Back to the future

Hi Everyone! "Welcome to East" or "Welcome Back" depending on who you are! I am excited to start the music making process again on September 10th. I titled this "back to the future" because every September we start the educational process all over again - we have new school supplies, new clothes, new shoes, and hopefully new expectations for excellence in band and in your other classes. The "future" part is the anticipation of how much we can accomplish, how much we can learn, and how much we can grow as musicians throughout the year. Even though I start each school year with the same anticipation, I feel this year has awesome potential! I hope you do as well -

I hope that you will bring your parents to the music suite during orientation or conferences! I will have back-to-school information for you and you will be given your assigned cubby for your instrument. Make sure you have your instrument the first day of school!

Also - I am excited to announce that you can now follow us on Twitter! Just click on the link at the right side of the blog and wait for the "Easttweets" to come in!!!

Concert Wrap Up

All of the band members did a great job at the concert on May 28th! Kudos also to the 6th Grade Band from Franklin Elementary who joined us on the stage. We look forward to having you join us at East next fall as 7th graders!

Students are reminded that summer forms are do - I hope you will consider signing up for one of our summer offerings.

Instruments should go home for the summer unless it is a school instrument or you have make up work to complete. If you have make up work to complete - get it done!!!

I want to thank everyone for a great year and I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing summer - I will see you in the fall (unless you sign up for summer lessons -hint, hint, hint!)

Spring Concert

We will present our spring concert on Thursday, May 28th at 7:30 p.m. in the East Auditorium. Featured on the program will be the Franklin 6th Grade Band under the direction of Mr. Stock, Jazz Seven, Jazz Eight, and the 7th Grade and 8th Grade Concert Bands. We will combine all the concert bands together at the end for a grand finale performing the main theme from "Star Wars." It should be a great show and a wonderful way to end the year! I hope you can all make it. The word is concert.

Combined Song Link

The bands of Mankato East Junior High School and Franklin Elementary will combine in concert on Thursday, May 28th. The grand finale to the concert will be a performance of the main theme from "Star Wars" performed by the combined musicians in grades 6-8. A practice / listening link for musicians is located on the right side of the screen under "combined bands."

Busy Time

It's a busy time! We have so many days of interrupted time due to taking "the tests." This week our schedule is altered four out of the five days! I am doing testing of my own this week - helping Mr. Stock test 5th grade students on different band instruments. So between my schedule and yours...we will not get a whole lot accomplished as far as lessons are concerned!

Good luck with your testing! Check the band bulletin board for an altered schedule of lessons for this week.

Spring Fever

It's at this time of the year when the weather outside tends to have an impact on the environment inside. Hopefully we will be able to retain our focus during rehearsals! The bands are working on exciting, fun pieces for the May concert and we are enjoying learning to play them. The students in 8th grade are trying to master the concept of 12/8 time as two songs we are doing use that time signature. The students in 7th Grade are working on a band version of "Viva la Vida" made popular by Coldplay. So are you suffering from "spring fever?" That is the phrase...

Post Concert Wrap

Last night the junior high bands shared the stage with the junior high choirs at our March Concert. All of the groups did an outstanding job and played to an overflow audience where the custodians even had to set up folding chairs! I can't comment too much on the concert as students will need to complete a post-concert evaluation next week and I don't want my opinions to influence theirs. For now, I will say that I think everything went really well and I hope they felt good about our efforts. I hope their parents, grandparents, and siblings enjoyed it as well! The word is concert.

BAND CONCERT

The junior high bands will share the stage with the junior high choirs on Thursday, March 19th at 7:30 p.m. in the East Auditorium. Students will be presenting a wide variety of musical styles throughout the concert.

The band students have been working hard to put the final touches on their pieces and it should be a great concert! We hope to see you there. The word is concert.

Great Performances

It has been a busy few weeks. On Saturday, February 21st students from Mankato East Jr. High participated in the 2nd annual South Central Minnesota Band Directors Association regional honor band festival held at Mankato West High School. As the honor band chairperson for the region it was a super busy time for me, but I was able to watch our students combine with the other students and do focused rehearsals and present an outstanding concert! Students from East who participated were Nhi Nguyen, flute; Katie Karkoska, oboe; Ryan Kotthoff, trumpet; Sam Iverson, trombone; and Michael Zellar, tuba. Great job!

This past Monday our department hosted the region Large Group Band Contest. Bands from East, West, Waseca and New Ulm performed on stage and then received a clinic on their performance in the band room. It was great to see a few junior high students there listening. Congratulations to the East Cougar and Concert Bands on their outstanding performances! The word this time is outstanding.

Job Well Done!

Congratulations to the Mankato East High School Concert Choir and their director, Robin Hughes on an OUTSTANDING performance at the Minnesota Music Educators Association Mid Winter Conference!

Goal: 100%

I must be on a theme of percentages lately! The last post made me think about how we have to always strive for a goal of 100% in music - we need 100% attendance at rehearsals and performances to be successful giving 100% effort in order to achieve as close to a 100% accuracy on our music as possible!

Will we achieve 100% accuracy? Probably not. But we need to push ourselves to do our very best each rehearsal which will translate into an excellent performance. Here is the equation you need to know: Concert Performance = average of performance during rehearsals. How scary is that?

Think of how 100% is applied to other things. How many pro basketball players or teams shoot 100%? If a team shoots 65% from the floor they are said to be having a "great game." If we settled for 65% accuracy on notes and rhythms we wouldn't sound very good!

Thank you for striving to give your best everyday. The word that pays this week is 100%.

