Sunday, August 11, 2019

Weekly Updates - August 12

Dear Parents,

If you have not already, please fill out this form on the link below so I can get all students into our new management system for playing tests.

bit.ly/OrchInfoForm19

Here are updates for each grade level:

Small Groups: Our first Fiddlers rehearsal for both new and returning members is this Thursday at 8am. NO audition is required! The only requirement for Fiddlers is that students must have at least one year of experience on their instrument and have a willingness to learn and memorize fiddle tunes! Come join in on the fun! The fee for joining Fiddlers this year is $20, which includes their t-shirt. (All Fiddlers will receive new shirts this year.)

Chamber Orchestra is a new group starting here at Durham, with auditions being held Monday, August 19. Here are the audition requirements:
1. 2 one octave major scales with arpeggios (such as D Major, G Major, etc) OR 1 two or three octave scale. (More points awarded for two and three octaves)
2. A short excerpt of music of their choice (only 30 seconds or so)
3. Sight-reading (they will be given 30 seconds to sight-read an 8-10 measure excerpt)

I will post results from the audition by Tuesday, August 20 at dismissal, and we will conduct our first rehearsal on Monday, August 26. The fee for students who are accepted into Chamber Orchestra will be $20, which includes a t-shirt.

8th Grade: All students should have their binders in class tomorrow. They are doing great work in shifting (playing higher up their instrument) in 3rd and 4th position and have started a new piece called, "Night Shift." Their first playing test will be exercise #10 from the worksheet given to them in class, and they will do this playing test in class on Thursday, August 29th. They have plenty of time to practice. :) They really are doing great work!

7th Grade: All students should have Essential Elements book 2 for their instrument, along with their binder, on Monday. We are almost complete with our review exercises in the book, and will soon be working on learning new notes and rhythms. I will hand out "Somewhere Out There" for their fall concert to 7th grade sometime this week!

6th Grade: All 6th grade students will be receiving information about the materials needed for class this week. We will be learning about the parts of the instrument, setting up lockers and cubbies, and learning some basic music literacy/music theory this week as we wait for everyone to get their instruments and supplies. All instruments and supplies are due in class by Monday, August 19.

Should you have any questions, please let us know!

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