Thank you to all of our students for a wonderful first week of band. It was very nice to see and hear the Grade 7 and Grade 8 students and so nice to meet so many very excited Grade 6 band students.
This Week in Grade 6 Band
The Grade 6's are split into two full bands. Grant Road and Perry join to make one group. (We look forward to seeing Perry students next week.) Massey, RCS, and McVeety join together to form another group. The band room was filled with many excited grade 6's as they demonstrated all they learned in their clinics last week. The Grade 6's are exploring their method books, and discovering new things about their instruments. They were left with the tasks of finding a name for their instrument, finding their favourite note (or rudiment if a percussionist) and finding a favourite sound effect on their instrument. Favourite notes may be a note they already know or a note that is new as found on their fingering chart (p.55). We are a mix right now of students who are ready to read music and students who are not. Some students are looking at page 4 in their book and some page 7. We will be reminding students that learning an instrument is not a race and to keep practice consistent. We will be also reinforcing that putting instruments together and apart is not "quickly" but "carefully." The first day of grade 6 band is VERY exciting and thank you grade 6's for making your start so great.
This Week in Grade 7 Band
The Grade 7's also had a great start. It is wonderful to see the Grade 7's again. We are split in two groups. Perry and Grant Road are together. Massey, McVeety and RCS are together. We will be staring with composition books again in the next few weeks. If you have yours at home, please bring it to school. Grade 7's began the year with a really big and full sound. It is wonderful! We will be now working at controlling our sound and so did some exercises incorporating musical blend and balance. We have reviewed our musical snowman which helps us to understand the importance of all instruments and how they fit into an ensemble sound. We are also beginning by reviewing the three scales we worked on last year - Concert Bb, Eb, and F. We have handed some new sheet music for the year and as well will be reviewing material that was in our method book last year. If you did not bring your book last week, please bring it this week.
This Week in Grade 8 Band
It was also great to see the Grade 8's this week. They walked in to the band room ready to go and we are looking forward to a great year with them. They began with excellent listening and sound. The grade 8's received some new sheet music, listened to recordings, and began working on the Circle of 4rths. All Grade 8's are reminded to bring their blue books and fingering charts with them to band classes.
We will update the "Week at a Glance" to include this coming sectional schedule. Thank you to everyone for a great first week of band.
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