Dear Parent/ Guardian,
Just a quick update from the Music Faculty at the University of Leslie Frost. This year’s first term has been dedicated to sitting properly, coming in without a thousand questions, clapping, making a strange sound (sometimes annoying?) on a mouthpiece, and putting an instrument together with the right hand in the right place consistently.
If your child is a percussionist, they have told stories of boredom, and have come home somehow expected to hit once with a controlled bounce of three beats, followed by double strokes with a metronome set to 80. Good times.
Recorder classes have been excited when they play for more than 25 minutes because the class was late getting knapsacks together and, and, and…
And the classic… “He doesn’t teach us anything!”
Sounds like another September. I love it, becausehere’s what I see and hear…
• Practicing (with confusion perhaps, but holding, playing, trying)
• Voices that breathe CORRECTLY
• Vowels being sung
• Understanding for eighth notes IN CONTEXT, not abstract math
• Discipline, discipline, discipline
• Understanding that the instruments are expensive, and a priveledge
• Understanding for how a fingering chart works
• Curiosity about Miles Davis, Stravinsky, and Buddy Rich
• A full understanding of where the year will go in 5 lessons (the most a class has had)
• Kids telling me what they know, and what they need
I’m learning the Leslie Frost groove and am thankful for everyone’s patience.
Three quick updates:
• Mr. Smeaton’s world (I know, scary) has a website. I was told not to go here in year one at a new school by teachers/ admin whom I respect very much. This was good advice. Nonetheless it pushes me to take on an Inquiry that I think suits this year. Please bare with me regarding frequency of updates – I’ll do my best!
threelittlebirdss.webs.com/
• If possible, we are ready for a duotang for Music class. If need be, sharing a binder is not a problem for me.
• From October to June, each student will have a practice log. It will be explained in class, but the bottom line is that every two weeks I will record the logs and this will be referred to in your child’s mark. Practicing one night per week is a minimum. Practicing vs. Playing has been, and will continue to be, discussed in class.
Hang in there, hug your child when they are “failing” (learning), and we’ll see you at the finish line, (there isn’t one by the way… music learning just never ends – and that’s a pretty wondrous thing.)
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