50% There

We are 50% there. Some of us see the glass as half empty, while others see the glass as half full. It depends on your outlook - I'm a glass half full type of guy. For those of you not thinking in musical terms that would probably mean we are officially half way through the school year. If you are thinking musically we are halfway between performances and we have many more days of music making to experience. The good news is that in most cases we are making excellent progress on the music and we are more than 50% prepared on the music for the next concert. I encourage you to keep referring to the reference recordings when you practice. They are an excellent resource when it comes to tempo, style, rhythms, etc.

As we start a new lesson schedule you will see that most of you will now be having individual lessons for the remainder of the year. This will be an excellent opportunity to focus on your individual playing issues and strengths. In keeping with the last post, the magic phrase is "glass half full." If you don't know what is meant by the magic phrase...well, read the last post!

New Year, same quarter

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful break! Even though it seems like a "new start" we arrive at school and find ourselves pushing toward the end of the quarter. Since it is too cold to do anything outside snuggle up, stay warm, and work on those new band pieces, lesson assignments, and practice logs! (Oh, okay...you can spend time doing other things too!) We are also starting a new feature to the blog...on occasion I will mention a special word or phrase in one of my posts. Mention that word or phrase in a comment on the blog or in person and receive a little extra credit bump. For example: the phrase this time is "Gee, it's cold." I'm not going to mention this in school - we will see how many people read the blog and discover it on their own!

Giving "thanks to our space"

(above: students giving "thanks to our space."
On the last day of school before Thanksgiving vacation, the 7th grade band instruction classes gave "thanks to our space." In an effort to learn to appreciate and take care of the facility that we have to learn and rehearse in, the students gave the practice rooms a good going over, including moving the pianos and checking for items that might have slipped behind them, picking up any trash, cleaning the walls, pianos, and windows, and even tightening the stands! In the junior high instrument storage area the cubbies were straightened, uniforms were rehung, large case storage was organized, and the carpet was even vacuumed under those large cases! The students left signs in each practice room reminding everyone to turn off the lights and ventilation and pick up the trash each time they used the room. This will hopefully not only keep the rooms in tip-top shape for all to use, but will save energy at the same time! GREAT JOB EVERYONE!

Time to "step up?"

On Friday, November 21 representatives from The Music Mart in Mankato gave "step up" presentations to all four bands. Students were given a brief introduction to what step-up horns were and then were sent to the music commons in sections to look at the instruments. Students were able to play the instruments and compare them to their own instruments. It was amazing to watch the faces as they played these instruments that allowed them show their talents so easily!

So what is a step-up? Most students in the junior high are currently playing on "student line" horns. These horns are an inexpensive way for beginners to obtain an instrument and start learning how to play. As students mature in both intellect and talent it is a great time to consider an "intermediate" or "pro-line" horn. These are often made of higher quality materials, have additional keys or features and usually blow easier and more in tune than student models. An intermediate or pro-line horn also improves the tone quality of the student as well.

Thanks to the Music Mart for taking the time to share their instruments with us! Parents and students, please contact me if you have additonal questions regarding the purchase of a step-up horn.

Fall Festival of Bands

The Music Department at Mankato East will present the annual Fall Festival of Bands Concert on Thursday, November 20th, beginning at 7:30 P.M. in the East auditorium. The concert will feature all four concert bands at the school; the Seventh Grade Concert Band, Eighth Grade Concert Band, Cougar Band and Concert Band. A wide range of musical styles and genres will be featured. There is no admission charge for this event.

Paying Tribute

The 8th Grade Concert Band performed today at the annual Veteran's Day Program. Held in the auditorium the band performed This is My Country, The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, and closed by performing My Country 'Tis of Thee along with the choir and orchestra.

The band did a great job of playing in front of a packed gymnasium and I know the Veteran's appreciated their efforts!

Honoring our veterans

On Tuesday, November 11th we will take time in our busy lives to honor and pay tribute to our Veterans. At Mankato East Junior High that means a 2:20 program in the gym where we will have speakers, a moving Powerpoint presentation and music from the 8th Grade Concert Choir, 8th Grade Concert Band, and Junior High Orchestra.

I invite you to attend our program. I also invite you to take a moment on Tuesday and say "thank you" to a USA Veteran either in person or during a quiet personal reflective moment.

I encourage you to create a login and leave comments for this post. Please respond to this prompt: "Why Veteran's Day is important to me."

"A" Work

It seems hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the first quarter! The first quarter is always the most difficult, as teacher and students are getting used to each other and adjusting to new music, new procedures, and new grading expectations. The grade book usually looks pretty awful at this point as well, as I fill in missing work with "zeros" in order to show students what their final grade will be if the missing work is not turned in.

In classes today I went over procedures for make-up practice logs. Please see me if you have questions on how to complete them. The logs are located on the bulletin board and must be completed at school. This is also the perfect time to do make up those missing lessons! Don't procrastinate and wait until the end!

Remember, in ALL of your classes your teachers want to help you SUCCEED. We want to give you the grade that you deserve and earn and I know that everyone in the bands are capable of "A" work! I hope you work up to your potential!

Strolling Along

We stroll through time like fall leaves making their way to the ground courtesy of the wind. It often feels like "time flies." It is hard to believe that mid-quarter was last week. It seems even harder to believe that we have our second late start this week and our first long weekend thanks to MEA. It is important that we keep our focus as our time "continues to fly" as each passing day brings performances closer! Even though we have a short week we will make the most of our rehearsals - please come to rehearsal ready to "stroll" through the music!