Review from 1/29
Hi everyone! Look below for the review for your orchestra.
Beginning Orchestra
This week, we reviewed our open strings and how to tell what strings to play on The Salamander Samba. We learned how to play from A to B on the Salamander Samba and then played it with the piano part. If you’d like to practice with the video, you can follow this link.
We then learned how to hold our bows and did some bow exercises. Watch the video below for an explanation of the bow hold:
We quickly went over the beginning of On A Swing, which is also all open strings! You should be able to write in the notes in this piece the same way we did for The Salamander Samba. The difference of this one is that it uses bows instead of pizzicato. Check it out!
Intermediate Orchestra
- Abandoned Funhouse — we went through the parts from the beginning until 25. Please practice until measure 53 at least, but if you can do the whole thing that would be great!
- Momentous — We played the G major scale to prepare us for playing on the G string in Momentous. If you don’t know how to play any of your lower notes, check your scale sheet! We played through measure 9. Please practice until at least 17, but further if you can!
- Icicles — For this piece, we want to bounce the bow a bit and let it ring with the staccatos. We worked on getting the right sound for that and then played through to measure 33.
- Guldfaxe — We didn’t get to this piece this week, but I want to start with it next week. Please practice at least until measure 19 this week.
Advanced Orchestra
- Turbulence — This is already sounding great! Violins, we decided that for the divisi sections we are going to split it up by last name. If you last name starts with A-H, you will play the top part. If your last name starts with I-Z, you will play the bottom part. We practiced through measure 25, and then sightread through 48-ish.
- Bones — This piece has a lot of low 1’s, high 3’s, extensions, etc! Watch out for those and let me know if you have any questions. We practiced through measure 19 and then sightread through 24.
- Appalachian Sunrise — We started by playing a C major scale, because I am nervous about us remembering all of those F naturals and C naturals. 2nd violins and violas, we reviewed your rhythm that starts at measure 5 — just think of it as “short-long” at the beginning, and you should have the right feel. We practiced through measure 21 and then sightread until 37.
- Momentous — We played from the beginning but it kind of fell apart around measure 17. Please try to practice through measure 37 at least.
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Rehearsal Review 11/8
Hi everyone!
Look below to see the review for your orchestra. Our concert is coming up quickly, so be sure to practice at home!
Beginning Orchestra
We began our rehearsal by reviewing the pieces we already know — Twinkle Twinkle, Rolling Along (aka Mary Had a Little Lamb), and Lightly Row.
Once those were going well, we learned about the notes on the A string from pages 10 and 11. Here are some videos about how to play the “A ladder” on different instruments:
Try to start memorizing where these notes are now, because pretty soon the names of the notes won’t be inside of the noteheads!
Intermediate Orchestra
We gave out new seating charts this week, so thank you to all of you who recorded playing check-ins! We will have only one more playing check-in, focusing on The Christmas Train. The violins and violas will record measures 15-23, and the cellos and bass will record measures 23-33. We will start recording the playing check-ins after Thanksgiving Break.
Here is what we did in rehearsal:
- Rustic Dance — We haven’t focused on this one for a while, so I wanted to makes sure we got to it today. The section between 21 and 29 is sounding a lot better! We definitely need to work on some confidence, especially with the 2nds and the violas. We then worked on having really big dynamic contrasts between measure 29 and 45 — if we only do it halfway, it’ll sound like a mistake! So we need to make those sound really dramatic.
- The Christmas Train — We worked on this for a while, mainly focusing on measures 15-33. Make sure you know these measures! We also had to work on watching me in the beginning and at the end.
- Maiden’s Rescue — This is sounding great! We had to work on the violins and violas not tuning out between 13 and 21 while they have half notes, but once I pointed it out they had no problems. I will bring pencils next week and hopefully we can write in some dynamics to make it more interesting.
- Rain Dribs — We only had time to quickly run through this, but I would like to work on it more in detail in the coming weeks.
Advanced Orchestra
We gave out new seating charts this week, so thank you to all of you who recorded playing check-ins! We will have only one more playing check-in, focusing on Beyond the Thunder. The 1st violins will record measures 62-end, the 2nds and violas will record measures 46-54, and the cellos and bass will record measures 29-37. We will start recording the playing check-ins after Thanksgiving Break.
