Hello Band Parents! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and that your bandlings got in some extra practice performing for the extra family and friends that were around! The next three weeks are BUSY (all CAPS mind you!) This week is the first "Band Buddies" gathering on Thursday at Spring Grove School from 4:30-6:00. This is another totally optional meeting but instead of just a full band rehearsal, band members from the high school will be giving small group lessons to my band members. After 35 or so minutes of that, then we'll have a short full band rehearsal to cement things up for the concerts! If you'd like your child to participate on Thursday and you haven't sent in the form, simply send a note to me at school or email me and let me know who will be attending.
Next week brings the concert as SGS on Tuesday, December 7 at 7:00pm. Band members should report to the library at 6:30 to warm and tune up for the big night! Concert dress at SGS is black and white. If you'd like to make their outfits a little festive for the occasion, red or green as a top is fine too. Remember, we share the night with the choir and the 3rd grade musical.
The last week of school before Winter Break brings the concert at RGS on Thursday, December 16 at 7:00pm. Because it is shared with the 5th grade musical, all 5th graders will meet in their classrooms that night. Before the band members make their way to their classrooms, they should stop by the cafeteria to assemble their instruments. The play will be performed and then the band will perform their portion.
Band t-shirts will be in soon! Band members should wear their band t-shirts to school on the day of the concert. Much like football players and cheerleaders in high school will wear their gear on the day of the game, we want to build spirit within our group on the day of the concert.
I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to seeing everyone at the concerts! Please let me know if you ever have any questions or concerns.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Epidemics, Smart Music and You Tube
The bandlings sounded GREAT this week in their lessons! I can't believe how much progress we've been making! Good thing, too, because our concerts are coming up! Remember, Tuesday, December 7 at SGS and Thursday, December 16 at RGS.
Speaking of practicing, I'm going to be purchasing a really cool web-based program called Smart Music. Learn more about it by clicking HERE to go to the website. I've been thinking about purchasing it for a while now and a couple of weeks ago, when the RGS 5th grade was on a field trip, I went and observed another teacher in my husband's school district who uses it with his 5th graders. He had a Smart Board, which made it even cooler, but I can still use it with just my lap top with the 5th graders. The program has everything in our book in it and the students can play the music from their screen with a cursor, if they wish. There are multiple accompaniment styles to choose from for each song. So think of playing Jingle Bells with a ragtime feel, or a latin feel, or a march feel, etc. The coolest thing I saw was a group of clarinetists playing Jingle Bells, then when they were done, the program recorded and assessed their performance! They got a 98% and the kids were beaming! Another group got 67%, not bad considering there were about 6 students playing at the same time! On the screen after their performance were the notes they played correctly in green and the notes they played incorrectly in red! What an innovative way to practice! If the students like it in class, you may consider purchasing the student version, it is MUCH less expensive than the educator version.
Many of the students are very familiar with You Tube, so I created my own "channel" on the site. Click HERE for the link. If your child is allowed to, have them take a look at the videos I've posted. There are playlists for every instrument (almost done getting every instrument on there) and there are videos of the two longer pieces we're playing for the Winter Concert. Today, I showed some of the students a video in my "Clarinet Playlist" of a man making a clarinet out of a carrot! Of course, there are also videos of serious musicians, as well! Have fun watching these!
I have to address one thing, and I HATE to even bring it up. There have been a few people in the last few weeks that have quit band. This happens for many reasons, although I think it's pretty early to be throwing in the towel at this juncture. There is not anyone in either of the bands who are struggling so much that they should quit, or are beyond catching up. There aren't even that many people who are really behind at all. I STRONGLY encourage you to keep encouraging your children to stick with it. A parent recently voiced a concern that their child wasn't practicing much at home. I tried to explain that some weeks the students will need more practice than others and that as long as they can keep up in lessons and full band, I'm not worried. Just like anything, there will be hills and valleys. Band is such a great thing for your child to be involved in, not only now, but once they are in middle school and hopefully even high school! Encourage, encourage, encourage!
I hope you have a great week, and as always, let me know if you ever have any questions or concerns. Remember, T-shirt forms are due next week!
Speaking of practicing, I'm going to be purchasing a really cool web-based program called Smart Music. Learn more about it by clicking HERE to go to the website. I've been thinking about purchasing it for a while now and a couple of weeks ago, when the RGS 5th grade was on a field trip, I went and observed another teacher in my husband's school district who uses it with his 5th graders. He had a Smart Board, which made it even cooler, but I can still use it with just my lap top with the 5th graders. The program has everything in our book in it and the students can play the music from their screen with a cursor, if they wish. There are multiple accompaniment styles to choose from for each song. So think of playing Jingle Bells with a ragtime feel, or a latin feel, or a march feel, etc. The coolest thing I saw was a group of clarinetists playing Jingle Bells, then when they were done, the program recorded and assessed their performance! They got a 98% and the kids were beaming! Another group got 67%, not bad considering there were about 6 students playing at the same time! On the screen after their performance were the notes they played correctly in green and the notes they played incorrectly in red! What an innovative way to practice! If the students like it in class, you may consider purchasing the student version, it is MUCH less expensive than the educator version.
