Hello orchestra Bulldogs! I miss seeing you all so much but i'm excited to be giving you some things to help you grow that we would have been doing in class. Now you will just do them at home. You may want to make a weekly practice plan and incorporate some of the tools that I'm giving you. I have added a page to my website called online learning. please go to this page to find a piano recording of your part for one song each week to learn. 6th graders, your song has some G string C sharps in it. This is the extension we talked about. High 3rd finger for violins and violas in between the tapes (check with a tuner for pitch) Violas you have an F# on the C string too. mark them in with a pencil so you don't forget. Cellos you have a Db on the A string - that is just C# 3rd finger. You will need to stomp your foot and even yell out at the end of the tune. 7th and 8th graders the piece just has some rhythms, and dynamics that you will want to check on. Again write things in your parts to help especially for accidentals. Pianist/harpist i did not record your parts for you. Basses, i played the piano part an octave higher than your notes so you could hear it better Here is a link to Drone Tone Tool. it is a website(free) and a cheap app ($1.99) use this drone as the tonic of your scale and play a passage with it to hear and adjust your pitch. So if you are playing the G scale press the G drone and play the scale with it. You can also change the drone to hear how the pitches need to adjust. You can use if for small passages in a song too just don't play it with the entire song. Press the piano key to turn on, press again to turn off. The second resource I'd like you to use this week is to go into MusicFirst and select SightReading Factory. Make up your own levels, start easy. try at least 2 sightreading examples this week. You can turn on a metronome, even have the names of the notes come up for you 6th graders!! You can find great tutorials for this and you can make it really fancy and hard if you want. Even make the notes disappear as you read forward if you really want a challenge. There are settings for all instruments including piano and harp.
Come back here on Wednesday for Web Wednesdays!! I will have a few videos for you to watch and share with your family. If you need tuning peg help check out youtube. Just remember to pluck the note at all times, loosen the peg a little by pulling it down them tune it up away from you to make it go sharper little at a time. you have to push the peg into the pegbox as you do this to make it stay. Always pluck as you go and know what note you are aiming for and you wont break a string. Good luck and have a great week Mrs. Vail Welcome back Orchestra folks, this is a month of goal setting and starting work on your solo's and ensemble groups. This month pick one goal each week for your posture, hold, technique, bow hold, bow stroke, vibrato, reading, dynamics, rhythm, sightreading, etc.
Get back in your practice outside of school time routine or make a new one. The shorter amount more consistently the better! If practicing at home is an issue remember you can come in before or after school and use the room or practice rooms. BBT as well!! Just let me know. If you would like a student coach for your ensemble or just some extra help with your solo I can arrange an advanced student to help you. Just ask. Hoping this year with bring you lots of growth and fun in your orchestra class. Mrs. Vail Hi Orchestra folks, you should be seeing instruments going home more than in the last week or so and seeing and hearing your students working. All orchestras have new music and need to be on a regular practice schedule. This doesn't mean only on the weekends!! If they are having a hard time practicing at your home please have them come in any day before or after school to practice. If this doesn't work then yes home practice is your only option. The more contacts a week develops muscle memory for posture, position, good pitch, tone quality, etc. When we work techniques or issues in the music out in class it needs to be made permanent by practicing at home.
Thursday i will be hearing all the 6th graders Sound Effects stories and Monday will be the day to hear the 7th graders "name that tune" and the 8th graders retrograde "Go Forth and Return" compositions. These will be printed from their MusicFirst account using NoteFlight composition program. Please make sure they can print at home. If your printer is broken make a plan so i have something to grade. The next performance is an AM assembly on December 13th called Winterfest. All orchestras will be performing with the 7/8th band, jazz club and all choirs for the school. Students will need to be at school early: 7:30 AM. Plan to carpool!!! You are welcome to come but need to have paperwork on file to be at school during the day. Please contact me if you want to come. We usually only have about 10 parents since it is primarily a school assembly. Uniform will be Polo shirt and something nice on the bottom. Dress black is great but you can vary it if you want. I will also be talking about how students can decorate their bows, pegs, and scrolls if they want to. It is a festive assembly! Enjoy your November and December! Mrs. Vail Hi orchestra folks! Here is a recap of what we have been working on in class and what is coming up.
Opus 1 -6th grade- Polo shirt orders are due by Wednesday. This we we have learned the notes D, E, F#, and G. We looked at PowerPoint slides of the bow hold to support the ship or bunny bow hold story that we use. Remember you can look this up in your book, in your online videos with the book, or on YouTube. We played along with the tracks that you have access to in your book and developed your rubric for your first playing test on Monday. Friday we talked about how to use your fine tuners to tune your instrument. Righty tighty( right to tighten or make it go sharper/higher, Lefty Loosy (left to loosen or make it go flatter/lower. Don't use your pegs yet just your fine tuners. Get a tuning app on your phone or get a Korg or clip on tuner. Try to make sure it is chromatic and not just a tuner for your open strings. You will want to use it on your fingered notes too. Students can come in for morning orchestra practice or after school most days. We have the wing door open around 7:30 AM. Monday and Wednesday i have 7/8th all-state recording so practice won't be available in the morning on those days just this week. Philharmonia - 7th grade - Polo Shirt orders are due by Wednesday. We debriefed from the fair! Great performance everyone. So proud of you for being to our call time ON TIME (early!) way to go!! You got 2 new pieces of music this week. We started work on counting a dotted quarter note, 3 eighth notes in length, and also know the equivalent tie. We listened to recordings of both of our new songs off the JWPEPPER.com website. We developed the rubric for your Playing test on Monday and passed it out. You should be getting in the habit of practicing 20-30 minutes as many days a week as you can (4-6) If you are part of Honors Orchestra; that starts on Monday at 6:30 PM in IHS orchestra room. Students can come in for morning orchestra practice or after school most days. We have the wing door open around 7:30 AM. Monday and Wednesday i have 7/8th all-state recording so practice won't be available in the morning on those days just this week. Sinfonia - 8th - Polo shirt orders are due by Wednesday and Hoody orders (8th) are due by Friday. All state recordings are coming up next week. come to school before your time all tuned and warmed up ready to record. You have 4 pieces plus one new piece for Veteran's Day. you will get another Veteran's Day piece next week. We worked on your playing test rubric for Monday and passed it out. This week we have concentrated mostly on listening to the Serenade for string suite by Leyden and working on the 1st and last songs. Also got through about half of Apollo 13 and you worked on Rockin' halloween on Tuesday. You should be in the habit of practicing 30 minutes as many days a week as you can (5-6). If you are part of Honors Orchestra; that starts on Monday at 6:30 PM in IHS orchestra room.Students can come in for morning orchestra practice or after school most days. We have the wing door open around 7:30 AM. Monday and Wednesday i have 7/8th all-state recording so practice won't be available in the morning on those days just this week. Have a great weekend! I look forward to hearing you play for me on Monday!!
Here is the link to BLMS orchestra solo and ensemble schedule. These times are set now and cant be changed. Below is a link to the information sheet begin passed out this week. Your child will fill it out, bring it home, and put it in a safe place like on your refrigerator or other place that you can refer to it. Please email me with any questions. Keep encouraging your kids to work hard and come in for help if they want it. Looking forward to seeing you on March 9th.
Hi Sinfonia 8th graders, if you are interested in an audition orchestra at SHS please look at my documents page and you will see the links to the audition materials and how to audition.
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June 2020
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