Also, we are having a party next week! We are extremely prepared and still have several rehearsals left, so we are going to have a pre-Thanksgiving party. Bring a snack or treat to share if you would like, and I will bring some small group music that people can try out. You deserve a break!
Here is what we rehearsed this week:
- Beyond the Thunder — This is sounding great! We had to work a bit on 46-54, mainly because the rhythms are a little weird. The 2nds and violas are doing something totally different from the 1sts and it’s confusing! Other than that, this one is sounding great.
- Appalachian Hymn — I LOVE THIS ONE! And you all are playing it so well. We worked with the violins and violas on measures 69-71 because we had some intonation problems, but other than that I feel like we are ready.
- Velocity — We are losing our tempo sometimes, and I think it’s because our quarter notes are a bit too long. And 2nd violins, don’t forget to be super strong on measures 25-28 — that’s my favorite part!
- Fantasy on Greensleeves — We just played through this one. It’s sounding great, but I have to figure out a way to make it more interesting! You all have done your job, though 🙂
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Review from 10/9 — No rehearsal next week!
Hi everyone!
Look below to find the review for your orchestra. We will not be having rehearsal on Monday, October 16th. Our next rehearsal will be on Monday, October 23rd. Make sure to practice in the meantime!
Beginning Orchestra
On Monday, we worked on the lines we know from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and learned the 3rd and final line. I know that many people were a bit confused, so here are some videos explaining it, as well as music sheets you can use to practice at home:
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is also in your book under the name “A Mozart Melody” on page 15.
We also started learning Mary Had a Little Lamb, which can be found in your book under the name “Rolling Along” on page 8. I have made it easier to read in the sheets below:
Intermediate Orchestra
This week, I announced the results of our playing check-ins and we had a map of where everyone is sitting. Overall, I was very proud of how you all did with the playing check-in! If you aren’t happy with where you are sitting, make sure to practice for the next one. We will start recording for the next playing check-in at our next rehearsal on Monday, October 23rd. Students will be playing measures 21-29 of Rustic Dance. Students who choose not to make a recording will sit behind those who do, so be brave and make it happen!
Here is what we did in our rehearsal:
- Rustic Dance — We played the whole thing! We worked a good amount on measures 21-29, since we will be playing those for the playing check-in.
- Maiden’s Rescue — We also played through this whole song! We definitely need more detail work on it, but you should be able to practice the whole thing. Violas and cellos, make sure to practice measures 33 through 35 because they are a very important counter melody.
- First Finger Suite — We worked on getting used to how this one sounds and making sure everyone is coming in at the right time. It’s a lot easier now that everyone is sitting in their proper section!
- The Christmas Train — We didn’t get much time to work on this, so we will make sure to practice it a lot next week.
Advanced Orchestra
This week, I announced the results of our playing check-ins and we had a map of where everyone is sitting. Overall, I was very proud of how you all did with the playing check-in! If you aren’t happy with where you are sitting, make sure to practice for the next one. We will start recording for the next playing check-in at our next rehearsal on Monday, October 23rd. This month’s playing check ins will be in Velocity, in the following sections:
- 1st Violins: measures 45-53
- 2nd Violins and Violas: measures 37-45
- Cellos: measures 17-25
Students who don’t record a video will be sat behind those who do, so make sure to record a video this time! Here is what we worked on on Monday:
- Velocity — I wanted to make sure we worked on this a lot this week, and we did! We worked on a lot of the details between measure 37 and measure 53.
- Fantasy on Greensleeves — This already sounds so great! We decided to do the bowing as written, rather than the changes I had made a couple of weeks ago. Sorry for switching it up on you! I also did a quick overview of the vibrato technique — try it out and see if you can get a little wiggle in there!
- Appalachian Hymn — 2nds you did such a great job from 49-57! I don’t think I will have to stick violas on that part after all. We are working on intonation and big dynamic contrasts.
- Beyond the Thunder — We didn’t get to this one this week, so we will hit it next week!
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