Many of the students are very familiar with You Tube, so I created my own "channel" on the site. Click HERE for the link. If your child is allowed to, have them take a look at the videos I've posted. There are playlists for every instrument (almost done getting every instrument on there) and there are videos of the two longer pieces we're playing for the Winter Concert. Today, I showed some of the students a video in my "Clarinet Playlist" of a man making a clarinet out of a carrot! Of course, there are also videos of serious musicians, as well! Have fun watching these!
I have to address one thing, and I HATE to even bring it up. There have been a few people in the last few weeks that have quit band. This happens for many reasons, although I think it's pretty early to be throwing in the towel at this juncture. There is not anyone in either of the bands who are struggling so much that they should quit, or are beyond catching up. There aren't even that many people who are really behind at all. I STRONGLY encourage you to keep encouraging your children to stick with it. A parent recently voiced a concern that their child wasn't practicing much at home. I tried to explain that some weeks the students will need more practice than others and that as long as they can keep up in lessons and full band, I'm not worried. Just like anything, there will be hills and valleys. Band is such a great thing for your child to be involved in, not only now, but once they are in middle school and hopefully even high school! Encourage, encourage, encourage!
I hope you have a great week, and as always, let me know if you ever have any questions or concerns. Remember, T-shirt forms are due next week!
Monday, November 8, 2010
T-Shirts, Band Buddies and the CSO
I hope everyone had a great 4 1/2 day weekend! I joked with the bandlings this week that I'm SURE they would be spending all of that free time practicing their instruments! I hope they spent at least SOME of the time doing that, though!
I enjoyed getting to speak with the couple of people who stopped by to see me during conferences last week! Before I left RGS on Thursday night, I put order forms in the RGS bandlings boxes in their classrooms. Be looking for them to come home today, I would assume. I'll hand the order forms out to the SGS students tomorrow. Otherwise, if you want to be totally on top of things, click here for a link to the form. The shirts look great and they are only $5!
On Friday, I met with the new band director at RBCHS, Mr. Stiles and we planned a great after-school program that we'd like to start doing once a month or every other month, called Band Buddies. It will be during the afternoon/evening at one of the two grade schools and it will be a pairing up of High School Band members with the 5th graders. We did it once, just to try it out, last year and both the 5th graders and the high schoolers LOVED it! In fact, a lot of the high schoolers have been asking to start it back up. That was always our intention, but we wanted to get the marching season out of the way. Be looking for a note to come home about that this week.
On Saturday, my husband and I went to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it had been since we've been there! You would think that both of us being music teachers, we would go see and hear live music much more often. But, with jobs and little kids at home and the expense of tickets, etc. we don't go very often. But when we do, we are always so energized and inspired. I encourage you to seek out concerts to take your children to. I've posted all of the concerts for NSD2 and RBCHS on my website HERE. Definitely check out other local ensembles, like the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Crystal Lake Community Band, Chicago Brass Band, Lake Geneva Symphony and others for holiday concerts. Click HERE for a link to my website with the links to many more ensembles in Chicagoland. My husband I couldn't help but point out to each other that all of those professional orchestra members we were watching were once beginners themselves.
I'm looking forward to a great week! We're really starting to make progress with our concert music! Only 4 weeks until the SGS concert and 5 weeks until the RGS concert! Please remind your bandlings to come to school prepared with their instruments and music on band days! And if you haven't turned in the form for the Band Connection website, please do so this week! I would love to start posting and sharing at the end of the week! If you can't seem to find that form, click HERE for a new copy.
THANKS for all you do!
I enjoyed getting to speak with the couple of people who stopped by to see me during conferences last week! Before I left RGS on Thursday night, I put order forms in the RGS bandlings boxes in their classrooms. Be looking for them to come home today, I would assume. I'll hand the order forms out to the SGS students tomorrow. Otherwise, if you want to be totally on top of things, click here for a link to the form. The shirts look great and they are only $5!
On Friday, I met with the new band director at RBCHS, Mr. Stiles and we planned a great after-school program that we'd like to start doing once a month or every other month, called Band Buddies. It will be during the afternoon/evening at one of the two grade schools and it will be a pairing up of High School Band members with the 5th graders. We did it once, just to try it out, last year and both the 5th graders and the high schoolers LOVED it! In fact, a lot of the high schoolers have been asking to start it back up. That was always our intention, but we wanted to get the marching season out of the way. Be looking for a note to come home about that this week.
