Hermanson's Orchestral Wonders

This Monday, March 8th, Angela Baddock from Harrison High School Orchestra will be taking over my role at McClure – and I will be taking her role at Harrison – for the day.

This is a wonderful opportunity for the 8th grade students to meet one of our feeding schools and see how a high school director leads her class, as well as for the other students to work with another director. This is especially helpful just before LGPE given a new set of ears and eyes to experience students’ playing.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me.

On a different note, here is an interesting article about the Mozart effect and how our subject can positively affect the brain:

Playing along with the Mozart effect
If you want music to sharpen your senses, boost your ability to focus and perhaps even improve your memory, you need to be a participant, not just a listener.

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-0301-brain-music-20100301,0,3251510,full.story

Attention all 7th grade members -

Your clinic is officially scheduled for this Friday, March 5th from 4:30-6:00 with Mr. Doke from Hillgrove High School’s Orchestra.

Please plan on attending this extremely important concert/clinic.

Cellists, please bring your instruments Friday.

Honors Orchestra audition materials have arrived! They will be available for pick-up Friday. All students are encouraged to audition!

Honors Orchestra is for Cobb County Middle School Orchestra students. Upon acceptance, you will get to rehearse and perform with the top players in the county with some wonderful music. There are two orchestras formed from auditions, both of which will be conducted by highly respected directors in the Atlanta area.

Auditions will be held on April 1st at East Cobb Middle School.Applications are due Friday, March 12th.

Honors Orchestra will be help Friday, April 16th and Saturday April 17th at McEachern High School, with a performance Saturday afternoon.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Tomorrow – Tuesday, March 2nd, our 7th and 8th grade members will be working with clinicians from Hillgrove High School and the Cobb Symphony Orchestra.

All students will stay after school to perform their pieces before working with these respected conductors from our community. We will conclude the clinic portion of the evening at 6:00. Pizza will be served from 6-6:30 for those who wish to stay for dinner afterwards.

All students should be picked up by 6:30 Tuesday evening.

Students MUST attend the clinic to be able to participate in our Festival/LGPE performance.

Parents are welcome to attend the clinic and listen to their students perform as well as work with our clinicians. Performances will begin at 4:30.

Festival/LGPE permission slips will be passed out at the clinic. Permission slips are due by Friday, March 5th.

7th Grade Orchestra has a full rehearsal tomorrow (Thursday, Feb 25th) after school from 4:30-5:30. This will be the ONLY time students from both classes will be able to play with each other before the day of the clinic, so it is vital as many students are there as possible.

Our Pre-Festival clinic will be this Tuesday, March 2nd. 7th Grade will perform around 4:45 and then work with David Doke, the orchestra director from Hillgrove High School, until 6:00. Pizza will be served from 6:00-6:30 for all students participating.

Parents are welcome to attend to clinic and watch your student’s class.

Chaperones are needed to help distribute and supervise during pizza time. If you are willing to help, please let me know.

Students must participate in the clinic to perform with us at Festival (Large Group Performance Evaluations) on March 18th (7th grade day only).

Cobb County Schools are closing an hour early today. This means the ORCHESTRA FIELD TRIP THIS EVENING IS CANCELED.

CSO Rehearsal tonight is also canceled, if anyone was wanting to come out with your family. We will be rehearsing tomorrow from 1:00-3:30 if you want to see us then!

I will let you know plans for a future event or refund for those who were planning on participating this evening.

I hate that everyone will have to miss the rehearsal tonight.

If you are able, we will probably still have our rehearsal at 7:30 this evening. You are welcome to join us if you are able. I will update by 4:00 regarding rehearsal this evening.

All students need to take their instruments home this evening – I will be checking lockers after school is out. Students have been alerted to this in class as well.

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Our field trip to the Cobb Symphony Orchestra is tomorrow!

Since we are leaving directly from school, please do not bring your instruments to school tomorrow. If you do, there will be room on the bus as well as a place to leave them at the Murray Arts Center during the duration of the rehearsal, so you will still be able to take them home to learn these last pieces of music.

Chaperones: We will be at McClure from 4:30-5:45. You may come any time during that window. We have almost 70 students attending, which is fantastic. I cannot wait to share my passion of playing with a symphony with my students!

