General Information
We are now into the month of February! As we start this new month, I am gong to be starting the students on weekly practice logs. My reason for this is to just challenge them to keep up their practicing, even if it is only for 10 minutes a day. Everything adds up in the end and I believe they will really start to hear improvements in themselves as this goes along. To encourage them to practice, I have set up a system of rewards they can earn based on the amount of practice they do a week. There will also be a prize at the end of each month for the person in each group that has the most minutes that month. I also plan to have a prize at the end of the year for the students with the most at the end of the semester. Since I do not submit grades, I thought this method to be the best way to help encourage practice at home. I also ask that parents initial or sign the paper before the students bring them to me just to verify what they wrote down is accurate.
So far I do not have a lot of dates at the bottom for everyone to be aware of. On paper, this semester seems to be easier schedule wise with performances, but things may pop up as we go along so I appreciate your continuous flexibility as things are possibly added. Just like last semester, if students are interested in taking private lessons please feel free to reach out. I am more than willing to help you connect with some of the amazing private instructors here in the area.
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: Read about upcoming practice logs next week!
Advanced Band
Practice logs will be tracked from Tuesday-Tuesday. I will be giving them out next Tuesday and would like it back filled out and signed by the following Tuesday. There is no set minimum expectation, I just want to encourage them to practice.
This week we continued work in our blue books and performance music. Zig Zag is coming along quite well already and the students have been working on changing between the various tempos in the piece. Pirates of the Caribbean also went out this week on Thursday. This will be one of possibly 3 pieces they play in May and I am very excited to work on it. We have been actively playing on page 14 in the books if students wish to continue working on the concepts from class at home. We continued to work on the Ab major scale. This scale is they key that Pirates is in so it is a good warmup to use before practicing that piece. We also briefly looked at C major this week. Bb, Eb, F, and Ab major scales are still open to turn in as well. Students can submit a video by email of the full scale through the thirds to be added to the leaderboard.
Beginning Band
Practice logs will be tracked from Monday-Monday. I will be giving them out next Monday and would like them back the following Monday. There is no set minimum expectation, I just want to encourage them to practice.
This week we have continued our work on page 14 and 15 in our red books. No. 53 is something I will be listening to them play in class next Wednesday as a check in. This is a great one to practice at home. Exercises no. 43, 47, and 50 are ones to look at for Monday’s class next week. Long tones also will continue to be a great way to build up their playing muscles when practicing. This is seen in exercise no. 42. Keep encouraging them to clean out their instruments after a practice session. This helps keep their instruments in the best working order. I am working on finalizing music for this group for Grandparent’s Day and Fine Arts Night. If the students look further ahead in their red books for pieces labeled full band, I am picking between a couple of those to play in March. For May, I am planning on giving them an arrangement of Spring by Vivaldi from The Four Seasons. This will be handed out next week.
Upcoming Events
03/14- A AND B BAND- GRANDPARENTS DAY PROGRAM
05/15- A AND B BAND- FINE ARTS NIGHT AT 6:30 PM