Ames 5th Grade Bands

Helpful Pointers to Parents of Fifth Grade Band Students

Students' success on their chosen instrument is of great importance to them, to parents, and to us, the instructors. At each lesson, your child is told what material to practice and how to practice it. However, we realize that many outside factors cause home practice to become a struggle at times. To make practice as productive as possible, we would like to give you some helpful suggestions based on our experiences, first as students and then as teachers. We hope that the following suggestions will help you to help your child at home.

• Provide your child with as good an instrument as possible. Help find a safe place to keep the instrument in your home.

• Provide your child with a music stand. It will promote good posture and proper breath control.

• Set aside a consistent, regular time and place in your home for practice. We would recommend setting a goal of 100-120 minutes of practice each week (15-20 minutes of daily practice). Arrange the practice schedule to be free from interruptions by television, outdoor play, and family members.

• Show an interest in your child's practice and study. Be generous in your praise and encouragement. Occasionally, reward them for consistent practice. Encourage them to perform a 5-minute recital for you!

• Help your student to remember their lesson time. Remind your student to assemble their instrument, set up their music stand, and have all materials ready 5 minutes before the lesson starts.

• Expose your child to a broad variety of music and concerts. There are many classical, jazz, dance, and musical programs that can be found online.

6th Grade Quarter 1 Band - "Cave Man Gets a Haircut" and "Star Wars"

7th Grade Quarter 1 Band - "Dark Ride" and "The Water Is Wide"

"How can I, as a parent, encourage my student to stay active and involved in band?"

Online Rehearsals - Band teachers have been meeting with both in-person and remote students at the same time every class period. If you know your child is home for the day, encourage them to attend the online band rehearsal. In a normal year, we are used to rehearsing 4-5 days a week. However, that is limited now to one in-person rehearsal a week for high school students, and two for middle school..

Practicing - Since in-person time is very limited, students should practice daily in order to keep up strength on their instruments. It will be very easy for students to fall behind or lose facial muscle strength if practice does not happen.

Stick With It! - Even though this year is different, life will return to normal. Encourage your student to stick with band because of the amazing experiences you know they will have when this is over. Friday night football games! Full group rehearsals! Hanging out with friends!

Directors are working extremely hard to make this pandemic band experience feel as normal as possible. We value all of our parents' involvement with their students and encourage them to ask questions if any arise.

Little Cyclone Marching Band performs Outdoor Marching Band Spectacular

On October 3, the Little Cyclone Marching Band had their Marching Band Spectacular performance. This is usually an indoor performance held in the gym, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic the performance was moved outside to the football field. In preparation for the performance, students had five outdoor rehearsals from 6:45 - 7:30 a.m.. This was a voluntary performance that students could choose to participate in. Masks and bell covers were worn by all students as well as a matching marching band t-shirt.

The 150-piece band performed music by Earth, Wind, and Fire and Victor Lopez. The drumline was able to show off their drum cadences along with fan favorite, “Cowbell!” It was a great performance with lots of exciting energy. A link to the performance can be found below.

AHS Musicians Earn Selection to Iowa All-State Ensembles

This year's Iowa All-State auditions looked a little different from years past. Rather than having a live audition in front of a judge, students had to submit a video of themselves performing etudes, all twelve scales, and a solo. While this type of audition was new to students, they learned different ways of using music technology to improve their playing and received meaningful feedback from instructors, recording multiple takes before compiling the final submission.

Although there was no in-person performance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students worked hard and spent many hours preparing for the audition. The following students were accepted into the 2020 Iowa All-State Band and Orchestra. Congratulations!

Ames Band Staff

Andrew Buttermore, Ames High School

Chris Ewan, Ames High School

Ron Ferneau, Ames Middle School, 8th grade

Nick Gardner, Ames High School

Tascha Hauber, Ames Elementary

Paul Tallman, Ames Middle School, 7th grade

Peter Thompson, Ames Middle School, 6th grade

Cheryl Todey, Ames Elementary