General Information
Week 3 of band classes is now complete! This week we continued to build on our momentum from last week in A band and started to make sounds on our instruments in 4/5 grade band. I am excited of all the progress both groups are making and cannot wait to dig even deeper into music as the year goes on.
Instruments: If you are new to the band program or a 4th-5th grade parent, your student will need an instrument. The school has a handful of instruments on hand, but not enough for the entirety of both grade levels. If they want to learn percussion, I ask that they have drum sticks and a book only. They will use the school drums. If they want to play a wind instrument, I only have 1 flute left. If you are willing to rent an instrument for your student to use, please visit Ernie Williamson Music across the street as they have all the supplies you need on hand to give you.
Announcement: PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENT HAS AN INSTRUMENT FOR NEXT WEEK!!
Advanced Band
This week our primary focus was the Armed Forces Salute and scales. We started out working on the themes individually and by the end of the week we started to put them all together. The biggest challenge is reading the music in cut time. This means the notes they are reading are now played faster at half the value they are written as. This is a new concept for some, so I highly encourage them to practice this at home. The scales we worked on this week are Bb, Eb, and F major. These are the main keys our Veteran’s music is in so they serve as an excellent place to start as a warm up. These scales also can provide the added challenge of playing higher notes. If your student is wanting to play higher, reading it up an octave if it is not already written into their music is a great way to start. Scales move step wise so it will help your student reach those higher notes easier before they try to leap between them. For my new students in this group, reviewing exercises towards the middle or end of their red books will be good help to prepare them for the music in advanced band.
4/5 Grade Band
This week was all about starting our instruments. While I did not get to have my individual class with 5th grade this week, we still got to learn how to make sounds on our small instruments. Small instruments are a small part of their main instrument and consist of their mouthpiece in most cases. We start on these alone in order for the students to become comfortable with the sound techniques before they try anything on the full instrument. If they are wanting to practice at home, please do not let them put the full instrument together just yet. We will work on that hopefully next week. If they try on their own, they could break them so please only encourage small instrument practice. If your student does not have an instrument yet, please make that a priority. If you send me an email, I can send you a list of stores to look at or links to websites with affordable priced instruments to buy. Most music stores will have you rent to own. Please let me know any way I can help you with this!
Upcoming Events
9/11- PEP ASSEMBLY- A BAND ONLY
11/11- VETERANS DAY ASSEMBLY AT 8:30AM- A BAND ONLY
DECEMBER 5-7TH- BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT- A BAND ONLY
DECEMBER 7TH AT 8AM-PRELUDE FOR CHURCH SERVICE- A BAND ONLY
DECEMBER 7TH AT 10:30 AM-PRELUDE FOR CHURCH SERVICE- 4/5 GRADE BAND ONLY
DECEMBER 17TH AT 4PM- PRELUDE FOR CHURCH- A BAND ONLY
DECEMBER 19TH AT 9AM- SCHOOL SING-A-LONG- BOTH GROUPS
DECEMEBER TBD- CROWN CENTER PERFORMANCE- BOTH GROUPS