Welcome

Dallas Trip Deposit

Important Dates and Times!

Tue, 8/25 (7:30 am): Early practice for students playing in the TEA performance (details below)
Tue, 8/25 (5:00 pm):  Back-to-School Night at Austin High
Thu, 8/27 (7:30 am): Early practice for students playing in the TEA performance (details below)
Thu, 9/3 (7:30 am): Early practice for students playing in the TEA performance (details below)
Fri, 9/4 (8:45 am): TEA Performance (details below)
Wed, 9/16 (6:30 pm): Fall orchestra concert at Austin High PAC
9/25-9/27: Orchestra trip to Dallas/Fort Worth (details below)
Sat, 10/24: Monster Concert at Austin High
1/14-1/18: Orchestra Spring Trip to Los Angeles (details below)

Register for Cut Time

If you have not yet registered with Cut Time, please use the following link to enter your personal information:
https://app.gocuttime.com/sr/TWEUL87R

The Austin High Orchestra Boosters use Cut Time to send weekly newsletters and share important program information. This year, Mrs. Heidi Gysan, Austin High Orchestra Booster Secretary, will send the weekly newsletter through Cut Time.

Orchestra Fundraiser

Thank you to everyone who has already jumped in and supported our Schoolfundr campaign! We are seeing some great results—but we need much more participation from our orchestra students if we want this fundraiser to be successful.

Here’s where we currently stand:

More than 1/3 of our orchestra students have not entered a single email address.

More than half of our students have entered 5 or fewer emails.

Students who have entered 5 or more emails are raising money.

The small number of students who have entered 15 or more emails have raised several thousand dollars for the orchestra!

Why do these numbers matter? Because emails are what make Schoolfundr work. Once email addresses are entered, the system sends the initial fundraiser message and automated reminders to potential donors who haven’t yet contributed. Those reminders mean students and parents don’t have to continually follow up themselves—the system does much of the work for us.

With a smaller Monster Concert this year, we are relying more heavily on this fundraiser to support our orchestra program. We all know what these funds make possible—now we need everyone’s participation to help us get there.

Our students benefit every day from the incredible amount of time, energy, and dedication Mrs. Solis gives to the Austin High Orchestra program. This fundraiser is one small way we can all do our part to support the program she works so hard to build for our students. Thank you for supporting Austin High Orchestra!

Uniform Requirements

Good news: We have new uniforms this year! Bad news: Many dresses and pants need to be hemmed before our first concert on September 16th. If slacks or dresses are too long, please check uniforms out and take them home to be hemmed. Many dry cleaners and tailors provide this service. Uniforms can be checked out from the uniform room after school and at Back to School Night on Tuesday, August 25.

Dress hemlines should graze the floor or top of the foot when standing in concert shoes. Slacks hemlines should graze the top of the dress shoes in the front and sit at the top of the shoe heel in the back. High school kids are still growing so when in doubt, err on the longer side. Please ask that extra material not be cut or otherwise permanently altered to maintain maximum flexibility for future students.

For uniform questions, contact Tracy Harp (tracyoharp@gmail.com).

TEA Performance

Twenty varsity orchestra students will be selected to perform at the TEA meeting on Friday, September 4th at the Barbara Jordan State Office Building located at 1601 North Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701. Students must arrive at Austin High by 7:00 am, will depart school at 7:15 am, and should be at the venue by 7:45 am. The performance starts at 8:45 am. Students will return to Austin High by 9:30 am.

We need adult volunteer drivers to help transport students and instruments from Austin High to the venue.  Drivers are welcome to stay and observe the meeting and performance. Here is the link to the volunteer form to sign up: TEA Drivers

Early practice for selected students will be at 7:30 am at Austin High on August 25th (Tuesday), August 27th (Thursday), and September 3rd (Thursday).

We will be going on a three-day, two-night stay to Dallas from Friday, September 25th-Sunday, September 27th.

This trip will include a clinic at UT Arlington, a dinner and show to Medieval Times, a day at Six Flags and a performance at the Dallas Symphony with Idina Menzel.

We will be asking for a $100 non-refundable deposit. Sign up here.

Currently, the overall cost for the trip is $395. Our fundraising effort is underway and depending on how much we raise, it could offset some of the cost of this trip.

The more we raise, the greater potential for the trip to be at a lower cost per student. Please use the survey to gauge your interest in this year’s trip to Dallas.

Los Angeles Spring Trip

Austin High Orchestra is headed to Los Angeles January 14–18, 2027! We hope our students are excited—and we hope some parents are ready to join us, too!

At this time, we are asking all interested families to join the trip waitlist. Joining the waitlist will help us determine student and parent/chaperone interest as we move forward with trip planning. You can also view the tentative trip itinerary at the bottom of the information page to get a sneak peek at everything we have planned!

How to Join the Waitlist:
Click “See Availability,” then “Join Waitlist,” and follow the directions from there. It will walk you through entering your contact information and selecting the appropriate package(s).

Joining the waitlist does not mean you are committing to the trip at this time. Right now, we want to get a strong sense of how many students and families are interested so we can continue moving forward with planning.

The private lessons offered by the instructors on this page are some of the most affordable you can find, and the instructors are wonderful. Please consider signing your child up. It can make a big difference in their progress, and how much they enjoy the orchestra program because of the confidence they develop. Payment for private lessons are made directly by parents to the private teacher and not the Austin High Orchestra.

Video Tutorials to Help Students Prepare for Region Auditions

Here are the links to video tutorials that students should watch and use this summer to help them prepare for the Region Auditions.

Violin Tutorials:
https://ensembleblock.com/portal/tmea-2026-2027-orchestra-violinhttps://ensembleblock.com/portal/tmea-2026-2027-orchestra-violin

Viola Tutorials:
https://ensembleblock.com/portal/tmea-2026-2027-orchestra-viola

Cello Tutorials:
https://ensembleblock.com/portal/tmea-2026-2027-orchestra-cello

Bass Tutorials:
https://ensembleblock.com/portal/tmea-2026-2027-orchestra-string-bass

Adult Orchestra Volunteers

The orchestra relies on adult volunteers for different events throughout the year. If you are interested in volunteering or know you will be volunteering in the orchestra room and helping students, please submit an application on the AISD Voly site. Also check out our volunteer webpage for additional info.

Get Messages Using Remind

Please make sure that you and your student(s) sign up to get important messages and reminders. To sign up for Remind, compose a text message to the number 81010.

Camerata Orchestra: @a2aa82
Philharmonic & Recital Orchestras: @g4kcfc2
Chamber Orchestra: @hh2949
Orchestra Parents: @hak8gd

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Our Platinum Sponsors

James and Deborah Carrier

The Dettmer Family,
in honor of Sam

Sara Maxwell

Our Gold Sponsors

Anna Morgan-Penz
Memorial Scholarship

The Maloney
Family

And thank you to the many orchestra families who have given so generously.

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