Last week, the students in the groups that meet every day had sectionals on Wednesday. I worked with the different sections of the orchestra (1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos and basses) of the pieces that they will be playing for the concert. When the students were not in a sectional, they spent time brainstorming ideas for the classroom blog and then took turns typing in their contributions.

Mrs. Buehl



Four Royal Dances
4 sections/dances called The Knight, The Lady, The Jester, and The Lord.
There are different dynamics and speed.

Activities
We do a lot of scales.
One person tunes and everyone follows.

Word Wall words we have been learning:
Solo – in all of the songs
Fugue – In Fairly Fugal
Sforzando – In The Knight

Erica, Juliana, Danielle, and Caroline did it yeah!
“The Four Royal Dances”
“The Four Royal Dances” is a beautiful four part piece that throughout, paints images of dancing nobles from the renaissance times. The four included nobles are the loyal lord, the weeping lady, the jubilant jester, and lastly the heroic knight.

Word Wall
We have learned many musical terms like suspension. Suspension is where there is a clashing or tense sound that is usually resolved within the next note or so with a major chord or sound. Another word that we learned is subito. Subito is the musical term meaning when a dynamic is immediately changes to the next dynamic or temporarily to a new way of playing.

Activities in Class
Some of the different activities that we do during class is the warm up using different keys and rhythms going up and down, sometimes in a round or canon. During some days we come together in smaller learning groups called our learning communities. In those groups we talk about terms or words on the world wall or do different activities. Finally we rehearse together as an orchestra different pieces in sometimes breaking off for a minute or two so one section can practice a section more one-on-one with the teacher.

By: Taylor, Katie, Gloria, Marlee, Bradlee

One Song we have been practicing is “Four Royal Dances”. It has 4 movements, The Lord, The Jester, The Knight and The Lady. This song is only being played by the kids that are in orchestra every day.

Warm ups consist of a scale (f,g,a,b,c,d,e,f,g,a) and we sometimes switch accidentals on the notes. Sometimes we play a tune from one of the songs we are learning.

In small groups we are first starting up with practicing vibrato and ending with practicing measures in all the songs we are playing for the November concert.

By: Lauren .W, Courtney .W, Kaitlyn .W and Tori .S.

The four royal dances is what we play on everyday orchestra. We practice each movement carefully, especially the knight because it's the hardest. We learn even more from the clues we see on the board when we guess the song we are going to practice. Sometimes they are word wall works, which are musical terms that we may not know, but we’ll learn. Before every class we tune our own instruments and do a warm up. The worm up helps teach us hard rhythms and gets us ready to play.

By: Daniel, Gabby, Tori, and Ada


By: Dani S, Anne M, Finnley R, Isaac J, David S, Carissa G
Ellis Island is one of the pieces we are playing this fall that has a long story to the whole piece. Ellis Island shows immigration and hardships that immigrants had to face while leaving their country and settling in the new world. To others in our group it told a story about the immigrant’s struggle of getting to and out of Ellis Island and surviving in the new world. This piece has a very fast speed with lots of triplet notes, making it difficult to count. Many problems we personally have are counting after a certain spot that was especially hard to read. But we learn from our mistakes and make new ones to fix until we have the piece perfect sounding. We are working hard to stride high with this piece and hope our parents will enjoy it!


By: Allie, Abby, Becca, Corey
By the way…VIOLINS RULE!!!

We are learning a lot of pieces right now, but one challenging piece is called Ellis Island. It sounds like it is about a family immigrating to America. The high violin part sounds like the family is amazed at what they see, and the low cello/bass part sounds like the guards who either let immigrants in or send them home. Some challenging parts in this piece include measures 73-79, where the violin 1 part has to play in 3rd position! We all are getting better and better at our playing, so the concerts this year will be great!

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

Caitlin, Tabitha, Kyle, Julie, Mary, Hannah

Our small groups started this week. Small groups were fun and helped us get better at Hero’s Journey and The Arethusa.

Our songs are very challenging. Some of the challenges are playing in 6/8 in Hero’s Journey, bowings in Reverie, and playing flats in Farandole.

Every day we start with a warm-up. Ms. Buehl has rhythms on the board and someone chooses an articulation and a dynamic from the wheels. We also played fiddle tunes that we learned in past years. We play scales and themes from our pieces. Each person has a chance to come up to the podium and be the tuner.