On Saturday, my husband and I went to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it had been since we've been there! You would think that both of us being music teachers, we would go see and hear live music much more often. But, with jobs and little kids at home and the expense of tickets, etc. we don't go very often. But when we do, we are always so energized and inspired. I encourage you to seek out concerts to take your children to. I've posted all of the concerts for NSD2 and RBCHS on my website HERE. Definitely check out other local ensembles, like the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Crystal Lake Community Band, Chicago Brass Band, Lake Geneva Symphony and others for holiday concerts. Click HERE for a link to my website with the links to many more ensembles in Chicagoland. My husband I couldn't help but point out to each other that all of those professional orchestra members we were watching were once beginners themselves.
I'm looking forward to a great week! We're really starting to make progress with our concert music! Only 4 weeks until the SGS concert and 5 weeks until the RGS concert! Please remind your bandlings to come to school prepared with their instruments and music on band days! And if you haven't turned in the form for the Band Connection website, please do so this week! I would love to start posting and sharing at the end of the week! If you can't seem to find that form, click HERE for a new copy.
THANKS for all you do!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wicked Witch of the Far NW Suburbs...
The title of the post, unfortunately, refers to how I felt after each of my full-band rehearsals this week. I had to come down on the bands a teensy bit about behavior during full band rehearsals. I don't know if it was Halloween looming in the air? The change in the barometric readings? Actually, it's been adding up for the last couple of weeks and this week, finally came to a head.
I know, I know, there are 44 and 55 students in each of my groups and they ALL have noisemakers, it's not going to be like a library in rehearsal! I don't expect it to be. Every teacher has his or her own comfortable level of "background noise" if you will. With music and, more specifically instrumental music classes, there will be more than "traditional" classrooms. Here are my rules: If I'm NOT on the podium, students may talk, chit chat, but not play their instruments. If I AM on the podium, there should be no talking or playing unless we are discussing something together. Depending on the group, that first rule changes. If I can depend on members of the group to not blast their instruments, make silly noises on purpose, etc, then I will allow a little practicing inbetween songs. My groups this year aren't ready for that, at least not yet. I just wanted to give you a head's up in case you heard any mentionings sort of like, "Man, Mrs. Storer let us have it today," etc...
One exciting happening this week was that we are going to be getting Band t-shirts! One of the band parents this year has a great business and will be printing off t-shirts for us! I think it will be a great way to foster pride within our groups! Look for order forms to be going home, hopefully, next week!
One more very important thing to mention is concerning the PB works website I'm constructing called The Band Connection. Hopefully you all received the note I sent home with the bandlings this week about this. In review, I've make a website that will share pictures, videos and audio recordings with the members of that site. It is a password-protected, invitation-only type of deal. The pictures, etc. will not be on the internet for everyone to see. Only people invited by me (you parents, teachers and administration of NSD2) will be able to access it and everyone will need their own username and password. My hope is to include you as parents into what we do in the classroom and rehearsal room through the pictures and recordings, so you can really be an active participant in your child's progression this year. Here's a link to that note I sent home with a permission slip that should be turned in ASAP. I'd love to get it up and running in the next two weeks! Please send the permssion slip back on Monday, if you haven't already.
Have a great weekend!
I know, I know, there are 44 and 55 students in each of my groups and they ALL have noisemakers, it's not going to be like a library in rehearsal! I don't expect it to be. Every teacher has his or her own comfortable level of "background noise" if you will. With music and, more specifically instrumental music classes, there will be more than "traditional" classrooms. Here are my rules: If I'm NOT on the podium, students may talk, chit chat, but not play their instruments. If I AM on the podium, there should be no talking or playing unless we are discussing something together. Depending on the group, that first rule changes. If I can depend on members of the group to not blast their instruments, make silly noises on purpose, etc, then I will allow a little practicing inbetween songs. My groups this year aren't ready for that, at least not yet. I just wanted to give you a head's up in case you heard any mentionings sort of like, "Man, Mrs. Storer let us have it today," etc...
One exciting happening this week was that we are going to be getting Band t-shirts! One of the band parents this year has a great business and will be printing off t-shirts for us! I think it will be a great way to foster pride within our groups! Look for order forms to be going home, hopefully, next week!
One more very important thing to mention is concerning the PB works website I'm constructing called The Band Connection. Hopefully you all received the note I sent home with the bandlings this week about this. In review, I've make a website that will share pictures, videos and audio recordings with the members of that site. It is a password-protected, invitation-only type of deal. The pictures, etc. will not be on the internet for everyone to see. Only people invited by me (you parents, teachers and administration of NSD2) will be able to access it and everyone will need their own username and password. My hope is to include you as parents into what we do in the classroom and rehearsal room through the pictures and recordings, so you can really be an active participant in your child's progression this year. Here's a link to that note I sent home with a permission slip that should be turned in ASAP. I'd love to get it up and running in the next two weeks! Please send the permssion slip back on Monday, if you haven't already.
Have a great weekend!
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