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 3rd grade and 5th grade Band
Concert is Thursday, December 13 at 6:30pm in the SGE gym
RGS 5th grade program and Band Concert is Monday,
December 17 at 7:00pm in the RGS gym
RGS/SGE/NMS 5th and 6th 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
No comments:
Post a Comment