Ms. Buehl doesn’t tell us the title of the songs we are playing, she gives hints about the songs and we have to figure out what it is.

We have a word wall in our classroom and we have learned legato, reverie, col legno, and ostinato.

End of the year thoughts from 7th and 8th grade students

I asked students in both 7th and 8th grade orchestra to write a short poem about one of three topics related to orchestra class: write about a specific piece of music we played, write about a goal that they worked on during the year, or write about orchestra class in general. The poetic form I asked them to use is called a cinquain. The poem uses one word in the first line, two words in the second line, three words in the third line, four words in the fourth line, and one word in the last line. Some of the students also gave their poem a title. Here is a selection of poems on each of the three topics. I think it is a great way to end the school year.

Poems about a piece of music


Brandenburg Concerto
Daniel Rau

Moving
Tricky fingerings
Fast paced rhythms
Hard to keep tempo
Fun


Russian Sailor’s Dance
Rachel Guenther

Ballet
Red Poppy
sfz, chromatics, poco a poco
Are some musical terms
Fun


Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Marlee Rolfsmeyer

Complicated
Very fun
Lots of practice
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Amazing


Brandenburg
Erica Whittenberger

Fast
Hard challenging
Fun quick advanced
Bouncing
Cool old famous
Skillful



Poems about orchestra class


Orchestra
Ada Lam

Interesting
Learning Communities
Word Wall Vocabulary
Very Helpful New Technique
Knowledge


Mariah Martin

Orchestra
Key signature
Tempo, volume, sound
Violin, viola, cello, bass
Music


Rachel Hughes

Orchestra
Come everyday
So much fun
Violin, viola, cello, bass
Musical!


Maya Irvin-Vitela

Loud
Music Filled
Rough and Smooth
Through thick and thin
Music


Jess Kutz

Challenging
Fun, interesting
Best, cool, music
Sweet, inspiring, viola, practice
Amazing


Orchestra
Lauren Wysocky

Interesting
Fun challenging
A new language
Different things to learn
Enjoyable


Orchestra 08-09
Cosette Sommers

Together
Working hard
Practicing our vibrato
Playing Ahlan Sabay Alfarah
Together


Mickala Hardy

Fun
Awesome teacher
Bagel days yummy
Creative best class period
Orchestra


Orchestra
Lizzy Temte

Smooth
Smooth, lovely
Harmony melody perfect
Flowing notes all together
Japanes Lullaby


Cordel Weber

Fun
Really fun
Really really fun
Really really really fun
Sleep!

Emily Forster

Orchestra
Playing music
Lots of fun
The bagel parties rock!
Instruments


Danielle Rockwell

Awesome
Worked hard
Fun in class
Built may new skills
Wonderful


Scout Harrison

Orchestra
Beautiful music
My favorite class
Learning cool new things
Fun


08-09 Orchestra Class
Taylor Anderson

Educational
Very fun
Mrs. Buehl rocks
My place to be
Amazing


Danielle Slusser

Orchestra
Fun times
Where I belong
I will always remember…
Orchestra


Orchestra
Greta Greisinger

Orchestra
Fun times
Learning a lot
Getting bagels after concerts
Memorable


Lisa Johnson

Bagels
Asiago, cinnamon
So many choices
Now time for cream chesse
Yum


Farewell to 8th grade orchestra
Sarah Kutz

Orchestra
Strings resounding
Beautiful polyphonic sounds
I’ll miss this class
Goodbye.


Emily Johnson

Orchestra
Cool music
Mrs. Buehl rocks!
Candy for your birthday
Orchestra



Poems about a goal

Reading Notes
Allie Greene

Hard
Brain hurts
Talk to Mrs. Buehl
Flash cards BIG help
Easier

My Goals
Danielle Wagner

Goal
Be louder
When I play
Use a longer bow
Relax


Goals
Brooke Debroux

Vibrato
Loose, relaxed
Learned new techniques
Worked on good exercises
Improved


Maddie Vogt

Vibrato
Is impossible
How can you
Move that ridiculously fast?
Crazy

6th period 8th grade orchestra

Danielle Steinberg
Katie Fischer
Sarah Kahl
Andrew Jend

Hour 6
At the concert we played Telemann Sinfonia, Fughetta in G, Symphony No. 8, and The Blacksmith. In the Sinfonia piece there was tension/release, hemiolas, and suspension. In the piece, Fughetta in G, there were subjects, countersubjects, pedal notes, and augmentation.
We all thought we played well. A few things to correct on our performance are, staying together, staying in tune, and keeping tempo.

