February 14, 2020

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.

Beginning Orchestra

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.

Intermediate Orchestra

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.

Advanced Orchestra

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.