ovember 7th

Review your 5 Christmas songs.

Keep practicing the clarinet for 5-10 minutes every day to build up your stamina.

🎄 Christmas Carol Instrument Project! 🎶

It’s time to get into the holiday spirit! For this project, you’ll choose one Christmas carol to learn on your clarinet

🎯 What to Do

✅ Choose your song – You have one week to decide. (You’ll get a grade just for choosing!) Due Wednesday November 12th.
✅ Practice your song – You’ll have one month to practice at home.
✅ Reach out if needed – I’m happy to help if you’d like guidance or feedback.
✅ Perform & record – Your final video performance is due December 11th in a separate Google Classroom assignment.

🎵 Song Choices

Good King Wenceslas

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

Jingle Bells

Silent Night

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Up on the Housetop

💡 Want to play something else?
If there’s a Christmas song you really want to learn that’s not listed, send me your request before the song-choice due date — I’ll review it and let you know if it’s approved!

Let’s make some holiday music magic! 🎅✨

Reminder: You will need to read the music. Searching for a tutorial on line will be difficult as there are many different arrangements of the Christmas songs. Your performance needs to match the sheet music. Reach out for help and support if needed.

Posted on October 31st 

You should know the lyrics to the 10 songs for the Christmas Concert. You will be taking the third assessment on these songs on Friday. Make sure to practice singing to the accompaniment links. Practice 2 different songs every day.

Keep practicing the clarinet for 5-10 minutes every day to build up your stamina.

As we discussed, you will have a Google Classroom assignment posted over the weekend. I will be giving you the sheet music to several Christmas Carol. Part one of the assignment is to chose ONE of the carols to learn to play on your clarinet. You will have a month to practice the carol before the final video performance will be due.

🎄 Christmas Carol Instrument Project! 🎶

It’s time to get into the holiday spirit! For this project, you’ll choose one Christmas carol to learn on your clarinet

🎯 What to Do

✅ Choose your song – You have one week to decide. (You’ll get a grade just for choosing!)
✅ Practice your song – You’ll have one month to practice at home.
✅ Reach out if needed – I’m happy to help if you’d like guidance or feedback.
✅ Perform & record – Your final video performance is due December 11th in a separate Google Classroom assignment.

🎵 Song Choices

Good King Wenceslas

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

Jingle Bells

Silent Night

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Up on the Housetop

💡 Want to play something else?
If there’s a Christmas song you really want to learn that’s not listed, send me your request before the song-choice due date — I’ll review it and let you know if it’s approved!

Let’s make some holiday music magic! 🎅✨

Reminder: You will need to read the music. Searching for a tutorial on line will be difficult as there are many different arrangements of the Christmas songs. Your performance needs to match the sheet music. Reach out for help and support if needed.

Posted on October 24th

Continue to work on your memorization of Holly Jolly Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Just One Candle, Sing for the King, Away in a Manger, Angels We Have Heard on High, We Three Kings, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, The First Noel and Silent Night.  We took the second assessment on the carols today during class.

Posted on October 17th

Work on your memorization of Holly Jolly Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Just One Candle, Sing for the King, Away in a Manger, Angels We Have Heard on High, We Three Kings, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, The First Noel and Silent Night. 

Posted on October 10th

Practice the songs under Songs to Memorize.

Review Hot Cross Buns, Au Claire de la Lune, Merrily We Roll Along  and Shark Attack.  Practice the songs under Songs to Memorize.

Posted on September 12th

Choose 2 of the 3 songs to practice on your clarinet. All three songs use 3 notes. E, Thumb/1, D, Thumb/1/2 and C, Thumb/1/2/3. The songs: Hot Cross Buns, Au Claire de La Lune and Merrily We Roll Along are posted under sheet music.

You have 2 weeks to learn these songs. You will be assessed on September 26th during class.

Memorize Holly Jolly Christmas

GREAT FIRST DAY OF CLARINET. Due on September 5th: Take a video of yourself putting the reed on the mouthpiece with the ligature. On Google Classroom. Make sure that you have joined the Google Classroom for Friday Music. 75szzu6v.

Practice putting your clarinet together so that you can complete the task in 5 minutes. Due on September 12th. (No video or google classroom for this. You will demonstrate in class.)

Music Supplies needed for your first class on Friday, August 29th!

*clarinet 

*1 box of #1 ½ reeds  

*1 box of #2 reeds

(Leave one box of reeds at home and keep another one in your locker.)

*Cleaning swab

*Mouthpiece cap

*Cork grease

    *Folding music stand with the case labeled with students Name, School and 

Phone Number (either home or school.)

     *Case labeled with students Name, School and 

Phone Number (either home or school.)

iPad

Music Folder 

2-3 sheets of lined paper

Pencil

Students are expected to be able to read the letter names of the notes on the treble clef staff and to identify and perform correctly rhythms using whole, dotted half, half, quarter and eighth notes/rests.

Students supply their own clarinet. I STRONGLY suggest renting from a reputable music store. If you prefer to purchase, please read the following extremely important information. If your instrument is a hand me down, make sure to take it in to a repair shop BEFORE school begins for adjustments; the pads, cork and rods should be checked.