Hannah Muller
Danielle Wagner
Mike DeBaker (who bakes)
David Hallinan

Hour 6
At the concert we played The Blacksmith, Symphony No. 8, Fughetta in G, and Telemann Sinfonia. In The Blacksmith there was syncopation in the 2nds, violas, and bass. There was also a lot of rhythmic complexity. There were rests in weird places, and notes after those rests. We learned how to count better with this song. Overall we thought the concert went very well and we learned a lot with these songs. We have come a long way this year and everyone has improved in some way.

4th period 8th grade orchestra

Alice Ripberger
I really loved playing Sinfonia at the end with the whole OMS orchestra. The sound was so much bigger than it was when we played it in class. It was more fun to play in a large group.

Lisa, Lizzy, Greta, Dani
The hardest song was Fughetta in G. Everyone hit all the notes and did a great job with the rhythm. On Sinfonia the 7th graders weren’t as strong with the dynamics so the 8th graders had to step in with dramatic dynamics!!! J


Danielle R., Claire, Tess, Emily
We did a pretty good job on the Blacksmith but we could have made the notes sound better at the beginning, as well as being together at the end of the piece. We love Mrs. Buehl cause she is awesome!


Amber, Zack, Ethan, Cordel, Amanda, Emily J, Taylor
We thought it was a very good performance of Fughetta in G. We did well on the 16th notes and didn’t mess up too much. The basses were okay (says Cordel).

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

Today the students listened to a recording of their concert and reflected on the pieces they played and ways to improve in future performances. The learning communities posted these comments about the concert:


Abbie Milski, Megan Guthmiller, Annie McBride, Carissa Goodwick, Katie Boehnen

One of the pieces we played was Boogie Man Blues. It included 3 improvisation solos. We also have an improvisation outcome that we have to do with the twelve bar blues next week. It includes three main scales. We did a good job on it!

Nick, Mason, Dan, Bradley, Blaine,

In Brandenburg……although it was very hard and tricky, we did a great job, but sometimes we sped up and slowed down and sped up again. All in all we did a good job and most importantly we had fun.

Morgan, Danielle, Rachel, Mariah, Gloria AWESOMEST GROUP EVER!

We have a lot of things to work on. Two main things that we need to work on is dynamics and staying together.

Abby, Ada, AJ

We have few things to work on. Mostly to have our dynamics stronger and to have our dynamic changes and accents more noticeable. We could work on doing up bows and down bows the right way (doing them when it says to) because when we don’t it looks sloppy.

Gabby, Michelle, Tori, Chloe, Karley

We have all really enjoyed the concert and we all thought that we did a lot better than we expected and we could have done better on Brandenburg.

Caroline Katie Rebecca Carol Anne Jeni, Juliana

We thought even though Brandenburg was not one of our strongest pieces, we thought we did a good job. The only thing we could work on is our tempo.

7th period 7th grade orchestra

Blogging 7th period
Maddie Klonsinski
Cee Cee Herale
David Sievers

In the past two weeks during orchestra we have done many different activities. In small groups we have been working on vibrato and improvisation. We are working up to an improvisation outcome coming up in May after our last concert.
In our larger group we have been just working on our pieces. In one of our pieces called Boogieman Blues we use improvisation on the twelve bar blues. In the piece Brandenburg Concerto #3 we have primarily worked on certain areas and this has improved playing. We have worked on another piece, Russian Sailors Dance on dynamics. Some examples are the violins working on getting to a complete forte.
Next we are working on the composition outcome. We are making new sounds with our instruments. Then we are making certain symbols for the sounds we are making.

6th period 8th grade orchestra

April 21, 2009

Mike, Andrew, and David

This last week in orchestra was very interesting. We got something new called a practice booklet and in that we had to write down what we wanted to practice. At the end of the year we are going to have a special surprise and the special surprise is going to be for our famous composer Franz Schubert. We have been working on Vibrato and that is when you play a long note and make it sound kind of shaky. Also we had to mark out when tension happened in our piece Symphony Number 8. Tension is when the different sections make a chord or when you make it sound like a horror movie song. All of our different instruments are working on a different type of playing such as shifting, thumb position, and violas are working on playing in treble clef. Andrew is the best player in the whole class. In Fughetta we talked about pedal notes and that they were when you held a note for a really long time. We also talked about subject and counter subject and what they were. So that is what we have been working on in orchestra.

