Squeaking and Squawking Along!

Greeting from the Band Room! This week was a GREAT one in the SGE and RGS band rooms! All of the students are progressing quite nicely and I’m very pleased with their progress. There are still some students who do not have a lesson book. Everyone should have the book “Measures of Success” Book 1 for whichever instrument they play. Here is what it looks like:

Any music store can get this for you. HERE is the link on my website with a list of all of the local music stores in the area. If you’d rather not drive to a store or order from somewhere online (like JW Pepper or Hickeys), you can always call Quinlan & Fabish at (847) 253-5592. Then our representative, Mary will bring it with her when she visits the schools on Wednesdays.

I hope the bandlings are having a great time practicing and learning how to play the first three notes on their instruments! All of the students have learned how to read these notes on the musical staff.  I’ve really encouraged them to use the CD’s that have come with their books.  I find it is so much more fun to practice with the background tracks! We’ve also started using a program in lessons called “Smart Music.” I’ll write more about this program in next week’s blogpost with instructions on how you can purchase and use it at home if you wish. I started using this program regularly last school year and I encountered a HUGE difference in performance and motivation among my students last year as compared with my previous classes.

Another important thing to mention is the dates of the required concerts for the school year. There was a little confusion about when the SGE winter concert was going to be and now that it’s cleared up, I want to be sure that everyone knows when the concerts are:

SGE Winter 3^rd grade and 5^th grade Band Concert is Thursday, December 13 at 6:30pm in the SGE gym

RGS 5^th grade program and Band Concert is Monday, December 17 at 7:00pm in the RGS gym

RGS/SGE/NMS 5^th and 6^th grade Combined Spring Concert is Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm in the NMS gym.

Each band member is expected to be at these two concerts (their respective December concert and the Spring concert) this year. There will be other opportunities to perform this school year that will be optional. For example, last year some bandlings signed up to play the Lion’s Club Pancake Breakfast in Mchenry in February. It was a lot of fun! The year before, some students signed up to play at a nursing home in April. I will arrange these extra performances during the school year and let you know about them, but anything above and beyond the Winter and Spring concerts will be totally optional.  

One last thing to leave you with is a link to my You Tube channel. I regularly add new videos to my channel and I already have a LOT of videos on there in playlists. (To more easily view all of the videos I’ve compiled, be sure to click on the “playlists” link.) There are a few I’ve made myself, but most are videos that are posted by professional musicians and even a couple of former students! I’d love for you to encourage your children to take a look through the play lists and watch any of the videos, with your supervision, of course! I totally understand that different houses have different rules about what can be done with or without supervision. If you have your student look at any videos, help them to leave a comment on my wall wisher (HERE) about what video they watched and what they thought of it!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and let me know if you ever have any questions or concerns!

 

Amanda Storer

678-6726

astorer@nsd2.com

www.mrsstorersband.weebly.com

A Really BIG Band!

Did you notice the title of my first blogpost of the year? I titled this post "A Really BIG  Band" because between the two schools, I have over 105 band students!! That is a number I have not seen in a long while! Maybe even ever! It's going to be a great year!

Depending on which school your child goes to, you may have had over a week of new bandling sounds in your house, or you may have just started to have the beautiful sounds of beginning band practicing in your house! Whichever is true for your household, I hope your child(ren) have been enjoying themselves! First lessons at SGE went really well on Tuesday! Most students are supposed to be practicing page 4 in their books. You can find out what their homework is by looking at their practice record. Every week at the end of the lesson, each student marks down the date and what their homework is on their practice record. They are then required to keep track of how many minutes they practice each night and get that row signed each week before their next lesson. Most RGS students had their practice records signed and ready to go during their second lesson this week, but some did not. I do check practice records each week and record how many minutes and whether or not it was signed in my gradebook.

I'm sure you have, but please take time to talk to your child about their band lessons and how it's going. Any encouragement and positive comments you can make to your bandling about their progress is going to pay off exponentially in their attitude and motivation! I try and be as positive and encouraging as I can be, but I do only see the bandlings one time a week! I need your help to keep them going the rest of the week.

Once we start working on page 5 in the book (most the RGS students are practicing page 5 & 6 THIS week!) the students can start using the CD's that have come with the books. This usually makes practice sessions more exciting. You can even load the whole CD onto an ipod or a tablet and then they can take the device and use it with headphones and play along! Playing with the CD is great because it gives the student help with intonation (playing "in-tune") and a good sense of steady beat.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call or email! I'm happy to talk with you. Enjoy yourselves this weekend!

Mrs. Storer
678-6726
www.mrsstorersbands.weebly.com