Happy New Year!

Happy New School Year!  It is such a great time of year for me and hopefully for you as well.  I love the excitement surrounding the beginning of a school year - everything seems so fresh and new. In the band world everyone is full of musical potential.  I look out at the students from my conducting podium and see and hear where the students are now and I look forward knowing where we will take the songs by the time we get to our first concert in November! I look forward to a great school year!

Time to register!

Tonight is an orientation/registration event at East Junior High for incoming 7th graders.  I am hoping to see many of the current Franklin band members tonight.  It is always an exciting time as we welcome a new grade with new energy to the building.  Wow - to think that we are already on quarter 4 and are looking ahead to next September!  I hope the summer goes slower than that!

If you know of a current 6th grader that didn't participate in band this year but is interested in joining for the fall, please have them contact me at jeichh1@isd77.k12.mn.us or by calling the school.  I will be happy to speak with them!

Summer Music Opportunities

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And here we are!

It seems hard to believe, but we have one week left in quarter THREE!  Where did that time go?  All three bands (concert and jazz) are off to a great start on their new music.  It is hard stuff, but we have a while to rehearse between now and June 2.  With the end of the quarter comes making sure that you have completed your quarter requirements  - they would include 2 lessons and 6 practice logs.  We will be running a make up lesson schedule all next week - come in and sign up for a time!  Also 7th grade can come in and get extra credit for performing the G-flat and B concert scales.  No appointment needed - just stop in!

Rehearse...Perform....Repeat

Great concert!  It is hard to believe that we just had our concert and are now working on music for our final concert of the school year AND that the concert is not until June 2!  That is our cycle - rehearse music, try to perfect it, perform it, and start all over again. I am excited to be starting new music with you and by now you know that we have some awesome new songs!  But, you also know that these songs are very challenging.  We will have to work hard to be able to perform them the way they deserve to be played - but you are up to the task!  You have done amazing work so far this year - keep it up.  New practice links have been posted on the side of the blog.

Concert Wrap Up

Great job last night, musicians!  You had a lot of focus and concentration on stage which made your group performances really excellent! Way to go!  Now today we start looking at some exciting music for our last concert of the year, June 2.  Practice links and listening links are posted below.  Have a great weekend -

Winter Concert on March 3!

It seems hard to believe, but our next performance is right around the corner!  Next week in fact.  We have a great performance in store with the 7th grade concert band performing, the 8th grade concert band, and the jazz ensemble.  A wide variety of styles of music will be performed by the groups.  They have been working hard and look forward to sharing their music with you!  Thursday, March 3rd, Mankato East auditorium, 7:30 p.m.  No admission charge.  Hope to see you there!

Afraid to perform in public? Read this...

This is a great article on a former student and how he overcame his fear of performing in public and now is an opera singer.  Check it out!  http://www.stjamesnews.com/features/x1958452912/Conquering-fear-of-public-performance

Resolution

Happy New Year! We had a wild time getting our December concert performance in, but we did it!  Thank you everyone for your flexibility.  Now we are on to a new year, with new music.  One of my resolutions is to keep the blog more up to date!  Please help me keep this resolution by making a comment if I don't update regularly. 

Stay warm, start practicing the new music, and look forward to an exciting 2011!