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SCHOOL BANDS |
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Last updated 08/20/2008
WMS Bands - Memorial Day, 2004 - nice straight lines!
Wow - hard to believe it is almost time for school to start! Our annual "Band folder stuffing party" is Thursday, August 21 from 11:00-noonish. If you are available to help me stuff the folders, I'd love to see you - parents, former and this year's students, and siblings are welcome! The more we are, the faster we get the work done.
Folders will be ready to pick up anytime after 12:00 on Thursday, August 21. They will be in crates on the stage in the caf. Stop by and get yours. Even if you don't pick up your folder, get your instrument out and practice some! You will be happier if you haven't left it in the closet all summer!
Parents, get a jump on the fall paper work! The BAND MANUAL is posted and you can read it online and send in the form the very first day of school and have that all done!
Thanks to all who helped make the Band Awards Breakfast successful! It was a great cumminating event, and I could not have done it without all of you helping!
Jazz Band to IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) Festival. CONGRATULATIONS to the jazz band for a gold medal rating! Bravo!!
It is important for the young musician to take some time off during the summer, but if the instrument never gets taken out of the case for weeks on end, the student will be VERY behind in the fall. Here are some summer suggestions:
Many people ask about the Jazz Auditions... Auditions for 2008-2009 jazz groups will be in September with an open rehearsal for everyone interested on Tuesday, September 9, 2:30-3:30. Auditions will begin the following Monday, September 15, and run for the week. Audition time signups will be available on September 10. Follow the link for more detailed info.
PRACTICE: Early in term three we did a workshop on Practice Practicing. Efficient practice is a skill and it needs to be practiced, so that isn't as silly as it sounds. Students should be filling out a "Practice Practicing" sheet that was passed out at the workshop and it is due this week. Sheets may also be done for enrichment.
Students should be practicing every day, even on band and lesson days. BUT... I tell them if it is a really busy day (soccer practice, religious ed, dance lesson and tons of homework!), just play for 5 minutes. It helps keep the practice habit going. Practice sheets are optional, but every 10 minutes over 150 minutes in a week counts for a point of enrichment (10 points max) and I love to see what the students are doing for their practice, even if it isn't for enrichment points. New practice record sheets are available in the band room or printed from the website (follow link).
Thinking about private lessons? It is a GREAT idea for all students! Advanced students, behind students and average students all benefit. Follow the link for a list of teachers in the area. In 99% of cases, middle school students should be working with an adult and not with one of the high school tutors. Talk to me if you are unsure...
Looking to purchase some music?
Good music stores are hard to find these days and I, personally,
really miss being able to walk into a store and browse for things..
There are a couple of really good on-line stores -- Sheet
Music Plus and JW
Pepper are two of them. If you access Sheet Music Plus
through this link, I get an 8% rebate from your purchase, which I
will be putting into our instrument fund* at
school. I haven't used Sheet Music Plus enough to personally know
that it is a good source, but it was recommended by MENC (our music
teachers national association), so I have trust in the site. JW
Pepper is where I purchase our band music.
*What is the instrument fund? I used this fund for many things: to purchase a percussion instrument or music that we need midyear after the budget money is gone, to purchase an instrument we need, but can't afford in the budget (our new drumset, a piccolo...), to purchase the year-end awards, to give a deserving student a scholarship for private lessons for the summer, to purchase supplies for the digital recording team's work, and to fund other things that come up. This year, I hope to purchase a trophy case for our awards and pictures; we used to have one, but it got literally covered up by wall board as the new theatre was being built!
Be sure my email addresses are in your
address book so that your spam programs don't kick out my messages!
Home: muffitt@bandnotes.info - and during the daytime, School:
muffitt@wayland.k12.ma.us
Thinking about Private
Lessons? Follow the link to a list of teachers in the
area. If you know of other great teachers that should be on the list
- let me know. By the time students are in middle school, they should
be studying with an adult teacher who really knows how to teach and
knows pitfalls to watch for and knows ways to help solve problems.
Our high school tutor program is fantastic for motivating the young
player, but in middle school, it is time to move to an adult.
Email/call me if you have questions.
Looking for practice
charts? Follow the link. Be sure to fill out
EVERYTHING (times, what was practiced, signatures, name...). Practice
charts are not required, but I do like to see how much students are
practicing and any practice over 150 minutes a week counts as
enrichment points toward the student's grade.
