Dear Band Parents,
Here is the plan for this week in band at Hawley Middle School.
Wonderful concert
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Congratulations to our 8th grade band for their powerful performance on Friday night. Our concert band played the most challenging, nuanced music I have ever tried to do with an 8th grade band, and I thought they executed wit energy and musical maturity. Our jazz band, especially our soloists, blew everyone away. I am proud of how hard our 8th graders worked to get here, and I am proud of the final product we put on the stage Friday night.
A recording of the concert can be found on my website, if you would like to share it with friends and family who were not able to attend: http://justindickson.com/band/recordings.htm
Please visit our band Facebook page and leave your comments if you were able to attend the concert: www.facebook.com/hawleybandroom
If anyone got some good photos of us on stage, please email them to me at DicksonJ@gcs.k12.nc.us
T-shirt and Sweatshirt Order
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We will do one more order of our band t-shirts and sweatshirts. Some of our 8th graders may need to order a shirt to wear at Carowinds. Anyone is welcome to add to the order. I will give out order forms this week in class, and they can also be printed from my website www.Justindickson.com/band/documents.htm
8th Grade Carowinds $95 due next month
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Students going to the Carowinds Festival of Music need to turn in their $95 by April 4. Checks payable to "Hawley Middle School.
In the Band Room
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6th Grade: We have already started working through a second piece of concert music, "Heroes And Glory". This week, we will continue working on that, as well as "Antagonist." We will have a playing test on this material next week.
7th Grade: This week we will work through our two pieces written by James Swearingen, "Baywood Overture" and "Hope Everlasting." H.E. is the most challenging piece we will do in this concert, and students should make the time to practice it at home. I do not need to be there to tell them if they are playing the right notes or not... there's an app for that! Use Bandmate, and also listen to the recording of the song online to hear how it goes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Yth2T0ndc
8th Grade: No rest for the weary. On Monday I will distribute the two pieces of music we will perform at the Carowinds Festival of Music. We will also listen to the recording of our concert, evaluate it, and develop a plan for how to best prepare for the festival.
Jazz Band: I have a few different songs I want to try this week, and we will see which of them we want to learn. I would like to build up a "book" of at least 30 minutes of music, so that we can look at performing at a coffee shop or something like that, like we did last year.
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Old Stuff
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Sign Up To Receive Class Announcements By Text Message
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On your cell phone, send a text message to the phone number 81010
Send the message @HawleyBa16 to sign up for 6th grade messages
.............................. @HawleyBa15 to sign up for 7th grade messages
............................... @HawleyBa14 to sign up for 8th grade messages
Band Facebook page
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If you are an active Facebook user, please go here and "like" / "follow" our band page: www.Facebook.com/HawleyBandRoom
Download This App, Please
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Students should download the free app Bandmate Chromatic Tuner on their Apple or Android phone, tablet, iPod, etc. This is an app I designed. We will use it regularly in class, and students should use it regularly at home while they practice to check if they are playing the correct notes.
Calendar
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Tuesday, April 4: 8th grade only, $95 for the Carowinds Festival of Music is due. Checks payable to "Hawley Middle School."
Thursday, May 11: 6th, 7th, and 8th grade band Concert. Location is the South Granville High School auditorium. Students arrive at 6:30, concert starts at 7:00.
Saturday, May 13: Carowinds Festival of Music, 8th grade only. Students meet in the band room at 8:00am, will return around 10:30pm.