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Our students have been working diligently to get ready for our concert on June 11th!
Grade 5's have been working on the concert opener "Popcorn Prelude". They were able to sight read the first 13 bars on their first day getting it! Their musical abilities have quickly developed over the year and their progress is obvious when they get new pieces and quickly understand them! Grade 6's have been working on their "Star Wars" piece. This past week, they played it while a video from Star Wars played in the background. It was awesome to see most students working their hardest. JH have been rocking out to a Queen medley. Their enthusiasm was evident right from the beginning; I gave them the piece, and within 5 minutes were working as a group to play the whole song. They will absolutely rock the house. Our concert, "Movies, Musicals, and More!", will be an evening to remember! -Mrs. B
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A HUGE congratulations to all St. Joseph Bands! Everyone played extremely well and I am so incredibly proud of all of you!
A big thank you as well to the groups that joined us from the U of L and CCH! Your music was beautiful and fun! We are so glad you could join us! Students this week are starting to receive their music for our year end concert- Movies, musicals and more! This concert will feature the entire school and showcase their musical talents! We hope to see you here on June 11th! The new recordings to practice with are posted on this website under each grades tab. -Mrs. B The title might sound totally ridiculous... and that's because it is a mixture of the music for our Spring band concert!
All bands are working towards our performance on March 26th. We have moved the concert to a Tuesday so that we could welcome our guest performers! CCH band and 2 groups from the university will be joining us for an evening of music and. See band through the years- grade 5 beginning band all the way to university. Before we bring our music to the stage, we will first enjoy a band trip to the university. Students will work one-on-one with professionals of their instrument, group rehearsal time with a guest conductor, and use their music skills to complete a Music Escape Room! It should be a great day on March 15th as we enjoy and develop all of our musical abilities! I look forward to our spring concert! It will be "A Suite Night Out!" - Mrs. B A HUGE congratulations to everyone who performed in the Christmas Concert. We received many complements on our performance. Another big thank you to our actresses and actors who spent many hours after school working on learning their lines, staging, and working on developing their acting skills.
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and see you in the new year! - Mrs. B My apologies. I just realized the last time I updated was November 9th.
Life in the music room is picking up speed as we get closer to the Christmas Concert. Grade 5's are rocking their song! Today we started focusing on the dynamics of the piece; p means piano (quiet), m means mezzo (middle) and f means forte (loud). Mp and Mf are middle-quiet and middle-loud respectively. We are now working to create this balance in our playing. They also received one of their songs for the Spring concert and will receive their second song next week! We are trying something new in grade 6 band; during one class of the week each section is given class time to work with their section to work on rhythms, write in notes or fingerings, and to work closer as a team. So far this has been successful and is starting to show the leaders in the band. JH band had their Christmas music piled on and have been working to steadily increase their endurance for longer amounts of playing. This will aide them moving forward to the Spring concert. See you all next week at our Christmas concert! (December 13th @ 6:30pm. Doors open at 6!) -Mrs. B First of all, a big congratulations for grade 6 and JH band for their first performance of the year. Abide with Me was well performed and many teachers said you guys sounded awesome! Great job!
Just a reminder, there is no school on Monday or Tuesday. We will see you back on Wednesday next week. Practicing is vital to a students success. Please make sure you are practicing consistently so you can increase your abilities. We are a team, and our team is only as strong as our weakest players. I have assigned section leaders. These people demonstrate a positive attitude, practice habits, willingness to help others, and are instigators of success. They are students from grade 6 and JH band that will be working with the grade 5's during their lunch time sectionals. Thank you to our section leaders who have shown great ambition! Grade 5's are quickly improving on their song "Penguin Promenade". We can successfully play measures 1-15 as a whole band! Their next focus is measures 15-25. Grade 6's will receive their Christmas music next week. JH's received their Christmas music this week and will have a Show What You Know on measures 1-27 next week. Great work this week everyone! -Mrs. B Throughout the years in band, we are always building on our current music knowledge; what types of notes are there? How can these notes come together to form a bar? How do we measure time in music?