4th period 8th grade orchestra

April 21, 2009

This week in orchestra, we have been doing our transposition outcomes. This is when you change a song into another key. After we complete the transformation, we play it in a different style, such as fiddle, jazz, or swing. Another thing we did was work on vibrato; this adds a thick and frothy texture to the musical piece. We have also been focusing on tension in our piece called Symphony no. 8. Tension is rising action, adding a certain mood to the piece. To enhance our musical abilities the cellos have been working on their thumb position. The violins on the other hand have been working on third position. In the piece Fughetta (written by our very own Mrs.Buehl), there is a subject and also a countersubject. The countersubject is the opposite of the subject.

Cordel and Alex

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

April 21st 2009
Rebecca, Carolanne, Katie, Jeni, Juliana, Caroline

We started our composition outcome, for our compositions we have to make up new sounds. We also practiced chromatic scales. What are chromatic scales you may ask? Well, a chromatic scale is to not just play whole steps but, the steps or notes in between also. We have chromatic scales in Russian Sailors Dance. We also worked on going faster in Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, especially with the eighth notes. Improvisation is something we also work on. We follow a 12 bar blues form and improvise on it and make up songs! We do a song called Boogie Man Blues that includes some measures of improvisation and the twelve bar blues.

7th period 7th grade orchestra

March 24th


Large group- In our large group for the past couple of weeks we have done many different things. For example we have gotten a new piece called Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. This piece was originally written by Johan Sebastian Bach, and recently arranged in 1976. We started our new small groups and have done more things with SLC items for orchestra. We have been taking more time out of class to work on those types of things. Now that spring is coming around the instruments aren’t as out of tune.

Small Group- We started working on bow exercises again. We also work on the pieces and perfecting the tune. We will be working on these things until our last concert coming up in early may. Although we are working on most of these things several people forget about their small group and don’t come. Every time you miss a lesson its -10 points.


By:
Maddie Klonsinski
&
David Sievers

6th period 8th grade orchestra

Danielle Wagner, Hannah Muller, Sarah Kahl, Sara Raemisch
3-24-09

The past couple weeks we have done a lot of things in orchestra. We just had our capitol concert; we did very well. We are working on some new songs called Blacksmith, Telemann Sinfonia, Fughetta in G, and Symphony NO. 8. We also started the Target Practice booklet where we have to write things we need to practice each week. We can write how many minutes we practiced and get a signature for extra credit. We have to play very complicated rhythms and shifting.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

4th period 8th grade orchestra

3-24-09

THE LAST TWO WEEKS
By Lizzy, Danielle, Greta and Lisa

In the last two weeks we’ve done a lot of things. The most exciting thing was definitely our concert at the Capital. It was really fun and we did very well. After the concert we turned in Japanese Lullaby, Scottish Journey, Hero’s Journey, Waltz of the Wicked, Toccatina, and Galena Milwaukee Breakdown. Now we are working on The Blacksmith, Telemann Sinfonia, Symphony No. 8, and Fughetta in G. We have also been working on vocabulary words in class including poco a poco, contrary motion, parallel motion, augmentation, arco, pizzicato, D.C. al coda, and pedal note. We got our target practice books two weeks ago and we are working on filling them out. We fill them out with what we need to practice for that week. We then show Mrs. Buehl what we have practiced and if we actually practice and our parents sign our book, we get extra credit. The target practice books help us a lot! We also redecorated Mrs. Buehl’s office window with really pretty flowers and sunshine and the words “March Madness.”

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

March 24, 2009
By: Karley Tomkins, Tori Swenson, Michelle Peterson, and Gabby Proto.

We learned about vocabulary, and we did a work sheet, most of the class didn’t know the word augmentation meant. We are also learning about chromatic scales and they are scales that include every note, and you move in half steps. We have a lot of songs, like Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, The Boogie Man Blues, Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen, Telemann Sinfonia, and Russian Sailor’s Dance. We are playing Telemann Sinfonia with the eighth graders during our May concert. We have been working on vibrato in our small groups. We also have been working on practicing more. So now we have practice books that we have to write in every week. We have also been learning how to use more bow. We also have been learning about Baroque music, Baroque bows, and strings.

8th grade Capitol concert

Here are some clips from the 8th grade concert at the Capitol on Monday. Enjoy!

