General Information
This week was the final week of band class for the semester and it was a busy but blessed one! Great job to everyone for the amazing performance at Crown Center on the 17th!! I am so proud of all the progress the students have been making this semester and cannot wait to see how they continue to grow. We are wrapping up this week with the Christmas program and the school sing a long on Friday. As we enter Christmas break, I would like to encourage students to keep practicing even if it is only for 15 minutes a day. This helps them maintain the skills they have been working on so we can jump right back into learning when school starts in January. I do plan on starting band up again that first week of school. Beginning band will have their first rehearsal on the 6th at 7:30am and advanced band will be on the 7th at 7:30am. Thank you again parents for all of your support this semester. This program could not run as well as it has been without it.
Student Recordings: To submit a video or audio recording to me, students should ask to use a parent’s device such as a phone, iPad, computer etc. to record the asked for music. This can then be sent in an email to Miss Beumer.
Announcement: Call time for the Christmas program is 6:15pm for advanced band. We have to start playing at 6:25pm so we can finish in time for the students to put their stuff down in the science room and be back in the gym on time for their performance at 6:30. I will make sure to lock the science room behind them so their belongings are secure. Beginning band will be playing Jingle Bells with advanced band for the school sing a long so please make sure they have their instruments!
Advanced Band
This week was Christmas music galore. They prepared a combined Jingle Bells piece and various songs from their Christmas packets for all of their performances this week. I truly cannot thank them enough for all of their hard work this week with all of the performances they had on top of their finals and last assignments for the semester. We started the week with playing Christmas carols for the hot chocolate event and then later that evening performed at Crown Center. We are ending the week with playing prelude for the Christmas program and the school sing a long. The songs they are playing for these are First Noel, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Jingle Bells (sing a long only). They also were working hard on learning new scales this week. We worked on the chromatic scale and introduced the idea of minor scales and how they relate to the major scales. Bb, Eb and F major scales are still open to turn in for the scale challenge. Students can submit a video by email of the full scale through the thirds to be added to the leaderboard. 3 hours overall for each week is a good goal with any of the music.
Beginning Band
This week we continued to work on our Christmas music. I am so incredibly proud of this group and how much they have grown and improved this semester. Crown Center was a massive success with everyone getting the opportunity to play and show what they have been working on. Afterwards I realized just how big of a first performance that was for them and I am so proud of how they handled the pressure of playing in front of people for the very first time in such a public setting. Amazing work!! We are also continuing to learn new notes and working on slurs. We have played through no. 36 in class and introduced the new note in no. 37. If the students can continue to look at these exercises over the break that would be amazing. They are on pages 10 and 11 of their books. Another helpful practicing tip is to start practicing changing between notes that are not right next to each other. This will help build confidence for later. Keep encouraging them to clean out their instruments after a practice session. This helps keep their instruments in the best working order.
Upcoming Events
12/19- A BAND ONLY- SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PROGRAM AT 6:30PM, CALL TIME: 6:15PM
12/20- A AND B BAND- SCHOOL SING-A-LONG AT 9:20AM, STUDENTS ARRIVE WITH THEIR CLASSES AND THEN PLAY BEFORE IT STARTS