"Oh, you wanted me to fill that practice record out?"

I heard this a lot this week! However, about 2/3 of the band students DID remember to fill out and have their practice records signed for this weeks lesson, so GREAT JOB! At SGS, my stapler broke in the middle of the day and at RGS, I ran out of staples at one point, but most students have their practice records stapled inside the front cover of their lesson books. At the end of every lesson, the students write down the date and what they should be practicing for homework in their practice record. Then during the week, they should be recording the number of minutes they have practiced each day. I told the students to shoot for 80 minutes each week. That's 20 minutes, 4 days a week. Some kids did A LOT more than that! I was incredibly impressed!

Before the next lesson, the filled out practice record should be signed by an adult. If the practice record isn't filled out AND signed when the student comes in for the next lesson, they will receive a 0 in my gradebook for that week's practice record. Once it is signed, it is no longer counted as a 0.

I made some audio recordings of some of the lessons groups! You can find them on my webpage in the attachments section of the "Recordings" page, or just click here. When you click on the recording, you can either just play it or save it to your computer. I will be recording the students frequently throughout the year. If you save them all, at the end of the year you can burn a CD of your child's and groups progress throughout the year! It will most definitely be astonishing!

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns! Have a great week!

New Routines

Hopefully your family is getting used to the new sounds coming from your band member and their instruments! Everyone in band knows how to play the first three notes, found on page 6 of their books. Even though we haven't gotten to the actual songs in their books, these three notes are the notes that are used to play "Hot Cross Buns" and "Mary Had a Litttle Lamb." Challenge your child(ren) to try and figure these songs out by ear!

Some things that I noticed this week in lessons...

1) There were quite a few students that forgot their instruments and/or books. I was really surprised. This didn't leave me very hopeful for the future! I know it's new, but please help your band student(s) remember to bring their instruments on the correct day. They will also need their book with them and starting next week, a signed practice record.

2) Puffy cheeks...Every instrumentalist (except for flutes) should have a firm mouth while they are playing. Corners in, chins flat and no puffy cheeks. Flute players have a more relaxed mouth, but still should not have puffy cheeks. Observe your child(ren) while they are playing and watch for inflated faces! Encourage them to play in front of a mirror to check.

I'm still working on getting all of the videos onto my website. I run them through TeacherTube.com and the site was acting weird this weekend. It wasn't loading my videos. It's a very time consuming process, please bear with me. If your child's instrument videos ARE up, view them frequently to check notes, hand position, posture, etc.

Mrs. Storer is CRAZY!

Today I had my clarinet lessons at RGS and because of the assembly, they were very rushed! The first lesson started late, which made the other late, etc. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off! Hopefully the clarinet players learned and remembered SOME of what I showed them today! I've made a couple of videos that show what I "taught" in the first lesson today (and one or two things I might not have gotten to because of time) You can access them from my website

http://sites.google.com/site/rgsandsgeband/Home

Click on the "Above and Beyond" page and then you'll see the "Instrument ONLY!" pages. Find the instrument your child plays to watch a video or two. There's even a fun little quiz your child can take over the information that they saw in the video. I don't have videos for all of the instruments, but I will soon! Maybe even be the end of the weekend! Have a great weekend everyone!

Band is in Full Swing!

Band lessons have started this week at both schools! I have to say that I am VERY impressed with the talent I've seen so far! For example, flute lessons are usually very slow to start and we don't usually even learn any notes until the 2nd lesson, but all of my flutes learned how to play D this week and they could all do it! (Now let's see if they remember where to put their fingers!)

I hope that your children are having fun with their new instruments this week! It won't be long before the squeaks and squawks are real, recognizable songs! I really want to have a great line of communication with the parents and a forum for sharing what we are working on and how lessons are going. Please subscribe to the blog, add it to your bookmarking engine or simply check back weekly. And, as always, let me know whenever a question or concern comes up!

Band Sign-Up is Tonight at Spring Grove School!

This afternoon is the Band Sign-up for RGS and SGS. Parents can come anytime between 3:30-6:30 to meet me, rent an instrument or order any other supplies your child may need. Tomorrow morning I will be sending notes home with schedules for lessons which start next week. If you don't come to the sign-up and I don't receive an email, I won't put your child's name on the schedule. If you can not make it, please email me as soon as possible!

I'm very excited to meet everyone!