E-mail me if you have any questions!

Class Updates:

All Grades: If you have not turned in your descriptions of the Playing Rubric, that needs to be done ASAP. Pinnacle does not like missing grades, and it has hurt many an average out there!

- SmartMusic assignments will be added this weekend. If you just can’t wait, there are tons of fun solo pieces to look at, or you could find a song we might play at the Spring concert!

8th Grade:

Added Concert: Tuesday, February 23rd (already scheduled as an after school rehearsal for everyone)

• We will be playing with Harrison High School – both by ourselves and side by side with the wonderful high school students! Concert at 7pm. I will provide dinner and transportation to Harrison. Parents are responsible for transportation home. There will be a permission slip coming home next week for this concert.

General Music: We are concluding our drum and rhythm unit with a percussion ensemble composition. These are due tomorrow when we begin recording your performances. In our next unit we will constructing our own instruments!

7th Grade: You have gotten 2 pieces of music. Rhythms and notes should be completely learned on Avatar by Monday (you can find this on SmartMusic). Midnight Tango’s first half should also be learned by Monday.

6th Grade: We have been learning slurs and 3/4 time this week, as well as training our ear with our tuners. We will have a videotaped test for bowing on #116 tomorrow. Practice in the mirror to make sure you know what your bow is doing.

Next Week:

Due to Conference Week and the Georgia Music Educator’s Association’s conference, I will see classes on the following days next week:

• First Hours – Monday and Wednesday
• Second Hours – Tuesday ONLY

You may keep instruments at home all other days. All instruments should be home by Wednesday night. Behavior cards will be marked for any instruments left after Wednesday.

Welcome the 2010! I hope the ice and snow did not keep you from enjoying the weekend – and practicing!

These next few weeks will be very interesting concerning how much students will get to play at school:

The end of this week (Wed-Fri) I will be out of town. However, students should still bring their instruments to school, as our substitute is certified in music and will be working with all students as we start the push towards Festival (LGPE) and Jamboree.

Next week is normal except for MLK, Jr holiday on Monday.

Conference week students will be coming to connections – and therefore Orchestra – in an A/B schedule

• Monday/Wednesday – First Hour Only
• Tuesday – Second Hour Only
• Thursday-Friday – I will be attending the State Music Educator’s Conference, so no instruments will be needed.

Be sure these dates are on your calendar!

• Tuesday, February 23 – 8th Grade Concert @ Harrison HS
• Tuesday, March 2 – Pre-Festival Clinic (7th & 8th Grades only) 4:30-6:30
• Thursday, March 11 – 8th Grade LGPE @ Lovinggood, 4:15-8:00
• Thursday, March 18 – 7th Grade LGPE @ Lovinggood, 4:15-8:00

If you need anything, please give me an e-mail!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving Break! Now it’s time to gear up for the final three weeks of 2009, which includes our Winter Concert! The following will also be sent home with students later this week, though please feel free to let me know now if you are able to help in any way!

Winter Concert Reminder

Concert: Thursday, December 10^th, 7pm, McClure Theater

Report Times:

• Full Orchestra: 5:30                                                  
• 8^th Grade: 5:50                                                           
• 7^th Grade: 6:10                                                           
• 6^th Grade: 6:30

Dress:

• Full/8^th Grade: All Black
• 6^th and 7^th Grade: Black on Bottom, White on top
• (Black socks/hose and shoes for everyone)

After School Rehearsals (4:30-5:30 in the Theater)

• 8^th Grade: Monday, December 7^th
• 7^th Grade: Tuesday, December 8^th
• 6^th Grade: Wednesday, December 9^th ~~~ If you are able to help supervise students during the 6^th Grade rehearsal, assistance would be much appreciated. ~~~

We have traditionally had a reception for all guests and performers after the Winter and Spring concerts. We are in need of a new coordinator for these events to have everything go smoothly, as our past coordinators’ students have graduated on to high school.

If you are willing to be the Reception Coordinator, please e-mail me at McClureOrchestra@gmail.com.

In addition to a coordinator, we will need many to help bring in food and drinks for us all to enjoy and reward the students for a job well done. If you are able to bring in something for the reception, please also e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the coordinator.