I hope you
all had a nice long weekend with your children last week! Some students really
upped their practicing during their 4.5 days off! But quite a few of my students
did not have practice records filled out or signed. It's the beginning of the
second quarter now. It's not a good idea to be starting with two zeros for
practice records. Filling it out and getting it signed is an easy way to get a
good grade in "Preparation" (assuming they actually did practice,
though!)
Now that
it's the second quarter, I've upped the ante with incentives for practicing 80
minutes or more each week and for coming to their lessons prepared. I've given
each of the band students have a chart to keep with their practice records and
books. At every lesson, if they come with all of their materials (instrument,
book, music, signed practice record) they will get signed off on their chart.
After 6 sign-offs, they will get ribbon for the Bronze Attendance Award. After
12 is the Silver Attendance Award and after 20 is the Gold. Similarly, there is
a chart for when they practice 80 minutes or more in a week and there are
bronze, silver and gold ribbons for the Practice award as well. Hopefully this
will encourage the band students to be practicing harder and always be
prepared.
With our first concerts only 5
weeks away (12-13-11 for SGS and 12-15-11 for RGS! Are they on your calendar
yet??), I'm starting to count how many full band rehearsals we have left. At
SGS, we have 4. At RGS we only have 3!!! It's the week of Thanksgiving that puts
the RGSers at a disadvantage. I'm not sure if you noticed on the schedule that I
WILL BE AT RGS ON TUESDAY MORNING, November 22 for a few lessons so that I don't
miss those kids all together. I want to have a full band rehearsal BEFORE school
that morning. It is totally optional and your child will not be penalized or
marked down for not attending. But for those students who can make it, there
will be an extra full band rehearsal for RGS students ONLY at RGS on Tuesday,
November 22 at 8:00am.
Please encourage your child to
continue practicing! They have to start building the muscles and endurance to
get through a whole concert! Full Band rehearsals and lessons have been like
sprinting the 50 yard dash: short spurts of activity. The concert is a marathon!
If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to email or call.
Have a great weekend!
Amanda Storer
678-6726
