HOMESCHOOL BAND
"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul." Johann Sebastian Bach
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Hello my Marvelous Musicians!
We've had a few weeks to get settled, and I'm loving what I'm seeing! It may sound rough right now, but I promise, I can hear through that and I'm hearing great instrumentalists. I want to give a bit of an update on the band bucks. Unfortunately, I cannot roll any over from last year. In the interest of being fair I have to clean the slate and start fresh. If that concerns you, talk to me in band and we'll chat! What I will do soon is take pictures and we'll have a "virtual store" on our website here and you can browse the products and place orders, and then I will get you your prizes that way. So you won't see the total points on the front page anymore, they'll be in the "store" page. I will post questions of the week and you can answer them each week accordingly, that's how you earn these points. They'll start in October. I'm also striving to post two videos a week onto the videos page. They're just for fun. See you all in band! ~Mr. Harold~
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Write down a personal challenge that you think you would like to complete by December. This must be provable. Keep a copy for yourself and give a copy to Harold.
Senior Continue with the pieces. All of Me, YMCA, When you wish upon a Star and Reflection. Challenge yourself each week with a scale. I suggest you begin with the ones we will be using for the pieces. Intermediate This week Harold challenged us to improve "a little". That could be with a scale, or a fingering that you have been struggling with. KJOS recordings can help lots. Look for the red buttons on the side or at the bottom of the website. Also, he will be using Hymn of Thanksgiving as a kind of test to see where we are at, be sure and practice it. We got to #12 this week. Work on perfecting everything up to there. Beginner Lovely to have most of us in place this week. Please work on perfecting those first 3 notes. We covered lots this lesson, counting Whole notes and Half notes, Embouchure (your mouth) Posture, tonguing and podium etiquette. We completed up to #11 please practice all of the music up to there. If you feel you have that down work ahead 1 page, no more. Embouchure - This is how your mouth and all it's muscles work together correctly to produce musical sound. These muscles are still week causing you to tire easily. We suggest 15- 20 minutes of practice per day to strengthen these muscles. Remember to keep your cheeks tight and flat. Playing in front of a mirror will help you check if your cheeks are ballooning, Posture - Spine aligned, feet flat on the floor, instrument held at correct angle. There is a good picture in the front of your book that will demonstrate. Some of the instruments fell awkward or heavy. Correct posture will help this as well as improve your strength. Tonguing - Correct tonguing is similar to clear speech. Add That "t" to the beginning of each note to make it a clear beginning. Reeds should tap the "t" on their reed, brass and flutes touch just behind the lips to begin each burst of air. Podium Etiquette - This is "manners" for rehearsals. When the conductor is standing behind his stand he is teaching and everyone should be listening and quiet. When the conductor is working with an individual or section of instruments the other members may quietly play their instruments or ask questions of the assistant teacher or fellow members. Please remain in your seats unless you need to excuse yourself to use the washroom or sink. We have 3 students enrolled in Ukulele class so we will begin next week. The Uke class will last for 12 weeks then we will run a new one in January.
What an amazing, exhausting first day! Thanks again to so many of you who worked tirelessly to share our program with others. Please keep in contact with any questions or concerns.
It was challenging to teach with the new measures in place but I trust we’ll adjust quickly. One thing is how the band looks so much bigger than it actually is, all spread apart, lol. There were some faces in beginner band that I didn’t have paperwork for (extra members, yay!) and a few that couldn’t make it for the first week. That will balance out soon. If you are on the website as you read this check out the red buttons (on the right on your laptop or at the bottom on your phone) Beginners may have found the first week overwhelming, there is so much new info the first few weeks! Take the time to read the front few pages of your books and check out the back few as well. You’ll find lessons there that remind you of some of the things we went over today such as posture and how to assemble and disassemble your instruments. You will also see how to care for and clean your instruments. The back of the book has a fingering chart and a diagram of your instrument and where your fingers go. Please refer to the website as well for other tips, tricks and inspiration. On the upper right hand corner of the website banner there is a menu where we post info about ourselves, videos for fun or inspiration and other neat stuff. There are also links to fingering charts on the side (on a laptop) or bottom (on your phone) of the website. Intermediates had their year cut short last year so may have to play a little catch up. Take the time to refresh your memory by looking over the fingering chart at the back and spend time practicing the first 2 pages of lessons. Remember the link to kjos music will help you with how a piece sounds and give you some fun recordings to play along with. Seniors I hope you had as much fun as we did today. I’ll get those promised recordings up as soon as I can. If you are allowed please have your parents share your email with me so you can receive emails directly. Or, bug your mom’s to forward these. I will post this info on the website as well. Looking forward to a great year!!! Feel free to use this site or our personal info to contact us! Thank you for all your hard work in spreading the word! We reached our minimum goal of 20 students today. That said we are always open to more and will keep registrations open until the end of September. The Senior class is very small so we will take experienced students any time.
Please scroll down if you are wondering how we will "play safe" Surprisingly, we have had very little interest in the Uke class, so we may have to scrap that until January. Now - instruments. Some of you haven't made a choice yet, you'll need to do that and rent or buy as soon as you can. Long and McQuade has stores around the city, St John's Music is in the south by Chinook mall for rentals. If you are purchasing please don't hesitate to check with us first as to brand. It would be best to have something for the first class but we understand if you don't. Entry will be through the back door as usual, we're not sure yet about using a separate exit. It's there if we need it, let us know your feeling on the matter and we will accomodate you. Looking forward to meeting you all in person!! We are adding another class to our roster. Harold will be offering a Ukulele class. Suggested age is 6 and up. You will need to provide your own Ukulele. We will be running these for a shorter duration. We're thinking 1 class each semester, likely for 12 weeks at a time. Cost will be 120$ per class. We will be creating a registration form and attaching it to the banner. Also, we will be adding info to the menu. (Upper right hand corner of banner) The class will be at 3 p.m. at the same church as band, on Tuesdays, after band. We will go ahead if we have 5 students.
Please pass this on to your friends. |
Angela Squire
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