INTRODUCTION
We want to take this opportunity to welcome you to the Wilson Elementary Instrumental Music Program! We are looking forward to an exciting and successful year! Wilson takes pride in offering instrumental music classes. Although we consider participation in instrumental music programs a right of all students, we do expect specific standards of each student enrolled in this class:
Responsibility
Dependability
Continue to strive for musical excellence
Dedication
It is our goal to produce an outstanding instrumental music program. We also believe that students learn more and develop better self-discipline, responsibility, and knowledge, as well as take more pride in superior programs than poor ones. Excellence takes commitment. We should not allow ourselves to strive for anything less.
PURPOSE
The instrumental music classes meet once a 6-day cycle for lessons and once for advanced orchestra students. The nature of this class requires the development of skills, concepts, and attitudes to be learned in class. Often, these skills must be demonstrated apart from class via many performances. The broad objectives of the class are to improve playing skills, play a wide variety of musical literature, expand the students' knowledge of history, sound, and music techniques, and enjoy the gift of music!
RESPONSIBILITES
By joining instrumental music, you become an essential team member. Every one of you is equally important to the success of the team. Therefore, the musicians in this group are asked to abide by the following:
Respect yourself and others.
Respect your instrument and your surroundings.
Be in the room on time.
Be attentive and quiet during class.
Follow instructions.
Come prepared with your materials.
Turn in permission slips and forms on time.
Touch only your instrument.
Put your name on your case, folder, and additional accessories (rosin, rock stop, shoulder pad)...
MATERIALS
Instrument
Music
Binder / Lesson Book /Practice Chart
Website
PRACTICE & ATTENDANCE
At-home practice is an essential part of a student's development on their instrument. Students are required to practice at home. Students should set a goal for each practice session. Keep practicing until that goal is reached. It is called STRIVE FOR FIVE! We are looking for five practice log-ins between lessons. We are asking for 10-15 minutes! A student's time is not as important as reaching the goal. You want your child to make a positive relationship with their instrument and make it a friend! Please make sure you fill out your practice chart! Become a creature of habit!
It is educationally sound for students to attend class regularly. Since we only meet once a 6-day cycle, it is imperative to remember your instrument/music and attend lessons so you do not fall behind.
HERE IS A GREAT ARTICLE!
EQUIPMENT
The following will be expected of all members:
All instruments are to be in good playing condition. Proper maintenance is REQUIRED.
You need to have rosin, hard or soft shoulder rests, cleaning cloths, pencils, good strings, etc. The cello and basses should always have rock stops.
All instruments should be labeled clearly with the student's name.
If you break a string, please tell your teacher right away. Let's get it fixed!
STUDENT PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS
Please arrive on time and at the correct location.
Dress Appropriately. Sparkle and shine! Dress to impress!
Leave all personal belongings in the appropriate area - not the performance area.
Students enter the performance area in control and with a performance stance.
Look at the director, not the audience. When not performing, students need to direct their attention to the focus of the concert
If they are not involved in the musical selection but are still in the performance area, students are to sit quietly and demonstrate appropriate concert etiquette.
AUDIENCE CONCERT ETIQUETTE
(Adapted from MENC Teacher Success Kit by Randy Hise.)
Audience members need to be seated and quiet during the performance.
If you must arrive late or leave before the concert ends, please do so between musical selections.
Clapping is the appropriate way to show appreciation for the performance. Laughter is acceptable when appropriate. Whistling, yelling, or screaming are inappropriate before, during, or after a concert.
Clapping is an appropriate way to acknowledge a single soloist during a jazz concert. During multiple solos, please wait for all soloists to finish performing before applauding.
Parents should keep small children seated with them and not allow them to move around during the concert. If young children become restless and disrupt others' listening ability, please take them from the performance area until they are quiet.
It is customary to welcome the director with applause.
Listeners and performers are distracted by extra sounds and movements from the audience.
Hats or caps should be removed during a concert, and food or beverages should not be present.