7th period 7th grade orchestra

By: Taylor Timmens and CeeCee Herale
03-06-09
This week in orchestra class we had lots of fun. We got new music, new seats, we had a bagel party, and more! Some of the music we got is Russian Sailors Dance, The Boogie-Man Blues, and Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen. Taylor’s favorite piece is Russian Sailors Dance and mine is the same. What we like about this piece is the way it is written and the and the main part. Our bagel party was this week. Taylor had a cinnamon sugar bagel and I had chocolate chip bagel. There were many types of bagels the we could choose from. Mrs. Buehl got the bagels from Einstein Bagels. We got the party because after every concert we get a bagel party for doing such a great job.

6th period 8th grade orchestra

Annie
Brooke
Katie
This week in…….PRACTICE BOOKLETS
This week we are starting a new practice booklet during small group. Every week, we will write in what we need to practice for the week. This will help us when we are practicing at home. Mrs. Buehl will check off when we do this and show it to her.
YOA FAVOWIT STUDENTZ




HANNAH
DANIELLE


CONDUCTING OUTCOME

For the last couple of weeks, we have been learning how to conduct in 4/4 and ¾ time. We also learned how to cue and cut off, while still conducting. To help us get used to it, and practice, we said our names and addresses while conducting. This Tuesday and Wednesday, we had our conducting outcome. We had to conduct a 4/4 song such as Frere Jacque and Scotland’s Burning in a round. We also had to conduct a ¾ song such as America or German Folk Song. During the conducting outcome, we had to cue in parts and cut them off. Everyone will pass!!! :D ♥♥§§
~The most amazing people in the world!
♥ ya!

New Músiç!

Mike and David
We played some new music this week. Some of the new pieces are symphony 8, and the blacksmith also the Telemann Sinfonia. We will be playing those and others from past concerts at the capitol!!!

4th period 8th grade orchestra

Solo and Ensemble

On Saturday March 7th, Solo and Ensemble is taking place at the Oregon High School. Many of the Oregon Middle Students will be taking place at this event. Some of the eighth grade students are, Zack Petrie, Brooke Debroux, Emily Johnson, Taylor Anderson, Amanda Cody, Katie Fischer, Sarah Kutz, Scout Harrison, Alice Ripberger, and Maddie Vogt. At this event, a student plays their instrument for a judge, and the judge will give them a rating. A 1 is a gold, 2 is silver, 3 is bronze. We’ve recently been practicing at school, and preparing for this event.

-Emily Johnson and Alice Ripburger

Target Practice Booklets

What’s purple and has a target practice icon waiting for you on every page? If you guessed a target practice booklet, you were right! All your have to do is write down what you need to practice each week, and then have Mrs. Buehl check it in small group. There is even an extra credit opportunity, for those who are seeking a better grade! Every week, we can write down how long we practiced, and have a parent sign it. Isn’t that invigorating?
- Claire Joyce & Emily Forster

The New Songs

We have three new songs this week. Woo! They are Symphony #8, The Blacksmith, and Telemann Sinfonia. In Symphony #8 the cellos have a tricky part at the beginning. They have to work on shifting in measures 1-8. The violins and violas need to keep the sixteenth notes steady. In the Blacksmith we have tricky rhythms. We need to work on those and also counting. In Telemann Sinfonia everyone has to work on keeping a steady tempo. Don’t speed up and don’t slow down.
- Danielle Rockwell & Ethan Rausch!

Capital Concert

We are very excited to go to the capitol concert on March 16th, 2009. We are leaving around 11:15 and returning around 2:30. We are playing six songs: Waltz of the Wicked, Toccatina, A Scottish Journey, Hero’s Journey, Japanese Lullaby, and Telemann Sinfonia. We have practiced long and hard to perfect these pieces. After our concert there will we be going to eat at Noodles & Co. I am very excited about the mac and cheese at Noodles. Yay! :D
~Amber, Cordel, Danielle, and Greta.

