Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Introducing: Classroom video clips
This week we are adding some video clips to our classroom blog. For most parents and family members, your first opportunity to hear the complete piece of music that a student has been learning is at the concert. The students have been polishing their technical and musical skills for many weeks before this concert. The video clips we are adding today and in future weeks will show you the process of learning new music. On these clips, you will see the first step in the process: sight-reading. After a few minutes of teaching students some of the main themes in a new piece, the students "sight-read" the piece. This is often a confusing step for students since they are trying to interpret the rhythms, notes, dynamics, and bowings of their own part while hearing different notes and rhythms from other sections. I hope that you will check out the progress of the students on their new music as they prepare for their concerts in February.
Mrs. Buehl
Mrs. Buehl
2nd period 7th grade orchestra
The Concert
Our concert, last Tuesday, was fabulous. We played four songs from around the world. Our first song is called Sansa Kroma. It is from Africa. It is a children’s song as well as a game of passing a stick around the circle. It is a very energetic song with many different harmonies. Another of our songs is Arkansas Traveler which is from Arkansas. It is a familiar tune, but was challenging to learn because we had a hard time keeping a steady beat. Ms. James, our student teacher, picked out, taught us, and conducted this piece. Our third piece is Ahlan Sabaya Alfarah. It is from Jordan. There are many interesting features including ostinato patterns, percussion parts, solos, and using our instruments to make other sounds than what was intended for them to do. Our final piece was Riding the Rails. It is from the United States. This piece is definitely a favorite. It uses a D.S. al coda, which is a new feature for many of us.
After we played, the eighth graders had their performance that included three songs that were very unfamiliar to us. They did a really good job. In fact, one of their songs was from Japan, and two of the girls in eighth grade made Japanese rice balls for the audience and students.
All in all, our concert was very successful. We had a lot of fun and got to see how much we will improve over the next year. Our parents were so proud of us. It was great!
Abbie, Annie, Carissa, Katie, Grace, and Megan
Our concert, last Tuesday, was fabulous. We played four songs from around the world. Our first song is called Sansa Kroma. It is from Africa. It is a children’s song as well as a game of passing a stick around the circle. It is a very energetic song with many different harmonies. Another of our songs is Arkansas Traveler which is from Arkansas. It is a familiar tune, but was challenging to learn because we had a hard time keeping a steady beat. Ms. James, our student teacher, picked out, taught us, and conducted this piece. Our third piece is Ahlan Sabaya Alfarah. It is from Jordan. There are many interesting features including ostinato patterns, percussion parts, solos, and using our instruments to make other sounds than what was intended for them to do. Our final piece was Riding the Rails. It is from the United States. This piece is definitely a favorite. It uses a D.S. al coda, which is a new feature for many of us.
After we played, the eighth graders had their performance that included three songs that were very unfamiliar to us. They did a really good job. In fact, one of their songs was from Japan, and two of the girls in eighth grade made Japanese rice balls for the audience and students.
All in all, our concert was very successful. We had a lot of fun and got to see how much we will improve over the next year. Our parents were so proud of us. It was great!
Abbie, Annie, Carissa, Katie, Grace, and Megan
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
7th period 7th grade orchestra
Dec 2, 2008
Orchestra
Taylor Timmens,
CeeCee Herale,
Taylor Espich
What Happened in Orchestra in the last 2 Weeks
We had our first concert of the year for the seventh and eighth graders. We will be having a little party next week with bagels. We had lots of nice pieces that we played. There were a few fumbles during Arkansas Traveler, but we managed to pull it together. Right now we’ve been working on sight reading and playing different pieces and warm-up scales and arpeggios in our colored binders. We had lots of time to play over the long weekend for Thanksgiving break. Hope you had as much fun as we did!!!
Tuning is becoming more difficult as the climate becomes colder, even though altogether we’re improving our ears by being able to hear the right note. In our small groups we’ve been also working on bow exercises and choosing our recital pieces if we haven’t already.
Orchestra
Taylor Timmens,
CeeCee Herale,
Taylor Espich
What Happened in Orchestra in the last 2 Weeks
We had our first concert of the year for the seventh and eighth graders. We will be having a little party next week with bagels. We had lots of nice pieces that we played. There were a few fumbles during Arkansas Traveler, but we managed to pull it together. Right now we’ve been working on sight reading and playing different pieces and warm-up scales and arpeggios in our colored binders. We had lots of time to play over the long weekend for Thanksgiving break. Hope you had as much fun as we did!!!
Tuning is becoming more difficult as the climate becomes colder, even though altogether we’re improving our ears by being able to hear the right note. In our small groups we’ve been also working on bow exercises and choosing our recital pieces if we haven’t already.
Monday, December 1, 2008
6th period 8th grade orchestra
David Hallinan, Mike DeBaker, Andrew Jend
This last week in orchestra we perfected our pieces that we were going to play in the concert. Our concert was on Tuesday we played three pieces. Those pieces were A Scottish Journey, Japanese Lullaby, and Toccatina. We took Monday and Tuesday to work on them. On Tuesday we had a large group and combined the two eighth grade orchestras to practice our pieces. In the concert we had our student teacher Ms. James conduct Japanese Lullaby. We played very well in the concert and we played especially good on Toccatina and we counted well and played our notes well. We had only two days of school before our Thanksgiving break. So we didn’t have small group lessons. That’s all for today folks!
This last week in orchestra we perfected our pieces that we were going to play in the concert. Our concert was on Tuesday we played three pieces. Those pieces were A Scottish Journey, Japanese Lullaby, and Toccatina. We took Monday and Tuesday to work on them. On Tuesday we had a large group and combined the two eighth grade orchestras to practice our pieces. In the concert we had our student teacher Ms. James conduct Japanese Lullaby. We played very well in the concert and we played especially good on Toccatina and we counted well and played our notes well. We had only two days of school before our Thanksgiving break. So we didn’t have small group lessons. That’s all for today folks!
4th period 8th grade orchestra
Lisa, Dani S., Sarah Jacobs, Greta, Lizzy
Last week we had our concert at the high school. We played Japanese Lullaby, A Scottish Journey, and Toccatina. I think we did very well. Mrs. Buehl said that we played Japanese Lullaby the best we have ever played.
We had a large group rehearsal for our concert on Tuesday and it went very well. There we worked on final touches like dynamics and accents. J
We are all looking forward to playing our ensembles in our next concert!
Can’t wait for the Bagels either – Especially Lisa and Sarah!!! YUMMY!!! J
Last week we had our concert at the high school. We played Japanese Lullaby, A Scottish Journey, and Toccatina. I think we did very well. Mrs. Buehl said that we played Japanese Lullaby the best we have ever played.
We had a large group rehearsal for our concert on Tuesday and it went very well. There we worked on final touches like dynamics and accents. J
We are all looking forward to playing our ensembles in our next concert!
Can’t wait for the Bagels either – Especially Lisa and Sarah!!! YUMMY!!! J
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