 Information regarding purchasing a clarinet

There are literally dozens of new "brands" of musical instruments coming to our shores every year.  Many of these are referred to as ISOs or Instrument Shaped Objects and are inferior to the brands that music educators have relied on for decades.

Unfortunately, price over quality is a consideration with some parents. 

Well, if it looks like a dog, and it smells like a dog, then it must be....   Well, not so fast.  Many of these ISOs are shiny and new.  They come in what appear to be nice cases.  The clarinets are constructed out of a black plastic material and have silver finished keys.  HOWEVER, most parents aren't aware that most of these instruments are constructed using alloys of metal that are much heavier (this equals less resonance and more strain on the student) and softer (in the hands of an elementary school student this equals more wear and tear damage).  These instruments are usually of poor construction.  There have been times when a new ISO has been just taken out of the case and the parts of the instrument are the wrong size and don't even fit together.  Most every ISO has intonation issues, meaning that the instrument doesn't play in tune with itself.  Most reputable repair shops do not stock replacement parts for ISOs and often will refuse to attempt to repair them out of fear for doing more damage to the instrument due to the inferior materials and methods of construction.  If it is difficult for a band director or a professional musician to produce a good quality tone and play the instrument in all ranges (high, medium & low) and have it play in tune with itself then it will be very difficult and most likely impossible for a beginner.  THERE IS LITTLE THAT IS AS UPSETTING AS WATCHING A STUDENT WORK AS HARD AS THEY CAN, PRACTICING DAILY AND PUTTING FORTH EVERY EFFORT IN CLASS, AND YET BE UNABLE TO PROGRESS AND BE SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE THEIR INSTRUMENT WONT ALLOW THEM TO DO SO.

What if you were in the market for a new car and you went to a dealership only to find cars that you had heard were of good quality but more expensive than you wanted to pay, what would you do?  Would you try to purchase a used vehicle that was manufactured by a manufacturer whose name you recognized as one that constructed good quality vehicles?  Or, Would you visit an on-line auction house Website or on-line retailer Website and purchase the cheapest car that you found there?  I doubt that many would choose the latter and yet this is exactly the decision some parents make every year when it comes time to secure an instrument for their child.  Please don't confuse this statement as saying that all on-line purchases of musical instruments are bad because this is not the intended message.  Certainly, it is possible to find good quality musical instruments on-line.  However, you get what you pay for.  In most cases, the manufacturers of ISOs use the cheapest means to manufacture their product.  It sure would be upsetting to have purchased a VSO (vehicle shaped object) and have the wheels fall off and the engine drop out while traveling seventy miles an hour down interstate forty.  As you can imagine, the bitterness of a poor purchase long outlasts the sweetness of a low purchase price.

The following is an incomplete list of brands of band instruments that are manufactured by companies that are recognized, trusted and relied upon by most band directors:  Selmer, Conn, Bach, Buffet, Yamaha, Holton, Leblanc, Ludwig, Pearl, Armstong, King Emerson, Musser, Besson, Getzen, Cannonball, Jupiter, Gemeinhart, Avanti...

The following is an incomplete list of brands of band instruments that are manufactured by companies that are not widely recognized as trusted and relied upon brands: Etude, Iotone, Monique, Belton, Jean Baptiste, Simba, Heimer, Weimer, Laurel, TriStar, Morelli, Gruskin, Helmke, Wemburg, Deura, Feile, Rossetti, Bandfolio, Kersting, Maxan, Mendini, Merano, Mirage, Hsinghai, Victory Band, Dolnet, Avalon, Coudet, Jazz Studio, Golden Cup, Sonatina, Laval, Unison, Maxtone, Bestler, Belcrest, Remstein, Concert, Delphi, Jinyin, Palatino, Stellar, Venus, Yamato, Shiny Clarinet, Lacquer Saxophone...

Customers should beware of advertisements and quotes such as: "Approved/recommended by band directors", "Loved by students", "Not a cheap imitation, but a real clarinet , "Has a serial number!"  The last quote sparks another warning...if the instrument doesn't have a serial number OR the manufacturer doesn't have a Website OR there is no contact information for the manufacturer, then you should reconsider your purchase.

Please help your child be successful in music class by making sure that they have an instrument that will allow them to be as successful as their work ethic.  

Blank Clarinet fingering Chart 

Review Things You Should Know . 

Please make sure that you have all of your supplies for our next class:

*clarinet 

*1 box of #1 ½ reeds  

*1 box of #2 reeds

(Leave one box of reeds at home and keep another one in your locker.)

*Cleaning swab

*Mouthpiece cap

*Cork grease

    *Folding music stand with the case labeled with students Name, School and 

Phone Number (either home or school.)

     *Case labeled with students Name, School and 

Phone Number (either home or school.)

iPad

Music Folder 

2-3 sheets of lined paper

Pencil

Your Homework will be posted on this site. Check this site several times during the week to find information on what we plan to do during class and/or a review of what we accomplished. 

If you forget your clarinet or are absent, you will need to make a short video of yourself performing the music covered during the missed class and submit it through email to Mrs. Faw, pfaw@sainthilaryschool.org . 

You will need to save the video to drive before you send or share it.