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 This Week's Highlights

• Director's and AFM President Reports: Our Marching Dons are on a roll!
• Competition Highlights and Director Award
• Volunteer Opportunities: Family & Friends Event and Clovis Champs Weekend
• Fundraising: Beer Pourer and Holiday Shopping
• Senior Spotlight, Band Photos and MB Parent Social Groups

Director's Report

The Marching Dons are on a roll this season! We are so proud of the students for their strong performance and excellent showing at the Foothill Band Review. Thank you once again to the amazing army of parent volunteers who are the true backbone of our band, allowing our kids to shine! By the time you read this we will be on the road to Southern California. All families received information on the trip earlier this week. We are looking forward to a great weekend at Bands of America Regionals. Stay tuned for more updates and Go Dons!



For Amador is our name,

Mr. Grantham & Mr. Fell

AFM President's Report



We are so proud of our Marching Dons! They have worked very hard over these last few weeks and have accomplished so much. Our band is in full swing now and we are off to the Bands Of America competition this weekend. Participating in a world-class competition is an amazing experience and will create a lifetime of memories for our kids. 

But all of this takes time, effort and commitment. It also takes money. The cost for each band student to participate in our program is approximately $1500 per student. This covers buses, hotels, band uniforms and much more. We can’t do this without financial support. If you haven’t donated yet, there’s still time. Please click here to contribute.  If you’ve donated – we are so grateful! See you in SoCal!

Competition Highlights and Director Awards

Amador’s Director of Orchestral & Choral Music Honored with Rising Star Award

We’re pleased to announce that Brittany Shankle, Amador Valley’s new Director of Orchestral and Choral Music, has been selected to receive the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Bay Section Rising Star Educator Award for 2025.

This award honors exceptional early-career music teachers who demonstrate excellence in teaching and inspire student growth. Since joining Amador, Mrs. Shankle has quickly built a strong connection with her students and recently led an outstanding fall concert featuring all her ensembles.

Congratulations to Mrs. Shankle on this well-earned recognition, and to our Amador music community for continuing to inspire excellence in music education!

Amador Valley Marching Band Wins

Top Honors at Foothill Band Review!

Congratulations to the Amador Valley Marching Band & Color Guard for an outstanding performance at the Foothill Band Review Field Show on October 25, 2025. 

Our Marching Band earned the following awards: 

1st in Color Guard, 2nd in Conducting and Percussion, 

Sweepstakes in Music, General Effect, Visual, and Overall Field Show. 

Vision behind "Bonjour, Bonjour"

As we head into our final competitions of the season, we’re revisiting the creative vision behind “Bonjour, Bonjour,”shared earlier by our band director Mr. Grantham: Bonjour, Bonjour

This year’s Amador Valley Marching Band show transports audiences to a lively morning in Paris, where music, color, and community fill the air. 

Featuring French classics like La Vie en Rose and Can Can alongside Gershwin’s An American in Paris and modern French jazz, the students bring the city to life as musicians, dancers, and storytellers amid vivid pinks, elegant black uniforms, and café-lined streets.

Competition Season is well on their way!!!

We wanted to send out a "Survival Guide" to assist families in helping their student prepare and to make sure you are all ready for the night as well. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email newmemberliaison@amadormusic.org

Looking forward to seeing you all at the comps!

Volunteer Opportunities

Day Time RA!

Exciting News! The November 20th Friends and Family Event at Amador Valley High School has been added to the sign up - 17 slots are open! 

Also, we still have a few Competiton RA slots open (2 for Etiwanda, 2 for Logan and 1 for Clovis)!

Please check out the sign up. These volunteer positions give you the unique opportunity to experience competitions with your child(ren) - on the bus, for warm ups, possibly even during the competiton! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4BA5AC2AA4FEC43-58608770-rasign#/

LAST CHANCE to volunteer for Clovis/Champs! 

This is our very last competition of the season and last chance to make some great memories for the season! Thank you to those that have already signed up! We can't stay without your help to ensure our students are safe, get the necessary rest and most importantly wake up and eat when starting the day.

Click on the link to check out the sign up and/or contact Susan Bowen at smbowen8@yahoo.com with any questions you might have. Thank you! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B094CA9AF2BA64-58595363-overnight

Big travel weekend for the band and RWs

We are about half way through the competition season with the 3-day trip to Etiwanda for BOA competition this weekend.

We will have more signups for RWs November’s events next week. Stay tuned for those. Here are a few pictures of RWs in action.

Fundraising

Color Guard Photo Fundraiser:

Color Guard Section photos!

Donate $25 to get a digital copy of the 2025 Color Guard section photos taken at our last home game! See payment link for more details:

https://square.link/u/PWigsdbv

Calling all beer pourers!

November and December sign ups are still out! These are the last few homes games of the season unless the Niners make the play offs.  

If you are looking for ways to help lower your donation ask, beer pouring is a great option. We have a fun group of parents and enjoy making money to benefit AFM! Contact Susan Bowen at funbpour@gmail.com with questions.

Support Music Programs 🎶 — Just by Shopping!

Planning your Black Friday haul? Buying holiday gifts?

Buy gift cards through AFM’s 2025 Gift Card Fall Sale and a portion of your purchase goes directly to support our music programs.



🎁 It’s the easiest way to give twice—once to your loved ones and once to our musicians!

Band parents! 🎶🎼🥁🎺

Thank you so much for your donations!

Our marching band program is 100% self funded through your generosity. We truly appreciate your support beyond just donations. 💜💛

If you haven’t had a chance to donate yet, it’s not too late! You can still contribute to support our upcoming overnight trips- hotels, buses, snacks and meals! 

Corporate Matching Program

Did you know that many companies will match donations their employees make?

This means if you give a donation to the band, your company might give the same amount, doubling your support!💜💛  

Not sure if your company offers this? You can check using this link.

It’s an easy way to make your gift go even further. Thank you for supporting the band!

Any questions? Please email treasurer@amadormusic.org

Other Important Information

Marching Band & Color Guard Senior Spotlight!

Starting in November, we will be appreciating any Marching Band & Color Guard seniors on social media with our "Senior Spotlight!" post. This is completely voluntary. If your senior would like to appreciated in this way, please have them fill out the form: https://forms.gle/B5VawSrx6nvgw6Vv8

A special appreciation to Samantha Riegels, of Samantha Grant Photography, who took the MBCG Senior Portraits!

Any questions, email Soojin Hwang, bandadminassistant@amadormusic.org

Band Photos Available for Purchase

AGP Photography photographed the band and the pictures are now ready for purchase. Please click on the gallery URL https://www.agpphotos.com/f312785713 to review the pictures and select your favorites.

Email info@agpsports.com if you have any questions.  

Connect with the AFM Community —

Non-Official Chat Groups for Marching Band Parents

Other than the weekly Newsletter, AFM website, AFM Facebook group, text reminder, INSTAGRAM @amadorvalleybands @avcolorguard as our official communication channels, some of our volunteer parents also created non-official social media chat groups for marching band parents to ask questions and share info. Here are a few of them we know and feel free to join if you would like to:

Marching band Whatapp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/C6i6SVcT3KzKZfEA6Tmii8

Korean parents Whatsapp group: 24-25 마칭밴드+컬러가드 https://open.kakao.com/o/gIlXwTGg

Chinese parents WeChat group: scan the below code at your WeChat app.