October Updates

Hello Durham Orchestra Families,

Tomorrow, your child will receive a practice log. This practice log is due on Friday, October 21. They should practice for 20 minutes 5 times between tomorrow and next Friday in order to receive a 100. The Orchestra room is open for Early Morning Practice every day from 8:15-8:50 if they need to practice at school.

The first concert of the year for all grade levels is the TV/Movie Music Concert on Thursday, October 26th at Allatoona High School in the gym. This is a fun combined concert with all grade levels from 6th-12th grade and all the levels of Orchestra at Durham and AHS! Each Orchestra will play 1-2 pieces each. All students should arrive by 7pm, with the concert starting at 7:30pm. Students are encouraged to wear costumes. If they do not have a costume, school clothes are fine for them to wear. We hope to see you there!

All 8th Graders attending the Disney trip and chaperones should have already paid $300 up to this point, between the $100 deposit and the $200 payment due last week. Please let me know if you have any questions about payment!

Thank you all again for your contributions to the Yankee Candle fundraiser! We will let you know as soon as we find out when the items will ship. We will need a lot of volunteer help the day of the fundraiser delivery.

Here's what each grade level is working on:

8th: We are rehearsing Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas, The National Anthem, and Somewhere Out There. The 8th Graders are doing very well! We are working on polishing our music and "thinking outside the box" to make the music more exciting!

7th: We are rehearsing Beauty and the Beast and Somewhere Out There. The 7th graders are making great progress, and we are working on improving our tone/sound and our intonation (playing in tune). They have awesome, positive attitudes!

6th: I'm sure 6th grade parents know now that we have taken out the bows and we are really working on getting a good sound on our instruments! They are learning Jaws and Middle School Story for their upcoming concert. Hopefully, you should be hearing them play some songs out of their book as well, as they have already played quite a few! (Hot Cross Buns, Twinkle, Jingle Bells, etc) They have been very eager and excited about Orchestra! Yay!

The Fiddlers have their first concert on October 21. If your child is in Fiddlers and you did not receive an email with information, PLEASE let me know immediately!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!

Thank you!

Mrs. Aikey and Mrs. Sanchez