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

March 6, 2009

Recently we have had a recital involving several pieces which were selected by each group; they were very classical. Sadly though, many people missed this fantastic concert because they had recently been to Upham Woods in the cold, giving them the flu. For others there was a bug going around and unfortunately it was around the time of the concert.
This concert had two pieces involving the entire orchestra. Those pieces were titled Variations on a Well Known Sea Chantey and An English Folksong. Variations of a Well Known Sea Chantey was based on the song Drunken Sailor with 11 variations that went from slightly different to a completely different tune.
An English Folksong was a piece that was written in strophic from which means that it is music that is performed the same with slight differences throughout the verses.
The pieces that groups of students played on their own were mostly classical. Only two solos were performed that night and they were done by AJ Quamme who played a repetitive piece that was done beautifully she played amazing and was accompanied by a pianist, and Abbie Milksi who was also accompanied by a pianist and played a very difficult piece. Overall this concert was a wonderful experience and we hope to do this for many years to come. See you next time!! BYE!!!

By -Annie McBride, Carissa Goodwick, Katie Boehnen, Megan Guthmiller, Abbie Milski.

Let's Focus on Practice!

February 26, 2009

I just finished reading the orchestra students' third quarter goals and making an extensive list of ideas to incorporate into both our large group and small group instruction. One goal that came up numerous times on goal sheets of both 7th and 8th grade students was practicing more often.

Practice is never fun but is necessary for so much of what we do, whether we are learning to play a musical instrument, figuring out the quirks of a new software program, or practicing for our first driver's license exam. Practice is the nuts and bolts foundation that makes the actual "doing" easier, more successful, and more enjoyable. Practicing is certainly not my favorite thing to do, but I know that I need to spend the time on my Madison Symphony music in order to be a strong contributor to the concert performance. When I know the music well, I also enjoy performing it so much more.

Starting this week during our small group instruction time, I will be giving students a booklet that they can use to write down what they need to practice for the week. Each student may have different pieces and different sections of pieces listed, since each student has unique skills and various levels of ability on their instrument. Students can choose to focus on their orchestra music or on some of the new skills they are learning: shifting, thumb position, learning to read music in a new clef, practicing a new bow articulation, vibrato, etc. Students can choose to write down how much they practice or they can merely use this booklet to help them focus on short term goals for their practicing.

I hope that this will help students think about practicing more and I also hope that this tool will help parents support their young musician's practice habits. I encourage students to at least take their instruments and music home on the weekends since students often have a bigger block of free time on weekends. Perhaps parents can help students set aside three 10 minutes blocks during the week or weekend to practice. Small amounts of practice can add up to big results!

Mrs. Buehl

7th period 7th grade orchestra

February 18, 2009

By Jamie Wood, Muddies Morgan, Jess Kutz, Allie Greene, Rachel Hughes, and Erica Whittenberger


The past few weeks we have been working on playing Variations on a Well Known Sea Chantey without a metronome and going to the tempo up to what the writer wanted. Mrs. Buehl has been working with us on accents, we need to push down and play near the frog. We have also been working on our solo and ensemble pieces. We are making big progress and our concert is on the 24th. There are a lot of dynamic changes in Variations on a Well Know Sea Chantey. The violins and the viola are working hard on not speeding up in English Folk Song; they need go along with the cellos excellent pace. In Variations we have grace notes and we need to work on that. In Variations we need to work on variation 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10 but we are getting there.

6th period 8th grade orchestra

February 18, 2009
This week we mostly focused on our concert music. In most of our songs we practiced our dynamics and tried focusing on spots that were out of tune. In our small groups we picked out songs and practiced playing them for our recital. In some small groups Mrs. Stone came in and practiced with groups that needed the piano. In our large groups different concert groups played for us and we had to find something that we liked about it and find something that we thought could have gone differently.
We had a worksheet were we had to fill out some vocabulary and tell which other words had something in common with that word. Some of the songs that we worked really hard for the recital were Galena Milwaukee Break Down and Waltz of the Wicked. For Galena we focused on getting the right notes and trying to stay up to speed. We also worked hard on second position and harmonics. For Waltz of the Wicked we focused hard on dynamics. We had to get PP and go up F in just a limited amount of measures. In the same song we had problems with plucking strings to the right beat.
Right now we are practicing for our concert at the Capitol in Madison. The songs that we are playing are Hero’s Journey, Japanese Lullaby, Waltz of the Wicked, Scottish Journey and Telemann Sinfonia. We have already played Hero’s Journey, Japanese Lullaby, Waltz of the Wicked and Scottish Journey. We are practicing Telemann Sinfonia in our large groups
After our concert was done in our small groups we had a switch day. In our next small groups we think that we will be focusing on our music that we are playing for the Capitol.