When we begin as musicians, it can seem like a daunting task to try and figure out the musical language. Only by consistently practicing both our music reading skills and our music playing skills are we able to grow and develop as musician. We start by playing lower level music (0.5) and grow into more challenging levels (1.5-2+ by JH). Grade 5- we are starting to see progress on our first song! Some students are comfortable enough to play through most-if not all- of the song! Most of the song is repetitive, so once a student has learned one part, they have learned most of the song. Keep working at it grade 5! Grade 6- Although they have been successful with the Bb concert scale, they are struggling to play their song Abide with Me. In class, students clap their parts to display their knowledge of their part rhythmically. Most have been successful, but this may be a way they should practice at home as well. The song uses only the first 6 notes of Bb concert so the students are familiar with the pitches asked of them. JH Band- The JH band will be joining the grade 6's for the Remembrance Day liturgy on November 9th. Students were given the music this week and have begun to successfully work their way through it. Sorry for not posting last week. I apparently saved it to my drafts folder instead of posting it. It was a mistake on my part and should not happen again. Thanks everyone! -Mrs. B I hope everyone has a wonderful and love filled Thanksgiving!
Grade 5's continue their work on the Bb major concert scale. If you can play the scale, you can play your Christmas song as it only uses the notes in Bb scale. Students are also working to consistently create a good sound moving from note to note. Grade 6's were given a Remembrance Day piece called "Abide with Me" that they will be playing at the Remembrance Day liturgy at the school on November 9th. They can find a recording to practice with under the grade 6 tab. JH's continue to work on their Bb scale and F scale. Their SWYK that was originally scheduled for October 3rd has been moved to the 10th as I was unexpectedly absent on the 3rd. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and see you on Wednesday! (Reminder: no school on Monday or Tuesday) Mrs. B It is hard to believe the end of September is almost here. It seems like we just started!
This week the grade 5's were introduced to their Christmas song. It should be fun! You can find a recording of it under the grade 5 menu options. Take a listen! Grade 6's had a reminder that in band; what you give is what you get. They are working towards the Bb concert scale for their Show What You Know on October 11th. JH have had an excellent start. They have successfully learned two pieces and will (hopefully!) receive their Christmas songs next week. We are off to a great start and I'm hoping we can build momentum as we go! Mrs. B Everyone is starting to get into routine. As a reminder; please see classroom routine for each band class below:
1. Students arrive- get instrument, music, chair, and music stand. They form a circle. 2. If the student is missing a little thing (Valve oil, reed, pencil, etc). They must write their name on the board under their grade. I will look at the board before class starts to help students prepare. 3. If their instrument is broken, they must fill out an "instrument repair form" from the paper holder by my desk. This way I know what is wrong but we don't lose too much class time trying to fix it. Students may borrow an instrument until theirs is fixed. 4. Students warm-up. Grade 5, and JH are working on Bb concert major scale. Grade 6 and JH are also working on F concert major scale. 5. We begin working on pieces. Grade 5's are working on creating a consistent sound in their instrument. Grade 6 is working on successfully playing the F major scale up and down. JH has been sight reading different christmas pieces to work on their sight reading skills. While each grade has their own music to work on, they all have Show What You Know playing demonstrations. The grade 6 and JH had their first SWYK and were very successful. Our grade 5's have their first one next week. Another reminder; lunch time rehearsals are mandatory for grade 5 band students. Mondays- Calrinets and Saxophones Tuesdays- Trombones and trumpets Wednesday- Percussion Thursday- Flutes If three (3) lunch rehearsals are missed, a note will be sent home for a parent to sign, stating that the students will be required to come in every lunch hour for two weeks. The lunch rehearsals are vital one on one time for the students to get individual help. Thanks everyone! Mrs. B |
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