This will be of special interest to Kaiah! Every instrument has a "family" of instruments which give soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. As I have said in class, the lower voices are foundational. It would be nice to have a trumpet player switch to TC Baritone next year: the fingerings are the same! Here is a fun video show the very rare bass and contrabass flutes:
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I have corrected the quiz on note names and fingerings. Some of you did VERY well. Good job!! Others need to study a bit more. All the notes are ones found in our three concert pieces we are working on: Beethoven, Greig, and Dvorak. I have added fingering charts which you can study (besides the ones in your books) under the "home" tab: if you hover over it, you'll see "forms" pull down. Click there, and the files are attached at the bottom of that page. I encourage you to continue to know how to remember names of notes, how they are played on your instrument. Practice each note in your music as a whole note, listening to the sound to make it mf and steady sound. Make flashcards for the notes and for the fingerings to drill. Use the many online resources I have given you. Musicracer, for example, has both note recognition AND fingering drills. If you simply spend 5 minutes a day on each of these, you will be amazed at how much better your recognition and playing of these notes improves!!! Eight rehearsals until our concert!!! Ms. Karen Tally points are given for:
attendance participation assignments practice time private lessons concert attendance participation in music groups Our class time is Monday and Wednesday from 7:45 am - 8:55 am. As we continue to work on music for showcase, it is imperative that each student knows that they are very important to our ensemble. With such a small group, we notice when one is missing. We miss their contributions both in discussion and in our ensemble sound. Please make an effort to be on time and be sure to sign in on the attendance notebook when you come. Some students are doing assignments and coming to class. A few of you even attend concerts. I have been giving you some concert dates on the weekly assignment page. I am concerned that I am not getting the note identification and other assignments. We only have so much time in class, and I would really rather use that time on fundamentals of ensemble playing, posture, breathing, hand positions, playing music. I give assignments of videos that in other situations we would watch as a class during band. However, I do not want to take that time away from us making music. I give very short written reflections in order to know that you actually watched the video, and to know what you learned from it. Sometimes, the videos are just for you to see what a typical developed sound on the instruments is, so that you have a reference/goal to strive for. These are designed to take 15 minutes (or less!) to do. I assign online drills of note identification and rhythms, again, because class time needs to be used for music making as an ensemble. Occasionally, I give specific assignments, as I did last week, in order to gauge your progress. I also created a Quizlet site with specific items related to our class. We had a written test of Quizlet 3 in which most students did not know the material...so I gave the test again on Wednesday. We are moving forward, and will be learning more and more, so knowing the basics is an important foundation for being able to move forward as a team. Again, 15 minutes a day online between video and drills is required. Practice 15 minutes a day: many of you do more than that, and that is great! I give specific practice instructions both verbally in class, and on the "weekly assignments" page here. I think it is obvious that you need to practice in order to develop your embouchure, good breathing habits, and work toward that typical sound of your instrument. Finally, everyone is supposed to possess a Theory book. This was communicated at the beginning of the year. Last I checked, there are two at the front desk, you simply need to pick one up. This gives me another way to see if you understand the notes, rhythms, and basic music elements. I asked for books to be turned in Friday, and received two books. Where are the rest? Since we do not have grades in this class, the tally point reward is your incentive. As you have seen, these rewards are given to the top three students. The prizes are pretty nice, too! Please use the tally sheet here, OR create your own. You should be adding to it weekly, not trying to reconstruct it at the end of our units! Also, you MUST have a parent signature. Last time, I received one without a signature, and sadly, could not count the points. Let's all do our best to practice, do the assignments, including video, online, and theory along with practice logs. I wonder if someone could break 100 tally points this time?? Ms. Karen You can count 3 tally points for attendance. Just provide a program for credit. I got this from Dr. Southard this morning:
On Friday, 4/21/17, at 7:30PM, the Hope College Wind Ensemble and Faculty And Student Collaborative Ensemble (FASCE) will be giving their final concert of the year. The program consists of my recent arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov`s Symphony No. 2 "Antar," the Midwest premiere of Oliver Caplan`s Krummholz Variations, and David Maslanka`s Symphony No. 4. We are live-streaming this concert and I hope you will join us electronically! The link is: hope.edu/live ~ Dr. Gabe Southard Happy Spring! Finally some sun. We have to take the rain, too, it's what makes the flowers grow, right?
Today, we will be working on "In The Hall of the Mountain King", and putting together Beethoven (#116 in TE) Also, be prepared to hear our clarinets' solo as a duet, and to retake the Quizlet Unit Three test. We will have some members on their way to Costa Rica, so please be on time and be ready to work today. Ms. Karen George Gershwin was a fantastic American Composer. One of his most known pieces is: Rhapsody in Blue, which was originally written as a piano solo. Trumpet players will especially like this recording. How many different trumpets does Brandon play here? By the way, he and his dad (Rich) on piano, arranged this piece themselves. Happy Monday! I trust you all had a good weekend and were able to spend time with family for the Holy Days.
Some announcements for Band: Due today: Theory 12, video response papers, and music theory challenge. Today we will choose new classroom helpers at 7:45. Be there on time today, we have a LOT of preparation to do before May 24. Tally Point Winners: 1) Gabe (69) 2) Trina (53.75) and Hannah (49) Honorable Mention to: Kaiah (46), Elizabeth (48) and Eshwar (43) Also: Good job, Kaiah and Elizabeth for PERFECT ATTENDANCE!! WEDNESDAY: There will be a test on the terms in Quizlet 3 (from your books, pg 4-9) If you lose your Dvorak or Grieg pieces, you can print another on www.osfabb.com www.osfabb.com NEW TIME: FOR ALL STUDENTS: 7:45 am - 9 am
If this is difficult for whatever reason, please be here by 8:05 at the latest. Also, remember your Grieg/Dvorak paper along with the tally sheet! Paper needs to answer these questions: What is the mood of this piece? Why do you think so? What creates that mood? Is it the instruments? tempo? dynamics? mode (major or minor)? Rhythms? What did you notice especially in each piece? Do you have any questions about the pieces? 1/2 page on each piece. See you soon! Ms. Karen |
AuthorKaren Yonkers, musician and teacher Archives
December 2017
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