Orchestra Schedule for this week 6th, 7th, 8th grade
•Chamber Orchestra Practice on Thurs. After School
•No Morning Orchestra on Tues., Thurs. or Fri.
•Did you get a new polo or tshirt? Pay $10 by Friday
•Did you miss the concert? Be sure to play your music for Ms. Proctor this week!
•Testing Begins this week, check the schedule for Connections
•Tue. 3rd (8th grade), 1st (7th grade), 5th (6th grade)
•Wed. 4th (8th grade),2nd (7th grade), 6th (6th grade)
•Thurs. 3rd (8th grade), 1st (7th grade), 5th (6th grade)
•Fri. 6th (6th grade),2nd (7th grade), 4th (8th grade)
7th Grade Information
7th Grade Spring Concerts
7-1, 1st period on Thurs. April 26th at 6:30 pm, students arrive at 6 pm to tune and warm up
7-2, 2nd period on Thurs. April 26th at 7:30 pm, students arrive at 6:45 pm to tune and warm up
Parents are needed to help monitor students from 6:00 pm to 6:25 pm and 6:45 pm to 7:15 pm
Chamber Orchestra will perform at the beginning of each 7th grade concert
Select 6th grade students will also perform at one the 7th grade concerts
8th grade Information
8th grade Spring Concert is Thurs. May 10th at 7 pm
Students arrive at 6:15 pm to tune and warm up
Carowinds Trip is May 11th and May 12th. FINAL Payments are due Friday April 13th!!! Payments for Students and Chaperones!
6th grade information
Students will continue to work on perfecting playing their individual instruments! Pass off's for music skills will continue, along with note reading/recognition utilizing the ipads and leaning about different genres of music and composers through a class project. Students will need the following for the project: index cards, colored pencils/markers, glue sticks, login for Office 365 account or flash drive to save work and ear buds. Limited number of these materials such as glue sticks and colored pencils will be available to use in class along with earbuds. We will work on the project in class over the next two weeks beginning Tue. April 10th. If you have questions let me know.
Select 6th grade students will perform with the 7th grade students at their Spring Concert on Thurs. April 26th, more information will come home soon.
Chamber Orchestra
If you are a rising 7th or 8th grade student interested in Chamber Orchestra come to Chamber Orchestra practice on Thurs. April 12th from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm. All students must have transportation home at the conclusion of the rehearsal.
Switching Instruments
As we come to the end of the year it is not uncommon for students to want to switch instruments.In the past few weeks several students have inquired about switching instruments. Instrument switching is discouraged and only allowed by the director's discretion. Our program is set up for students to select an instrument in the 6th grade and to master the instrument by playing on it through 8th grade. Griffin is very fortunate because all students who go through recruitment are allowed to try the instruments out and then select the instrument they want to learn. Students are not told which instrument to play. Learning an instrument takes time and students who stay on the same instrument for all three years have great success and enjoyment in orchestra. At the director's discretion there is some switching of instruments such as going from cello to bass or bass to cello due to the fact that the student may not be able to have the correct instrument set up and students will struggle. Sometimes violin to viola or viola to violin due to students confusing the two during recruitment. Most of those transitions happen in the first few weeks of orchestra in 6th grade. Any other instrument switches are case by case and under extreme circumstances. After students have been on the instrument they selected in 6th grade for a year, the following options are available if students choose to switch. Students must purchase a quality instrument from a music store that they wish to switch to and begin weekly private lessons for at least a year in order to work on correct instrument set up and technique to catch up with the class. In orchestra at school we are constantly building on skills learned in 6th grade. The class is group instruction and not private lessons. Many skills transfer from instrument to instrument, but students switching instruments need additional weekly help to catch up to the class. If you have any further instructions please send an e-mail.