Your favorite students
Annie, Lizzy, Katie, Jessica, Danielle (not Andrew)

4th period 8th grade orchestra

February 18, 2009

Claire, Emily, Danielle, Tess

This week in orchestra we prepared for our concert. On Tuesday, we had a combined rehearsal with the other class. We were given time in class to work on our solo/ensemble pieces for our recital. Our recital went pretty well. Everyone was prepared and overall performed very well. We had a little reception after the concert thanks to the parents who contributed. Also, thanks to Mrs. Hallinan for organizing it. We are now preparing our songs for the concert in the capital. We are going to play some songs we enjoyed playing in previous concerts, and we will also add some new ones! How very exciting! =] In small groups, (Monday) we worked on our solo/ensemble pieces. After the recital was over, we had a swap day but the people who are in solo/ensemble worked on their pieces. =]

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

February 18, 2009

Mason, Bradlee, Blaine, Daniel, Nick, Isaac

In the past couple weeks we continued to work on our recital pieces that we will be performing on the 24th of February. We have also started working on a piece that we will be performing in our final concert. The two pieces we are working on as a large group are An English Folksong and Variations of a Well Known Sea Chantey. The up coming concert should be a success because of all the practice we have put into it. Some of the pieces we will be playing consist of Staten Island Hornpipe and Hava Nagila… and so on and so forth. I hope you attend our upcoming concert and we have great attendance.

7th period 7th grade orchestra

Bailey Shoener
Dani Stratton
Cosette Sommers
Mickala Hardy
7th hour

We think that we got better at the variations song. We got faster on it and it sounds better. On the English Folk Song we listened to each other better. I think variation 11 is getting a lot better and same with variation 4. We are done now so bye. Thanks for being a great student teacher Ms. James!☺

6th period 8th grade orchestra

February 6, 2009
This past week we played our songs and got better at them. We are getting ready for the concert at the capital. We are getting some of our old music out that we are going to play. We are still working on Galena Milwaukee Breakdown. What we are trying to do is get it so that we can perform well at the concert. We also got out Japanese Lullaby again for the concert at the Capitol. At our lessons this week we worked on our chamber piece. We also got out our song A Hero’s Journey that we worked on last year. Also we brought back out A Scottish Journey and got two new pieces: Telemann Sinfonia and Fughetta in G. Those are some of the songs that we are going to be playing at the capital. Finally we brought back out Toccatina. So we are very excited to be voyaging to the Capitol to play there--that is very exciting. Also we get to go to Noodles and Company for lunch after the concert.
David, Mike, Andrew

4th period 8th grade orchestra

We would love to say that we learned about widgets and gadgets, pompoms and weasels, snaggles and 18th century hags but sadly, we cannot. To all the parents out there I’m sure you’re glad to hear that we didn’t spend the class with nonsensical subjects, although, we did obtain knowledge of a funny word. This mystical, and seemingly illusive word, is col legno. Of course, the piece that we acquired, that contains this entertaining word was played on a day where only the people who are here every day were here.
Syncopation was another one of the amusing musical words that we attained knowledge of through a musical piece, this week. Ms. Buehl has been having us work really hard on our accents. We have accents in a lot of our pieces. We got two new pieces recently, one for our concert in March at the capitol and one for our May concert. One of them was written by Ms. Buehl and the other is from the Baroque period.
Until we meet again, au revoir, goodbye, tata, hasta lavista, jane,
Alice, Sarah, Maddie and Sako

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

Blog day Feb.6, 2009 Lara, Abby, AJ, Hayley, Ada, Halie

We worked on An English Folk Song which is based on a melody called Kingsfold. Also we played Variations On A Well Known Sea Chantey, based on the melody Drunken Sailor. We sped up the tempo on Variations On A Well Known Sea Chantey. On Wednesday we made a variation of Drunken Sailor in our learning groups. On Thursday, we got a new song called Telemann Sifonia which is paraphrased from Trio in A Minor. In lessons we continued to work on our recital music.

7th period orchestra video clips

In these clips you will see the 7th period orchestra students playing sections of the two pieces they are preparing for the Recital concert on February 24th. The clips I had intended to post of the students sightreading these pieces were too large and I couldn't get them loaded. These two video clips will show you where we are now in the process of learning the music.

6th period orchestra video clips

Here are some clips of the 6th period orchestra rehearsing. This group is shown practicing two of the pieces that they will play, one for our Capitol Concert and one for our February 17th recital concert.

