General Music - two more warm-ups (listening exercises). Don’t forget your money ($5) for your recorder on Thursday. I’ll also be adding one assignment that will require you to leave comments in the comment section. In music theory, we’ll be covering lessons #3 and #4.  If you’d like to jump ahead, you can hit the YouTube page and watch the videos.

Band - Wednesday is ‘How to Practice’ and ‘Caring For Your Instrument’ day. We’ll be going through information on both of these topics for every instrument in the classroom.  You will need your Standard of Excellence Book 2 Enhanced book as well. I’ll be doing a demonstration of the iPas software.  Friday, we start work out of that book and we begin work on Christmas music (only giving you two songs - one is a medley).

Get yourselves ready.

A paper for one of my grad school classes.

Running head: INTERNET RESEARCH

Internet Usage in Research

Kerry Gilliard

Grand Canyon University
September 28, 2008
EDU 550
Professor Tonya Laliberte

continue reading "Internet Usage in Research"

Week 3 of logs is 10/13 - 10/19 (due week of 10/20)

Week 4 of logs is 10/20 - 10/27 (due 10/28)

Mod 1

Song 1: Excelcia mm. 1-18

Song 2: Tempest mm. 1-18

Song 3: Cardiff Castle - whole song.

Scales: Bb and Eb

Foundations: Scale pattern #1 and #2 pp. 10-11
Mod 2

Song 1: Excelcia mm. 1-7

Song 2: Tempest mm. 1-18

Song 3: Cardiff Castle - mm. 1-21.

Scales: Bb and Eb

Foundations: Scale pattern #1 and #2 pp. 10-11

Mods 3 and 4

Song 1: Excelcia mm.28-41

Song 2: Tempest mm. 1-18

Song 3: Cardiff Castle - whole song.

Scales: Bb and Eb

Foundations: Scale pattern #1 and #2 pp. 10-11

Blank practice logs are located here: PDF | Word.  Print as needed.

Week 1 practice logs have been graded. Week 2 will be passed back to you shortly.  If you don’t pass them in, don’t be surprised when your grade drops.

Test approaching on Tuesday when you return to my class.  Please be sure to study:

- Music Theory Workpacket, Lessons #1 -5: PDF | Word

- Music Theory Workpacket, Lessons #7-10: PDF | Word

Everything in these two packets will be covered.

There will be two questions which ask you to do something like this:

Draw a treble clef. Make the time signature 4/4. Divide the staff into 8 measures. Use quarter, half and whole notes, half rests and quarter rests. Use the notes G,A,B,C and D. Fill in the staff. Only use the whole note once. Be sure to have the right amount of beats in each measure. Place a double bar at the end.

You’ll also be asked to write in the beats underneath of rhythm patterns.

Please come ready to read instructions carefully and do your best work.

Good News…. Progress Reports are delayed temporarily.

Bad News - some of you won’t know how bad you’re doing until you see them.

Good News - I’m passing work back to you.

Bad News - well, if your grades are bad, then it’s a good indicator of how you’re doing in class.

Good News - I can print off a copy of your progress report for MY class.

Bad News - well, not really bad - you’ll just have to sign for it. And get your parent to sign off stating that they saw it.

Have em’ ready on Tuesday of next week. Meanwhile, Warm-ups 3,4,5,6,7 and 8 are being graded and entered. 7 and 8 are in the computer already.

-G

To ease some of the burden, I’m adding on an extra day for this week’s practice log.

Focus on attack and release and tone production.

Mod 1 and Mod 2 will have separate assignments, effective next week.

Log assignments:

Mods 1 and 2 (7th grade)

Bb and Eb scales

Cardiff Castle - mm. 29-44

Activity March - mm. 1-13

Excelcia - mm. 1-15

Mods 3 and 4 (8th grade)

Cardiff Castle -whole song, focus on phrasing.

Activity March - mm. 1-13

Excelcia - mm.28-41

Blank practice logs are located here: PDF | Word.

Please print one and use it, as needed.

Hi class!

Same concepts. This week. Focus on attack and release.

Log assignments:

Mods 1 and 2 (7th grade)

Bb and Eb scales

Cardiff Castle - mm. 21-29

Activity March - mm. 1-13

Mods 3 and 4 (8th grade)

Cardiff Castle -whole song

Activity March - mm. 1-13

Excelcia - mm. 15-29

Blank practice logs are located here: PDF | Word.

Please print one and use it, as I have not copied extra logs in class this week.

Covered in class today:

Attack - how we begin playing the note.

