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Band Parents, I certainly miss making music with our students each day in the band room. I hope this email finds all of you healthy in these very unusual times. It has been a learning curve figuring out how to teach music virtually but I applaud our students for diving right in. Daily I am reminded just how resourceful and creative they are when I am listening to videos or on a zoom call. Please read carefully for some important updates regarding the band -- Assignment Expectations Students can expect one to two video assignments a week. Assignments are all listed in the "Classwork" tab of Google Classroom. Students should expect 9 grades this quarter. As long as the students are making efforts to do their best in their video and attaching it in google classroom, they will receive an A. Any missing assignments will be marked as an F (missing). When a late assignment is received they will receive their full credit for it. No need to email me to tell me why something will be late or to ask for extensions.
Most assignments have a choice element built in, so there should be something there that will spark their interest. I have also been encouraging the students to share their music outside of the assignment by sending the recordings to someone special. After all, we all need to feel lifted up right now and music has that power! Friday's Zoom lesson and their next video assignment should be dedicated to a special essential worker in their life. They will record Lean on Me -OR- Amazing Grace. Feel free to share these on social media and make someone's day! Having an Instrument Issue? Please let me know and we can see what to do to solve it! If you are in need of reeds, you can try ordering online at sites such as Amazon or https://www.wwbw.com/. Practicing for Band I recommend students use music practice as a way to break up their school work during the day. Small 15-20 minute sessions between subjects can be extremely beneficial! Stand in the front yard and play for the neighbors or set up in the backyard to get outside (and not bug the rest of the family, lol)! The most important thing is that the students still find time to play! Making music requires so many muscles in our faces as well as our hands that if we don't exercise these it is so easy to lose it. Encouraging Them This time is a great opportunity for students to learn how to play something they've always wanted. It really doesn't matter to me what the students are playing outside of their video assignments as long as they are playing! Our website has SO MANY resources of sheet music and play-along tracks. Encourage them to explore! If they can not find something they want to play, e-mail me and I will try my best to find it and post it for them. Virtual Solo Recital Tuesday, April 28 at 6:30 pm Our Virtual Recital will be held through Zoom. Anyone is welcome to sign in and watch! To select our performers, I am prioritizing 7th & 8th graders as they did not get the opportunity to do their Solo & Ensemble Festival. However, if there is enough room/time I will include interested 6th graders as well! If your child is interested in performing, please sign up using this google form so I can start to get together a list of performers! Sign-up Here: https://forms.gle/gbcVusvLAJKyNGfj6 Fundraiser Update As many of you know, we were scheduled to begin our World's Finest Chocolate fundraiser just as the school closures began. We even had all of the chocolate ready to be handed out on the Monday school was closed! We are fortunate to say that WFC took the chocolate back with no charge to us. Whew! Unfortunately, our band booster account was (is) at the lowest it has been in years. For no fault other than we typically schedule the fundraiser a little earlier in the school year than we did this year. We have a few remaining bills that will need to be paid before the end of the school year and we will want to be able to start next year with some funds in the account so we can continue to provide an exceptional music education for our students. Typically the WFC fundraiser raises $60 per child for the year. Held in the spring, this fundraiser fuels us for the calendar year and helps us to reach our $12,000+ yearly operating budget. These monies are used to hire our percussion and small group instructor Ms. Wilson along with other instructors we bring in to work with the kids. The proceeds also go towards our annual festival trips, solo and ensemble festival, music, music equipment, school owned instrument repair, website maintenance, and so much more! In lieu of our annual World's Finest Chocolate fundraiser, please, if you are able, consider donating in increments of $20 to the CMS Mustang Band. Any size donation is much appreciated and will go a long way to ensuring we come back from this school closure strong!
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Cancellations Louisiana Bandmasters Association's All-Star Band that was scheduled for the beginning of June has been canceled. Greater Baton Rouge Beginner Honor Band scheduled for April has been canceled. -- Finally, I want you and your students to know that I am here to support you in any way I can. I realize that the way each child approaches online learning is going to look different depending on their situation, and I get that! I have a sign in the band room that I reference all the time to the kids - YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT... TO BE AWESOME. And that is how I want my students approaching music right now. Difficult times like these are when the world needs music the most - to heal, to escape, to vent, to grow, to experience joy. I'm not looking for perfection in videos, I just want to see our students continue to find joy in music! Stay home, stay safe and stay healthy! Remind Codes 6th Grade - text @cmband6 to 81010 7th Grade - text @cmband7 to 81010 8th Grade - text @cmband8 to 81010 Google Classroom Codes 6th Grade Woodwinds - 6xi7f5e 6th Grade Brass & Percussion - w3umpby 7th Grade Woodwinds - mvocr2o 7th Grade Brass & Percussion - ipiiyui 8th Grade Woodwinds - yrohnwp 8th Grade Brass & Percussion - u663pgh Musically yours, Ms. Codina katie.codina@apsb.org www.cmsmustangband.com Comments are closed.
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