Belton MS Band

This one will be relatively short because the last post was just a few school days ago.

6th Grade

Make sure you are practicing at home. Try for at least 45 minutes a week. It’s the only way to get really good! Feel free to read lines that we haven’t gone over in class. Tuba, trumpet, french horn, trombone, and baritones need to work on line 22! Sorry, don’t know about the other classes.

Symphonic Band

Great class participation this week. There are tons of positive moments that just get me excited. Next playing test is Pg. 10 Bb Scale Pattern #2 at 80 bpm (beats per minute on the metronome).

Wind Ensemble

First half of etude #2 is your chair test assignment for the week. All of the sections are doing well working on their etudes with me in the ensemble room. Keep up the hard work.

Smart Music

YES, we are going to keep promoting this because it’s AMAZING! There are so many activites that you can do on it, and it makes practicing a lot like playing Guitar Hero! www.smartmusic.com or check the “band links” on the right side of the web page.

Another crazy week that we’ve been having. I apologize for the tardiness of this post (possible indication of the busy week). 

6th GRADE

6th Graders have been moving along quite well learning their instrument for the first time. I think we’ve reached page 8! Hopefully, you have noticed your child’s sound getting better. Granted it’s still not beautiful, but hopefully it is “better” than it was a few weeks ago. Please continue to encourage your child to practice, practice, and practice. This is the only way to get better. There are so many new muscles that they are using and they must use more frequently than 1 hour period a day, five days a week. 

SYMPHONIC BAND

    Such an exciting class to be teaching. The kids are so interested in music, and they respond well to instruction. We’ve started a lot of sight-reading this week. We made music! (It’s a lot harder than you think). We also started testing on our warm-up numbers. We tested number 5 last week and this week is number 4. Your student should know what these numbers mean. We handed out all-region audition music on Thursday. If any students are interested in trying out for all region band, let us know so we can get them the help that they need. Next week, we will be testing scales. B flat, E flat, and F. You can start practicing now that you have your GREEN scale sheets.

WIND ENSEMBLE

    Great job on all your testing so far. I’ve been very impressed with what I have heard. Make sure you are practicing your all-region etudes. We are testing over your first halves of etude #1 next week. Keep working on Star Wars and Pop Culture.

Smart Music

This program has been so advantageous to have in class, and the kids seem to really be responding well to it. If you have the means (internet, thirty dollars, PC microphone) we highly recommend the program at home.

www.smartmusic.com

Thanks again for reading! Check back soon next week.

    Another week gone by, and all the students are still wonderful to have in class. I know that all the of the 6th grader are finally starting to read some music. That is very exciting. I’m sure that they have been raring to go after hours of tedious fundamentals. They are doing great, and Mrs. Nalley and myself can’t wait to see what they can do.

    The symphonic band has been so much fun to be around, even after a CRAZY Friday. Hopefully they can tell you what happened. They have all been paying attention, and trying really hard to improve their music. We have a playing test tomorrow on box 5 of the warm up and Thursday on box 4. Let’s see what yall are made of!

    The wind ensemble has just finished their 5 scale memory test and it was overall a very good assessment. I graded everyone, and was impressed with the class as a whole. Wind Ensemble, make sure that you are working on Pop Culture and your chromatic scale (test this week).

    Last, FUNDRAISER FORMS AND MONEY DUE TUESDAY THE 16TH.

If you are reading this please leave a comment so I know who is stopping by. Thanks!

Things are getting off to a great start. The wind ensemble and symphonic bands are sounding terrific. The 6th graders are so enthusiastic and excited. Also, Mrs. Nalley and myself are very tired. Yet, we are still having a blast with all the kids.

    If anyone is looking for the music from the music listening exercises in the morning, I haven’t been able to post them. They are windows media files and Edublogs won’t allow me to post them. Just remember MS band, all you have to know is the instrument. You get to use your notes on all of the music listening exams. I’ll make sure future listening examples are in a usable format.

    So, I found a really cool website that everyone needs to check out. It is a music theory website. I know it doesn’t sound very cool, but you still should check it out. It has flash cards for learning note names and every key signature known to man. If you really want to impress a band director, learn your key signatures.  Here is the link http://www.musictheory.net If anyone is having trouble figure it, let me know. This link will also be added to the “link” section on the front page.

    Thanks for all of yalls hard work this week. Remember to get those handbook forms turned in as soon as possible for that easy grade!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the band blog. Mrs. Nalley and I will be posting information on here concerning activities coming up, projects/music going on in class, and hopefully music for you to check out. We also want to get some good conversations going on here, and hopefully we’ll have some good topics. I’m testing the music feature on this blog so check this SONG out and see if it works.

Thanks again!