Every single one of the members put their heart into the show. During the rehearsals, we never wasted time and focused hard on matching parts and getting the tempo down. The cast did very well in choreographing the dances and didn’t miss a single beat on the stage. All the hard work paid off with the audience stating how the enjoyed the show very much. Many audience members even came two or three times because they wanted to see more. It felt great hearing how they enjoyed every single part of the musical.

The cast members were distraught because it was the final high school musical for seniors. We saw the cast members hugging each other and crying. Others were shaking hands and yelling hallelujah. Indeed, the cast put on a great show. They performed with all their heart and didn’t fail to make the audience laugh during comedic parts, cry during sad parts and cheer and whistle during kissing scenes. We remember the chills coming down our spine because of the graceful singing hitting the high notes and harmonizing beautifully. Their performance was definitely one to remember.

On the other hand, the orchestra members were feverishly happy. We all were excited to finally be able to leave and relax at home. Many were showing thumbs up and pumping their fists in the air on the final songs. The orchestra also performed very well with our director complimenting us. Many people had solos that went with the dancing or singing and every one of the soloists played out with very beautiful tones. We were all just ready to go back to playing symphonic music without hearing boom chuck over and over again.

Watching the musical over and over again, we all realized that life without music is plain and uncolorful. With music it fills one’s life with joy happiness, just as it did to Captain Von Trapp.

Even with the musical being over, the memories that follow will be with us forever.

-Music Eagles Team

The Sound of Music was first a movie about a love story of an unlikely couple, Maria, and the Captain. Maria is sent by the Reverend Mother to be a governess for the Von Trapp family’s seven children. There she naturally fills the house with joy and music. Maria and the Captain begin falling in love. Maria and the Captain are then married but are faced with the problem of Nazis taking over Austria. In the end, the Von Trapp family have to escape to Switzerland by climbing the treacherous mountains.

For the past 2 months, our school’s pit orchestra and cast have been working hard preparing the musical, The Sound of Music, to perform for the students and teachers of our school along with the surrounding community. The cast had rehearsed every day from 3:30 to 7:00, and in the end, it was well worth it as everyone was very prepared. The orchestra, on the other hand, had rehearsals every Wednesday from 6:00 to 8:00, but had to rehearse and learn parts on their own at home. We also had a four tech rehearsals getting the set and lights ready for the first performance. Each rehearsal was four hours long.

Finally, the past week on Thursday, we had our first showing and it was a success. We were all thrilled being able to bring a great performance to those who attended. All three days so far has been a full house. It felt good hearing the great comments and the thundering applause afterward. We were impressed with the cast’s performance, being able to keep straight faces even with there being technical difficulties, such as sound problems.

There was one point in the middle of someone’s line when all of a sudden out of nowhere, “WHERE ARE THE VON TRAPPS!? FIND THEM!” There was also another part when there was a car engine starting when there was supposed to be a lullaby playing. We also had onstage difficulties two days in a row. The nazi flag on the right never came down as a banner but instead only came down as a lump or didn’t even come down. We are lucky to have an amazing technical crew this year preparing the set and making it look amazing and well designed. We now have three more performances to do.

We here at Music Eagles are part of the pit orchestra. The orchestra had 21 orchestra members making it through the audition process. Being part of the orchestra, we have realized without the music, the play has no underlying feeling to go along with it, just the lines of the actors. The director of the orchestra, Mr. Glaser, had repeatedly told us that we want the audience to say, ” What a wonderful orchestra”, as opposed to, ”That orchestra could’ve sounded better.” We believe that all of us in the orchestra have worked very hard and played amazing music to pair with the fantastic singing of the cast.

We have all learned what dedication to something is. When we auditioned for the orchestra, we were told very specifically that being part of the orchestra is giving up fun things and being strictly dedicated for 2 months to making the show a reality. I believe that each and every one of the members has achieved this. As a result, we have all had a glimpse of what hard work is needed to be a part of a successful broadway show working as a musician and a cast member. Teamwork is everything.

Music Eagles Team

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As high school students, we are born into the most privileged century. We are given countless opportunities and are able to utilize many forms of new technology.

One technological tool is the computer. Popularized in the 21st century, we use it in our everyday lives, whether it’s for making money, playing games or even chatting with friends. According to Internet World Statistics, the computer is a tool that 3.6 billion people around the world use (as of June 2016). Without computers, many job fields wouldn’t be open for employment.

Computers are required for jobs such as computer engineering, programming, computer network architecture and etc. Without computers, many work-related tasks for doctors, engineers, scientists and teachers would be much harder to complete. Computers save many people valuable time, money, and effort. Now with online shopping alternatives, such as amazon, you can do one-click ordering and have anything sent to you, as opposed to getting into your car and driving to the store.

The internet nowadays allows for anyone to meet and talk to new people who are on the other side of the world.  The internet also gives anyone the possibility to use a computer and search almost anything for free, opening a new realm of information to be accessed by those who seek it. You can find facts, recipes, books and even homework answers with just a few taps on the keyboard. This is how us at Music Eagles learned basic computer techniques. On our own, we have built multiple computers and diagnosed computer related problems for our friends and neighbors. To put our skills to work, we would like to give back to the community by having free services available.