4th period orchestra video clips

These are clips of the 4th period orchestra working on some of their music. We are preparing for our February 17th recital as well as reviewing a piece that we will add to our Capitol Concert repertoire.

2nd period orchestra video clips

Here's where the students in the 2nd period orchestra are at in their pieces. We had some trouble loading our earlier video clips because they were too long. Here, you have two short clips of the pieces they are working on for the February 24th recital concert.

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

January 26, 2009

Last week we worked on the end of “Variations of a well known Sea Chantey” and learned that it is written in D Dorian. We also worked on making our dynamics solid for the “English Folksong”. We also worked on speeding up “Variations of a well known Sea Chantey”. In our small group lessons, we worked a lot on our recital songs. We worked on the harmony part in English Folksong.
In addition to that, we said our goodbyes to Ms. James. *cries*

With Love,
Mariah, Morgan, Danielle, Rachel, and Gloria

4th period 8th grade orchestra

1/26/09 Blog Entry
~Ethan Rausch, Zack Petrie

-We practiced Galena Milwaukee Breakdown, Waltz of The Wicked, and A Heroes Journey.
-We practiced Spiccato a lot for Warm ups.
-We practiced Glissando for the song Waltz of The Wicked.
-Our Student Teacher, Ms. James left us.
-We wrote her thank you cards with gel pens
-Mrs. Buehl told first violins to practice or else we shall not play GMB for recital

Colors done by Zack P.

6th period 8th grade orchestra

1/26/2009
Sara R, Brooke B, Sarah K

Last week we worked on:
Galena Milwaukee Breakdown
Waltz of the Wicked
Hero’s Journey
Glissando in Waltz of the Wicked
Speeding up at the coda in Waltz of the Wicked
Getting the dynamics correct in GMB
Playing hero’s Journey smoothly and fast
Spiccato on A minor scales for many of the warm-ups
Many different articulations for The A minor scale


Ms. James was here for the first semester but is gone now for the second semester
· We made thank you cards for her and put them into a book. J

7th period 7th grade orchestra

January 26, 2009
We practiced the end of Variations on a Well Known Sea Chantey. It is in d Dorian. D Dorian is a C major scale beginning on D. The piece is very challenging for basses and cellos. The student teacher left and we were sad.
Dylan, Alec, Finnley

2nd period 7th grade orchestra

JANUARY 9, 2009

We learned that English Folksong is based on a Bible story and was once called "Dives and Lazarus". The melody is based on Kingsfold. Variations on a Well Known Sea Chantey is based on the song Drunken Sailor. We are working on our songs for February’s concert.

Rebecca, Carolanne, Katie, Jeni, Juliana, Caroline

4th period 8th grade orchestra

January 9, 2009
THIS WEEK IN ORCHESTA:

The violins learned that in order to play Galena Milwaukee Breakdown they have to practice because they have the hardest parts. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

Cellos were reminded to keep their arms loose when doing vibrato and they need to play better together. Also, they need to practice the first part of Galena Milwaukee Breakdown because it is the hardest part of the song for them.

The violas learned to keep a steady beat and play out.

In our small groups we have gotten together in ensembles to play a song for the recital.

Alex and Cordel

6th period 8th grade orchestra

January 8, 2009
Gina Minji Danielle Hannah

This week we practiced galena Milwaukee breakdown. We filled out a survey for Ms. James. We also practiced conducting. We also practiced A Hero’s Journey for our performance at the capitol. Ms. James is leaving us on January 22nd. She will not be here on January 23rd. permission slips are due next Friday!!! Mrs. Buehl is numbering them so get them in quickly!!! We will miss you Ms. James!!!!!!!! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

7th period 7th grade orchestra

January 8, 2009
Maddie Smith, Lydia Steinberg, Kaitlyn Wallin, Marlee Rolfsmeyer, Lauren Wysocky

This is the first week we are back from our winter break and everyone is tired, and the instruments are out of tune. But we are now working on the English Folk song and Variations on a Well Known Sea Chantey. In Variations on a Well Known Sea Chantey we are working on the different variations (there are 11 of them) some of them are very fast and some of them are super slow. English Folk song is based on an old song Kingsfold. We are mostly working all over to perfect English folksong. In both pieces Ms. Buehl has been asking us where the melody starts and who has it. It is almost the end of the 2nd quarter and we’re all exited to improve and work on our playing techniques, solos and get ready for the concert in February.