Norwell High School Music Department

Thanks to Kari for getting these shots (click for bigger).

Please, if you have any questions or concerns about the content of your particular final, come see either me or Mrs. Cortright prior to your scheduled exam time.  Let’s finish the year strong!

*with apologies to Eugene O’Neill

Hey, everybody.  A few quick thoughts on graduation:

1. Thanks for all your work on graduation–the conditions were less than ideal, and yet you soldiered on and didn’t really complain about the heat much at all.  Just about everyone chipped in to move chairs and stands around, load up and transport percussion equipment and make the evening a success for everyone involved.
2. I wish I had a photograph of Connor MacDonald, who in addition to playing with the ensemble (and running back to the building to get wind clips) was shuffling around the ceremony taking pictures for the Navigator and generally looking like the hardest working guy in the biz.
3. Thanks to the newly minted band staff, who showed up well before anybody else, stayed later than just about everybody, and got right down to work.  You made this all a lot easier to execute!
4. Thanks to the chorus, who sounded fantastic on the National Anthem.  They were well-prepared, very professional and a great reflection of what we’re trying to do in developing the music program here.
5. Obviously, there are things we’ll want to tweak and improve upon for the next one, but we’ll worry about that as time goes on–for now, enjoy the end of your performance season, relax a bit and get ready for finals!

With all the votes in, I’m pleased to give you the 2008-09 NHS Band Staff:

• President: Doug Kauff ‘10
• Vice President: Connor MacDonald ‘10
• Treasurer: Tim Dalferro ‘09
• Secretary: Matt Kwasnik ‘10
• Historian: Jen Brunjes ‘09
• Librarian: Monica Hanley ‘10
• Publicist: Hope Goslin ‘10

I’m looking forward to working with this bright, young, new staff, and I thank from the bottom of my heart all of the students who ran for office.  It’s incredibly heartening to see how much the success of this organization means to all of you!  The passion you’ve shown in running for these offices and getting involved in musical life here on campus is perhaps the greatest testament to the growing strength of the music program here at Norwell High School.

It gives me great pleasure to report that Caroline Cronin ‘09 has advanced into the final group of six participants in the Boston Pops’ first High School Sing Off. Her performance of “Astonishing” from Little Women has catapulted her into the top six, who will perform with the Pops on June 17-18 in order to be further culled to two finalists; those remaining two will perform with the Pops at their Fireworks Spectacular on the Esplanade on July 4th.

Congratulations to Caroline and to all the other superb entrants!

We’re pushing elections for band staff officers out to Thursday.  Thanks again to the students who are running so energetically for positions on the staff and to those who turned in speeches today.  Looking forward to it!  In place of elections, we’ll be spending time refining some fundamentals tomorrow in class.

Presentations begin tomorrow (Monday)!  Do not forget:

1. Bring your recorded examples on CD or iPod. See me if you need help with this!  If you don’t have your listening examples ready to play as part of your presentation, then your presentation is not ready and will lose 5 points per day until it is ready, as mentioned in an earlier post.
2. Bring your PowerPoint file on CD, USB flash drive or some other media so we can transfer it to the laptop and display it using the InFocus projector.  Alternately, you can bring your own laptop in, if that helps.

Good luck, everyone!  Looking forward to seeing your work.

Presentations begin on Monday, June 2nd, and will continue until completed. I’ve tried to front- and back-load the freshmen, to get around MCAS scheduling on Tuesday and Wednesday. That said, be ready to present if necessary, even if you’re not a freshman, on Monday! For each class in which your turn comes up and you’re not ready to present, you’ll be docked 5 points from your total score. Good luck!

In Class

1. Fitzgerald, Emily
2. Conley, Cory
3. Marinelli, Mark
4. MacGillivray, Colin
5. Thomas, Amanda
6. Cunio, Brad
7. Dwyer, Tommy
8. Williams, Aisling
9. Tajima, Leanne
10. Deary, Ryan
11. Flaherty, John
12. Parys, Natalie
13. Morrison, Theresa
14. Erickson, Catherine
15. Coggins, Chloe

After School

Monday, June 2nd:

1. Geary, Sam (2:10pm)
2. Elliott, Tristan (2:30pm)
3. Petit, Kaitlyn (2:50pm)

Tuesday, June 3rd:

1. Garvey, Thomas (2:10pm)
2. Papadopoulos, Nick (2:30pm)
3. Cavano, Megan (2:50pm)

Wednesday, June 4th:

1. Capaldo, Cara (2:10pm)
2. Carrillo, Rachel (2:30pm)
3. Garrity, Brittany (2:50pm)

Presentations begin on Monday, June 2nd, and will continue until completed.  I’ve tried to front- and back-load the freshmen, to get around MCAS scheduling on Tuesday and Wednesday.  That said, be ready to present if necessary, even if you’re not a freshman, on Monday!  For each class in which your turn comes up and you’re not ready to present, you’ll be docked 5 points from your total score.  Good luck!

1. Simon, Emily
2. Carey, Robert
3. DeMarco, Lexi
4. Tamburo, Tyler
5. Naughton, Jill
6. Brulport, Mark
7. Fiore, Mike
8. Casey, Mike
9. Sheeran, Jill
10. Prouty, Krista
11. Nigro, Alex
12. Spratt, Nicole

I promised pictures. Here are pictures. Thank you to Heather Hanley for taking them!  As always, click on the photos for larger versions.