My Photo

May 2008

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Online Resource Links

Skills Tutor

Summer Music Camps & Private Teachers!

Can you believe summer is almost here? !  Below you will find links for local summer music camps.  Some of the applications are due very soon, so please act quickly if you are interested.  I highly recommend camps or private lessons over the summer.  If you are interested in any out-of-state music camps, or if you would like help finding a private music teacher, please contact me!

Upbeat String Camp  http://www.atlantastreetviolins.com/upbeat_pictures_and_info.htm

Encore Music Camp at Emory University  http://www.encoremusiccamps.com/

UGA Summer Music Camp  http://www.uga.edu/music/summercamp/

Ga. ASTA String Summer Camp  http://georgiaastacamp.com/

McEachern/ASTA Camp: 770-222-3710 ext. 265 (or see Mr. Schroter for the application)

Rising 7th & 8th Grade Orchestra Members

Parents,
Please find attached the registration form for the 2008-09 school year.  This form is used for scheduling orchestra students into classes for next year.  Please download, fill out and return this form no later than April 29, 2008.  Thank you so much for your consideration in this matter.   Download 200809regform.doc

Spring Concert on May 8th

If you haven't already marked your calendar, please save the date!  Our spring concert is about 3 weeks away.  All 6th, 7th, and 8th grade orchestra members will be performing in the final concert of the year on Thursday, May 8th at 6:30 PM in the Durham Theater.

Come hear how much the 6th graders have developed, listen to the vibrato of our 7th graders, and bid farewell to our awesome 8th graders in their final Durham performance!

Please be aware that this date has been on the calendar since the first day of school (when the students brought home the orchestra handbook).  The excused/unexcused absence policy will be in effect for grading procedures.

Practice Journals

Parents,

There will be no more practice journals for the remainder of the year.  Students should still be practicing on a regular basis, but they will not need to fill out a sheet to turn in.

6th Grade Jamboree

The 6th grade String Jamboree will be tomorrow night, 3/27/08, at Harrison High School.  Students will stay after school, take a bus to Harrison.  We plan to arrive at Harrison around 5:30 for rehearsal.  We will eat after rehearsal and the concert will start at 7:30.  Parents will need to pick their children up from Harrison immediately following the concert.  We will not be returning to Durham.

Students will need the following:

  • Orchestra shirt, jeans, sneakers
  • folding music stand - labeled
  • instrument/music - labeled
  • sunglasses

Congratulations 7th Grade Orchestra!

The 7th Grade Orchestra did an outstanding job on Monday night for our Large Group Performance Evaluation. They represented Durham well, not only in their performance but also in their behavior and appearance. The group received overall ratings of "Superior" from all 3 judges and a "Superior" in sight-reading as well!  Congratulations 7th graders. All of the hard work has paid off and I am very proud of you.

Practice Journal #8

If you need a copy of practice journal #8 you can download it here:
Download practice_journal08.doc

Pre-LGPE Concert - Tuesday 2/26

I just want to thank you all for being so flexible with your busy schedules.  Almost all of our students will be able to perform tomorrow night for our pre-lgpe concert. The concert will be at Durham and the students can wear school clothes. 
WANTED: I am in need of 2 room monitors for tomorrow night. 
I am looking for 1 seventh grade parent and 1 eight grade parent.
You will not miss your child perform, and it would consist of watching the orchestra room while students tune.  If you are interested in this highly coveted position, please let me know!
7th Grade - 6:15 orchestra room to tune.  6:30 concert on stage.
8th Grade - 6:30 orchestra room to tune.  6:45 concert on stage.

LGPE for 7th & 8th Grade

Thank you to those of you who have signed and returned the forms for our upcoming performance evaluations.  If you have not received these forms from your child, please let me know.

The response for doing a "practice concert" on Tuesday night has been positive.  We will do this on Tuesday, 2/26 at Durham.  Students do not need to wear a uniform on this night.  7th grade will take the stage at 6:30 PM and 8th grade will take the stage at approximately 6:45.  This is a valuable opportunity for our orchestras to run through music in front of a live audience before we are evaluated on March 3rd and 6th.  If you have lost any information I will attach the needed documents here.  There are 3 documents for each grade.

Download 7th_grade_2008_coda_parent_letter.DOC   

Download 7th_grade_field_trip_form.doc    

Download 7th_grade_lgpe_itinerary_and_directions.doc   

Download 8th_grade_field_trip_form.doc

Download 8th_grade_2008_coda_parent_letter.DOC

Download 8th_grade_lgpe_itinerary_and_directions.doc

Seating Arrangements - Why does my child sit there?

Today was a good first day back after a nice rest.  The students got a chance to catch up with each other, play some music, and listen to a performance from our student teacher, Mr. Tong.  I also placed students in new assigned seats.  This is something that I try to do every 9 weeks.  The purpose of this blog entry is to to explain why students are given these assigned seats. 

I know there is a lot of hype about 1st chair, 2nd chair, last chair, etc. in the orchestra world.  Basically, this is like saying 1st place, 2nd place, last place.  I do not think this is a healthy way to welcome our young students into the music world.  A little bit of healthy competition can produce some nice results, but I have noticed that too much competition for 11- 14 year-olds can often lead to a big ego or low self-esteem.  I am not a fan of either of those psychological conditions, so I do not make a big deal out of chair placement.  There are 2 different types of seating arrangements that I utilize throughout the year: Daily Rehearsal Seats and Concert Seats.

Daily Rehearsal Seats (90% of the year): Students do not sit in the room based on ability.  I try to change up the seating arrangement every 9 weeks for our day to day class time; however, the students are always going to be sitting in their respective sections within the ensemble (ie. violas will always be between the cello and violin section).  I try to move students to a chair where they may have not sat before because it will give them a different perspective both aurally and visually in the room.  They will get a chance to sit next to somebody new for collaboration and perhaps learn valuable performance techniques through their new stand partner.  It also provides a way for me to see fresh faces and hear new tones in front of my conducting stand.  I have had 8th graders tell me that in 3 years, this is their first time sitting in the front of the room.  It thrills me to give this opportunity to students.  The challenge is that there are only 8 chairs in front of the conductor --only 2 chairs for each section, and this does not include bass players!

Concert Seating (10% of the year):  When it comes to concert seating, seats are determined based on balance, leadership, and playing ability.  Proximity of performers to the audience, instrumentation, and the size of the orchestra all play into balance.  I arrange the orchestra so that we can achieve good balance for the audience.  The chairs are ordered based on a combination of playing tests and student character.  When 2 students have close scores on playing tests, I start to look at classroom behavior, preparation, peer interaction, dedication, etc.  We sit in concert seats for about a week before a concert so that we can adjust to the new perspectives of proximity in the room.

Continuing in orchestral playing, chair competition becomes more fierce. Admittedly, it is an element of the professional music world.  My attempt is to simply ease my students into this side of music and focus more on the joy and value that music brings us.