Release - how we stop playing the note. (stop breathing)

Intonation - Tuning and adjusting instruments, using your ear to hear differences in pitch so you can adjust properly.  Also covered in this video:

Log assignments:

Mods 1 and 2 (7th grade)

Bb and Eb scales

Cardiff Castle - mm. 1-20

Activity March - mm. 1-13

Mods 3 and 4 (8th grade)

Cardiff Castle -whole song

Activity March - mm. 1-13

Excelcia - mm. 1-18

Blank practice logs are located on the downloads page. Recordings of songs will be available shortly.

30 min a day, 5 days a week! You can DO IT!

Hey folks.

Are you looking to buy your child an instrument for class ?

Let me borrow your ear for a few.

Would you buy spark plugs for your BMW from the dollar store ? How about generic motor oil for $25,000 car ? How about an engagement ring from Family Dollar ?

Would you buy a house from Wal-Mart because they had a good price on it and you didn’t have to deal with a real estate agent ?  How about an RV from Target ?

Exactly.

Similarly, not all instruments are GOOD QUALITY or will produce  a good sound.  Some are made by non-standard companies that don’t use quality parts or materials and most professional instrument repair centers refuse to work on them because parts are not available for them.

Don’t be fooled because of a price and a nice picture. Just because it’s shiny and new doesn’t mean it’s good quality. It just means it’s shiny and new.

In our district, we have several stores that we recommend parents and students purchase or rent instruments from.

Washington Music Center (Wheaton, MD): 301-946-8808

Dale Music Company: (Silver Spring, MD): 301-589-1459

Music and Arts (Bowie Town Center): 301-262-5950

O’Neil’s Music Incorporated (Waldorf, MD): 301-645-5733

Purchasing a lower-quality instrument because of it being a seemingly ‘good price’ may actually destroy your child’s musical experience.  Children can get very frustrated when they realize how their instrument should sound and what kind of sound their instrument is producing.  And if the fault is primarily with the instrument, the student may grow tired of playing it.

Purchasing a lower-quality instrument because of it seeming to be a ‘good deal’ may cost you more time and money in the long run because of repairs.  Some instruments, as stated earlier, won’t even be ‘looked at’ by professional repair people because the parts are proprietary to the company that made the instrument (non-standard). As such, the student may sit without an instrument for weeks at a time waiting for parts to become available via the warranty.  Most of the music stores listed above will give students a loaner instrument while their instrument is in the shop for repairs, if needed.

I would recommend the following brands for each instrument, as they have proven to be reliable, play well and hold their value over the years:

Flutes: Armstrong, Emerson, Gemeinhardt, Selmer, Bundy, King, Artley, Yamaha

Clarinets: Selmer, Bundy, Artley, Vito, Leblanc, Jupiter, Yamaha

Saxophones: Selmer, Vito, Conn, Bundy, Yamaha, Yanagisawa

Trumpets, Trombones, French Horns, Tubas and Baritones: Bach, Conn, Holton, King, Jupiter, Yamaha

These brands are of the best quality among most instruments I have come across over my 20+ years of band experience.  All professional repair shops will deal with these instruments in the event that anything breaks on them.

If you have any questions about what kind of instrument to pick up or you see other brand names and have questions about them, please feel free to contact me here at the school or via e-mail and I will answer your questions.

Musically Yours,

-Mr. G

Okay, everything has been updated. Click on any of the links under Quick Links for information for the 2008-2009 school year.  Included information on the Downloads page is the district-wide grading policy. Parents, please download that as well as a copy of the syllabus for the band or general music class that your child is enrolled in.

Understand that I am working for excellence, so I will not be babying your children, but pushing them to achieve their absolute best in preparation for high school and life. As such, I hold them responsible for their learning first and foremost.  The role of the teacher is to guide students toward information and show them how to learn in addition to teaching them the relevant information for the class they are taking. It is the student’s responsibility to apply himself/herself to learning the information.

I have *no* stupid people in ANY of my classes. Everyone can learn. Some learn some things slower than others. This is my working philosophy, so all excuses of ‘I can’t do it’ won’t fly in room 003.

Let this not be a turn off, but let it be motivation to push your children (and if you’re a student, let this be motivation for you to work to achieve more than you’ve done in the past) toward higher levels of excellence.

There’s a world with many challenges awaiting you. Let the skills and discipline you learn as a member of the band program at Thomas Johnson Middle School help you grow as an individual, cultivate a skill for life that you can use and help you to better express yourself creatively.

*steps off soapbox*

Parents, I look forward to seeing/meeting all of you on Back to School Night, Sept. 18.

Musically Yours,

-Mr. G