Friday 8 January 2016

Welcome Back!

Reminders:
- Students involved in Junior Select Band - Dates are Jan. 28-30
- Junior Winds students Jan. 22 is our performance for Chinese New Year

Jazz Band and Junior Winds
-Grade 6 Jazz Band will rehearse on Monday from 4-5 in the band room at Campbell
- Grade 6 Junior Winds will rehearse on Wednesday from 7:30-8:30.m. in the Band Room at Campbell
-Grade 7/8 Jazz Band will be Tues. 4-5p.m. in the Jazz Room at Campbell
- Grade 7/8 Jazz Band will be Wed. 4-5p.m. in the Jazz Room at Campbell
- Grade 7/8 Junior Winds will rehearse on Thursday from 7:30-8:30a.m. in the Band Room at Campbell

This Week in Grade 6 Band 
(Massey, Grant Road, McVeety, RCS, and Perry)
This week was about getting back into a routine.   Grade 6's worked in their blue books on Page 13 and 14.   We used these pages to practice playing musical dynamics, to work on pick up notes and to practice a low Concert G note.    When we practiced dynamics we also learned that playing soft is very hard and takes a great deal of air control.    We learned that often the perhaps of pickup notes is to place the emphasis on a note that is not the first note of a piece.    And we learned that low notes often take a little more focused air to make speak.  For many instruments the low notes are quite tricky.  

We are beginning to work on our sheet music.   The Grant Road and Perry Grade 6's have two pieces of sheet music they will be working on.   They are Shaker Hymn and Courtly Dance and Procession.  We worked on the beginning to 17 of Shaker Hymn.  Students were asked to practice 27-43 of Courtly Dance and beginning to 17 of Shaker Hymn.   These two pieces have two different key signatures and so we have been practicing reading Concert Bb key signature and Concert Eb key signature.

The Massey, McVeety and RCS grade 6's also have two pieces they are working on.   Ayre and Dance and Courtly Dance and Procession.   We practiced the new key signature in Ayre and Dance (Concert Eb) and worked on the first part (or the Ayre).    Students were asked to practice beginning to 33 of Ayre and Dance, and 27-43 of Courtly Dance and Procession.  

This Week in Grade 7 Band
(Massey, Grant Road, McVeety, RCS, and Perry)
The Grade 7's came to band ready to work and did some really great work this week.   We are beginning to work on our Optimist pieces.   These pieces are Incantation and Ritual and At Twilight.  This week we spent most of our time on Incantation and Ritual.    Our goals were to work on phrasing and some of the dynamic changes.    We are working very hard at learning to control our soft playing.  

At Twilight is very exposed and is quite tricky.   We will be concentrating our time on this piece next week.   Students are asked to take a look at their exposed sections and encouraged to listen to a recording of it online.  

Grade 7's were also given the piece called Pandora.   This is a hard piece.   We will be working at in small sections.     We worked a little bit of the opening.   It has a key signature that we are not used to playing in and so we have spent quite a bit of time working on reading it.  

Grade 7's are reminded that we will be doing maintenance checks on their instruments over the next few weeks.     This means that we will be checking to make sure all brass slides move and valves are being oiled regularly.   Woodwind instruments will be checked to make sure corks are being greased and that extra reeds are ready to go.   Flutes will be checked to make sure their cork is in the right position.    

This Week in Grade 8 Band 
(Masey, Grant Road, McVeety, RCS, and Perry) 
The Grade 8's had a good rehearsal this week and are in the process of getting their Optimist pieces ready.    The two pieces they are playing are Spania and Rippling Watercolors.   Students are reminded that we do not have much time before the Optimist Festival - 7 rehearsals, and so are reminded to practice.  


No comments:

Post a Comment