Watch the director when the music stops to decide whether or not to applaud. Some musical works have extended endings, several parts, or multiple movements, and the audience is expected to applaud only after all movements have been performed.
Cellular phones and pagers interrupt performance. Please be sure they are turned off.
PARENT COMMUNICATION
Class Dojo is the easiest way to contact me, but you can always email me!
If you have any problems or concerns, please email me! lecmic@share.wilsonsd.org.
FINAL WORDS
Wilson has one of the finest music programs. Together, we can build on this program and make this a successful year. Please don't hesitate to contact us at school with any questions or concerns. Your child's success in instrumental music depends on dedication, commitment, and parental support. Here are some thoughts as we enter this new school year.
Please show interest in your child's musical study by asking them to play for you and attending concerts.
Establish a regular time for practice.
You can find a quiet place for practice without interruptions.
Never make fun of strange sounds that may be made.
Be patient, be patient, be patient!
Be committed to your child's participation in instrumental music.
Teach your child to be on time for rehearsals and concerts.
We are looking forward to an enjoyable and prosperous year and encourage you to participate in your child's music education and academic progress.
WILSON MUSIC DEPARTMENT GOALS
Students will experience the enrichment of life mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally through enjoying and appreciating worthwhile musical activities.
Students have the opportunity to participate in musical activities and performances.
Students will experience the music of American culture and the use of music in American life today.
Students will experience opportunities that lead to a nonprofessional lifetime association with music and to a career in music through specialization.
Students can strengthen other areas of learning through correlated musical activities.
Students can create and express music through their unique imagination, emotions, and energy.
Students will value the personal satisfaction achieved through increased ability to interpret musical communication.
Students will experience music associated with other countries of the world.
Students will know the function of sound and silence in music and how it has been and may be used to communicate ideas, feelings, and moods.
MUSIC IS SCIENCE
It is exact and specific, and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor's full score is a chart, a graph that indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.
MUSIC IS MATHEMATICAL
It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions, which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.
Its architectural form is simple and complex, structurally intricate and detailed.
MUSIC IS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French and the notation is certainly not English, but a highly developed shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.
MUSIC IS HISTORY
Music reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and/or racial feelings.
MUSIC IS PHYSICAL EDUCATION
It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lips, and cheeks, and facial muscles, in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragm, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.
Music is all these things, but most of all...
MUSIC IS ART
It allows a human being to take all these dry, technically difficult techniques and use them to create emotion, feeling, and humanity.
SKILLS GRADE 3-5
PERFORMING
Singing and Playing Instruments
1. I can produce accurate pitch with expanded ranges
2. I can sing and play music independently
3. I can create harmony with my voice or instrument
4. I can sing and play with expression
5. I can use the correct techniques when singing or playing
INTERPRETING
Reading and Notating Music
1. I can interpret rhythm patterns, including whole, half, dotted half, quarter,
dotted quarter, eighth, sixteenth notes, and rests in 2/4,¾, 4/4, and 6/8
2. I can interpret through voice or instruments simple pitch
3. I can recognize pitches
4. I can apply understanding of standard musical symbols
5. I can use standard symbols to notate rhythm, meter, pitch, and dynamics
CREATING
Improvisation, Arranging, Composing music
1. I can use improvisation to create short songs using traditional and nontraditional songs
2. I can create compositions and arrangements within specified guidelines.
3. I can create rhythmic compositions using notation which are arranged using a variety of sound sources.
RESPONDING
Listening to, moving to, analyzing, and evaluating music
1. I can interpret through instruments and or voice the gestures of the conductor
2. I can use music terminology in explaining music
3. I can design a set of criteria for evaluating music performance and compositions
4. I can exemplify appropriate behaviors
5. I can identify the sounds of a variety of instruments
6. I can classify classroom, orchestra, and world instruments
CONNECTING
Understanding music concerning history and culture, other disciplines, 21st-century skills, and life
1. I can exemplify how various groups use music for artistic expression within the community
2. I can understand how music affects and is reflected in culture
3. I can understand the relationships between music and concepts from the other areas.