Hi Advanced Orchestra! Look below for the practice videos for Gauntlet. First, you will find a video of all 5 parts together, and below of each part individually. Use these to practice at home!
All 5 Parts:
Violin I:
Violin II:
Viola:
Cello:
Bass:
Hi Advanced Orchestra! Look below for the practice videos for Conquistador. There are a couple of mistakes—let me know if you find them!
All 5 parts:
Violin I:
Violin II:
Viola:
Cello:
Bass:
Here is a video of all 5 parts of First Finger Pachelbel together:
Look below for videos of each individual instrument by itself.
Violin I:
Violin II:
Viola:
Cello:
Bass:
Hi everyone! First off, let me remind you all that we will NOT have rehearsal this coming Monday, February 17th due to President’s Day. Our next rehearsal will be Monday, February 24th.
Look below to find out what we did last Monday and what you should practice this coming week.
In the Beginning Orchestra, we reviewed the bow hold and the open strings, and then learned how to put left fingers down to play E, F#, and G on the D string. Explanations of how to do this on each instrument are below.
Violin:
Viola:
Cello:
Bass:
This week, practice the music on pages 6 and 7 (you may use your bow!) that use the D string notes.
IMPORTANT: If you are one of those people that feels like you need to write in the name of every note in order to play a song, you need to do that in your music AT HOME. I don’t want to waste valuable rehearsal time waiting for people to write in notes. Ideally, you would be able to learn to read music and not write in the notes. But if you want the extra help, write them in at home so that when we meet together we can play our music.
In the Intermediate Orchestra, we started by reviewing the songs in our Essential Elements book on page 20. Practice the music on page 21 this week if you haven’t already.
In the First Scale March, we quickly went over the music from the beginning until measure 20. Again, if you need to write in the notes in between the scales in this song, feel free to do so at home. I’m hoping to play up to measure 20 when we see each other again.
We then learned the first 8 measures of Impulse. Students should try to learn at least through measure 16 this week.
Then we only had time to quickly review First Finger Pachelbel. Students should practice through measure 20 this week.
We didn’t have time to practice Dragon Slayer this week, but students should still practice it at home.
In the Advanced Orchestra, we started with the Brandenburg and tried to play through the first 16 measures. Students, especially 1st and 2nd violins, really need to practice this. Watch the key signature!
We then moved on to Conquistador and learned measures 21-32, then reviewed the whole song up to measure 32. Next week I am hoping to get up to measure 54.
We then read In the Hall of the Mountain King up to measure 27. I’m hoping we can get to measure 51 soon.
Lastly, we played Gauntlet and learned measures 25—32. We then played from the beginning through measure 40. Next week I am hoping we can learn through measure 56.
Hi everyone! It was cold and the roads were slippery, but we had great rehearsals this Monday. Look below to know what we did and what students should practice at home this week.
In the Beginning Orchestra, we reviewed everything we did last Monday. We then learned about our bows, how to take care of them, and how to hold them correctly. If you want more information about the bow, look to the videos below:
Basic bow info:
Violin/Viola:
Cello:
Bass:
This week, students should practice the music on pages 16 and 17 to practice using the bow on the D and A strings.
This week we did a lot of work in First Finger Pachelbel. This piece is unique because it only uses open strings and 1st fingers. I made this cheat sheet to help the kids with the notes:
In our remaining time, we learned the beginning of Dragon Slayer.
Students should continue to practice at home and try to learn the pieces on their own. We will do more work in the book next week and definitely introduce Impulse.
In the Advanced Orchestra, we started with Conquistador and learned through measure 20. This week I’m hoping students will learn through measure 40 at home.
We then moved on to In the Hall of the Mountain King and learned the 2nd theme so that everyone can learn the difficult sections early on. We will start putting the song together in its real order next week.
Then we played Gauntlet and played through measure 24. I’m hoping we can get to measure 41 next week, so students should try to practice at least that much this week.
We then only spent a brief amount of time on the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. 1st and 2nd violins especially need to practice measures 5-15 this week.