INTRODUCTION
We would like 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 being able to offer instrumental music classes. Although we consider participation in instrumental music programs a right of all students, we do expect certain 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. It is also our belief 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 forms of performances. The broad objectives of the class are to improve playing skills, play a wide variety of musical literature, expand the student's knowledge of history, sound, and techniques of music, and enjoy the gift of music!
RESPONSIBILITES
By joining instrumental music, you become an important team member. Each and 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
Folder / 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 in between lessons. We are asking for 10-15 minutes! The amount of time a student spends 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 on a regular basis. 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.
Need to have rosin, hard or soft shoulder rests, cleaning cloths, pencils, good strings, etc. cello, and basses should have rock stops at all times.
All instruments should be labeled clearly with the student's name.
Should you break a string, tell your teacher right away. Let's get it fixed!
STUDENT PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS
Arrive on time and at the correct location.
Dress Appropriately
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 not involved in the musical selection but 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 when the performance is in progress.
If it is necessary to arrive late or leave before the concert is over, 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 not appropriate at any time before, during, or after a concert.
During a jazz concert, clapping is an appropriate way to acknowledge a single soloist. 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 very young children become restless and disrupt others' ability to listen, 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. Food or beverages should not be present during the concert.
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 a performance. Please be sure they are turned off.
PARENT COMMUNICATION
Should there be any problems or concerns, please feel free to 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 feel free to contact us at school should you have any questions or concerns. Your child's success in instrumental music not only depends upon their dedication and commitment but also on parental support. Here are some thoughts as we enter into this new school year.
Show an interest in your child's musical study by asking them to play for you and attending concerts.
Establish a regular time for practice.
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 take part in your child's music education as well as their 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 leading toward a nonprofessional lifetime association with music and leading toward a career in music through specialization.
Students will be able to strengthen other areas of learning through correlated musical activities.
Students will be able to use their own unique imagination, emotion, and energy in creating and expressing music.
Students will value the personal satisfaction that are 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 the many ways 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, and 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 at once 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 kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.
MUSIC IS HISTORY
Music usually 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 cheek, 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 to use when singing or playing
INTERPRETING
Reading and Notating Music
1. I can interpret rhythms patterns, including whole, half, dotted half, quarter,
dotted quarter, eighth, sixteenth notes, 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 in relation to history and culture, other disciplines, 21st-century skills, and life
1. I can exemplify how music is used by various groups 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.