Practicing...
sometimes fun, sometimes a chore. Parents, you children do need you
to nag because there are often days when other things would be more
fun, but the practice must be done. MINIMUM is 5 days a week for 20
minutes -- more if the student wants to progress and become a really
fine player. Rehearsals and lessons do NOT count as practice. On a
busy day, have the student do 5 minutes, just to keep in the
habit.
Practice is not just running over pieces, it is working carefully and slowly over small sections of the music, over and over and over again. For suggestions on efficient practice see the section, Practice Practicing. Even if you are not a musician, you can help your child by asking him/her to play for you and encouraging working on tough spots.
MusicTheory.net - this site helps you learn almost everything there is to know about
reading music! Need help learning to read the note names? Want to
learn more about advanced chords? Want to learn to compose with minor
scales? It's all here for you
High
School Pages -- info (Jr. & Sr. District,
All-State, links) for our HS students.
How about a music/arts
camp for this summer! Check our listing and maybe go
visit -- it's funny, I created this camp page years ago for Wayland
kids and it still turns up at the top of the pile when searching for
music camps! I get requests at least once a month for me to add some
place to the list, so it is quite extensive!
There are some interesting concerts coming up; see
below for more info
I like my band students to intellectualize about a piece
before they play it. Sometimes we focus on "hearing with our eyes",
but as we (Symphonic Band) began the piece, Tame the Savage
Sea by Elliot Del Borgo, I asked the students to write a
paragraph about what would this piece sound like if
YOU were the composer. I asked them to think about a
story line and talk about instruments and musical techniques that
they might use. What I got back tells me that they are truly
beginning to understand how music works! This is only a small
sampling of wonderful work I got from the kids; there are at least 25
others that I would be equally glad to post here -- the choosing was
a bit random.
WGBH has a wonderful webpage demonstrating five
instruments from Japan; you can click on their
pictures individually to hear the sound, or put more than one
together to create a larger composition. Try starting with one or two
and adding others after a few measures, then deleting some, etc. See
what you come up with! While looking at instruments and music from
other countries, check out our pages on "Music
From Where?" It includes Chinese music, traditional
Jewish music & Klezmer, Latin American Music and music from
India.
Private lessons really help you improve - they are good for all
levels of students. Beginners and those a bit behind can catch up,
intermediate students can become our better players and advanced
players can become our superstars! See the Private
Lesson Teacher List on the website for suggestions.
Middle school students should have adult teachers, not the high
school students. The high school tutor program is great for
increasing the interest level of the elementary students, but the
high school students do not have the expertise to actually teach.
A lot of people have been sending me concert announcements, so I have
created a new concert
announcement section on this page.
Some interesting pages on our website that relate to what we
have studied recently are:
Looking for music supplies?? See our list of
local music stores.
Buying a new instrument?? Don't just buy
off the shelf! Get help from your child's private teacher or band
director; you don't want to end up with one of the "Band Quitter
Models" - see below for more info.
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Rhythm Reading - Thoughts about why it is important, how to get better at it and some practice sheets with MIDI files & a sheet of correct counting. Test yourself! |
Also posted here are: private
lesson teacher list, Practice
charts, Practice Practicing
sheets and many other useful info. Go to WMS
Band Info for a more detailed listing.
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& INFORMATION |
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Announcements+++Continuing Announcements & Information+++Table of Contents WMS Band Info +++ General Info & Links +++ Tidbits+++ Info from WMS Band Manual High School Pages+++ Non-Band Members+++Website Purpose+++Camps |
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Parents - there is also a lot of wonderful info for parents of musicians. You will find music terminology for nonmusical parents of musical kids. You will find questions to lots of other questions you might have like, what age is best for starting an instrument, practicing music vs. sports, supporting advanced musicians, waning interest, etc. (08-13-01)
Alfred Publishing Company puts out a lot of really great music theory books & software and "How-to-Play" books and software.
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Announcements+++Continuing Announcements & Information+++Table of Contents WMS Band Info +++ General Info & Links +++ Tidbits+++ Info from WMS Band Manual High School Pages+++ Non-Band Members+++Website Purpose+++Camps |
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I have reorganized the index page in hopes that it will let this first page load faster. The tables of contents have been moved to separate pages (does it help? suggestions??):
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Return to top of
page
Announcements+++Continuing
Announcements+++Table
of Contents
WMS
Band Info +++ General
Info & Links +++ Tidbits+++
Info
from WMS Band Manual
High School
Pages+++ Non-Band
Members+++Website
Purpose+++Camps
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College / University Music Education students, click here... |
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Diane Muffitt: muffitt@bandnotes.info |
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Visit the Wayland Public Schools site http://www.wayland.k12.ma.us |
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