Band Assignement due 10/31/13

Beginning Band:

Be sure to have your instrument, stand, care kit and pencil for class on Oct. 31.  I will have your Essential Element books ready to give you that day.  I'm so excited about our first day with instruments!!!

- Practice "Amazing Grace" and more with CD and without.  We have two students with black belts now.  I'd love to have all of you with them next week!  =-)
- BE SURE TO LEARN YOUR NOTE NAMES AND FINGERINGS THOROUGHLY THROUGH PRACTICE. DON'T GET BEHIND!

I'm super proud of the evidence of practice I see.  Keep up the great work!Karen

Advanced Band:

Great rehearsal yesterday. Please continue to learn your parts.

October pass-offs continue with Andrew. I'm glad Andrew is due to get his cast off soon! Andrew, thanks for coming to band and being such a great band groupie while you healed!

Continue to practice your scales daily.

Study and memorize the Circle of Fifths worksheet.

Rhythm and Beyond book: p 15. Complete written exercises. Study and play these rhythms on a single pitch.

Practice all of the sheet music: Pictures, Korean, Armed Forces, Processional, Hornpipe.

Order of rehearsal: Pictures, Hornpipe, Armed Forces, Korean, Processional.

Band Assignment due 10/24/13

Beginning Band:

Much accomplished in a short time today- thanks to our awesome students!  Everyone has just about decided the instrument they intend to play.  Be sure to have your instrument, stand, care kit and pencil for class on Oct. 31.  I will have your Essential Element books ready to give you that day.

- Practice "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and more with CD and without.  I'd love to have more black belt recipients in
  class next week!
- BE SURE TO LEARN YOUR NOTE NAMES AND FINGERINGS THOROUGHLY THROUGH PRACTICE.  We
  will be adding on more new notes next rehearsal.  DON'T GET BEHIND!

Intermediate assignment:
Practice both scales, GMEA style, with arpeggios.
Continue to practice all of your pieces....we will play each one next week.
Thanks for working on them! Y'all sound FABULOUS!!

Advanced Band:
Our music is starting to shape up nicely. Please continue to learn your parts.

October pass-offs continue with Nate and Matt. This will happen at the beginning of our rehearsal.

Continue to practice your scales daily.

Study and memorize the Circle of Fifths worksheet.

Rhythm and Beyond book: p 14 Syncopation. Complete written exercises. Study and play these rhythms on a single pitch.

Practice all of the sheet music: Pictures, Korean, Armed Forces, Processional, Hornpipe.

Order of rehearsal: Pictures, Hornpipe, Armed Forces. If we have time we will rehearse the other stuff.

Two rehearsals remain before our first concert!

Band Assignment due 10/17/13

Advanced Band Assignment:

Nice progress was evident today!

We have only three rehearsal days until our concert at Iris Place. The Fall Concert is the week after that on November 14.  Keep up the good work!

October pass-offs continue next week. Daniel and Matt will play 8 major scales.

Warm-up: Nothing is more important than a good warm-up session before beginning your practice.  Brass should rotate through all the lip flexibility exercises in Hilliard. Katie, regular warm-up. Andrew, continue to rotate through the Chromatic Warm-ups that begin on p14 of Hilliard. Play in whole notes slurring the two notes of each bar and breathing at the bar line. Proper breathing will help all of you increase your lung capacity.

Scales: Your are responsible for learning the GMEA scales for your grade level plus chromatic scale entire range of your instrument. These (major) scales are your October pass-off!  We will have two people a day pass-off their scale sheet beginning October. Remember if want grading for credit all pass-offs are required.

Link for scales and etudes (print out): http://www.gmea.org.php53-10.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/band/all-state-band/

 Continue to work on the circle of fifths worksheet. Study and memorize.       

Rhythm and Beyond book:  Read and study p12-13. Complete all written work and exercises.

Sheet music: Hornpipe, Pictures at an Exhibition, Armed Forces, Processional, Korean Folk Rhapsody. Learn your parts with attention to dynamics and articulation. I'm depending on you to know your parts on all of these pieces! 

Just for Nate:  Practice rudiments with metronome. Demonstrate 4 rudiments for class next week, your choice. 12 major scales on bells. Your pass-off will include (in addition to scales) 4 rudiments of your choice. Here is a link to a website that has all of the rudiments with video:
 http://www.vicfirth.com/education/rudiments.php
Watch and learn.

Intermediate Band:
Practice both Eflat and Bflat scales.
Practice ALL of your pieces...."Armed Forces on Parade", "Declaration and Dance", "Waltz of the Weiner Dog", "New South Wales", and "America" (in Essential Elements)....be prepared for a pass-off on "Declaration".

Beginning Band Assignment:

Wow!  Lots of pass offs Thursday!  Please be sure to practice some every day.  We have a concert coming up on Nov. 14 during which we will perform on our recorders.  I am listening for the pieces you play really well...

- Work on breathing exercises we did in class.  Remember Fat Albert/Superman breath!
- Always practice good posture and hand position
- Don't forget to avoid squeaks and problems by:
  1) using "steam the window" trick when blowing air into recorder
  2) squeezing fingers to form recorder warts on fingers (make sure pads of fingers are flat on holes)
  3) articulate by saying "tu"
- Practice "When the Saints Go Marching In" and more with CD and without.
- BE SURE TO LEARN YOUR NOTE NAMES AND FINGERINGS THOROUGHLY THROUGH PRACTICE.  We
  will be adding on more new notes next rehearsal.  DON'T GET BEHIND!

* Instrument testing will occur this coming Thursday, Oct. 17.  Please make every effort to have you and your student at this rehearsal.  I hope to have everyone decide on their instrument that day.  I hope the students are as excited as I am!  =-)