Norwell High School Music Department

First–Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Second–the weather looks like it’ll be good (50 degrees or so, cloudy), so we’re on for the game tomorrow morning.  Report time is 9am, so we’ll have an opportunity to rehearse a few things and get some logistical concerns taken care of.  Come in your best blue and yellow regalia and be ready to make some noise!

5:30pm: The radar weather maps and predictions on weather.com  and accuweather.com still don’t look good.  Despite the fact that it hasn’t begun raining yet, the storm appears to be heading north by northwest, which means that it should be over us for an extended period time this evening.   Sad though it makes me, in the interest of protecting instruments (and keeping players healthy), my official decision is to cancel for the game this evening.  We’ll regroup and put on the best show we can for Thanksgiving Day.

Thanks, everybody!

-JOB

Both of the instrumental ensembles have scheduled, mandatory night rehearsals this week.  They are both in the auditorium and will begin at 7pm, which means that students should arrive 10-15 minutes early in order to get their materials ready and warm up.

• Symphonic Band: Monday, 7pm
• Jazz Workshops: Tuesday, 7pm

All reports claim it’ll be clear tonight, but just to be safe, here’s the official weather thread.

2:00pm: Weather’s still projected to be clear.  Bundle up, and come ready to make some noise!

4:30pm – It still looks like it’s going to be windy and cold but clear of rain–in fact, the rain looks like it’s not going to start until the overnight.  Plan on playing, and dress very warmly–coat, hat, gloves if possible, the whole nine yards.  Let’s show the Hull fans what we’re made of!

Programming note, for people looking for something good on television Friday nights:  PBS will begin airing the second season of Keeping Score with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony tomorrow, Friday, October 16th with an episode devoted to Hector Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique and the idea of music fueled by desire.  Episodes on Charles Ives, the inventive and iconoclastic American composer, and Dmitri Shostakovich, and the music he wrote to maintain a tenuous relationship with the Soviet government are slated to follow in upcoming weeks.

The first season was fantastic, and I’ve used the DVD recordings from it with my Music Appreciation class for the last couple of years.  MTT and the fine musicians of the San Francisco Symphony have a wonderful way of communicating their deep love for these great works while at the same time explaining their substance in a manner that is easily understood by non-musicians, without losing much in translation.  They’ve also developed an in-depth and interactive website to go along with each program that’s worth a visit.

I hope you get a chance to tune in!

A quick update on progress in Music Theory:

• In the first month of school, we moved relatively quickly through pitch, rhythm and metric notation in treble, bass and moveable clefs.  We also tackled how to construct major and natural minor scales and scale degrees.
• We’ve just completed a unit on intervals–identifying and constructing both simple and compound intervals, as well as interval inversion.  There was actually a quiz on all of the material from this unit today.
• Next, we’ll be moving into a couple of different areas.  We’ll be starting the basics of ear training, using both web applications and our new ear training software, Auralia.  We’ll do a bit of composition, experimenting with different ideas in melodic writing.  We’ll also start a unit on triads, which will put us on the path to the largest portion of our curriculum: harmony and voice leading.

This class is a fun group of students to work with, and they’ve bonded with each other quickly.  I’m looking forward to the rest of the year!

A short update on where we are the Music Appreciation curriculum arc:

• Earlier this week, we completed a brief unit on the development of Western music from the first complete, notated example we have (the Seikilos epitaph) to the beginning of the Renaissance.  We compressed the unit somewhat this year in order to spend more time focusing on the eras of Western music history beginning with the Baroque (approx. 1600-1750).  This unit culminated in a short listening and written quiz–students on the whole did quite well!
• Yesterday, we started looking at the political, social and cultural forces that led to the Renaissance in Europe.  We’ve reached into what students recalled from their social studies class and, through a lot of class discussion, examined some of the elements that were necessary for the Renaissance to take off.  We’ve also looked at the differences between visual art of the Renaissance and the Middle Ages and begun to look at the major developments in art music.
• Most of the graded assignments students are working on currently are in-class entries in their Listening Journal, an archive of reactions and answers to questions regarding landmark pieces we listen to in class.  Our next quiz shouldn’t be for another couple of weeks, and our next homework project should be shortly after that.

A very cool article by Chad Criswell in this month’s issue of Teaching Music highlighted mobile applications for learning music.  I see more and more students with iPhones, and they can be a very powerful tool if used properly.  Here were the highlights!

• Metronome: Dr. Betotte TC.  This app provides you with a mobile metronome, allowing control of tempo, subdivisions (8th, 16th, triplet), inputting of tapped tempo and other cool features.  For those of you for whom Metronome Online simply isn’t enough metronomic goodness.
• Tuner: ClearTune.  Serves both as a chromatic tuner and a pitch pipe, with a clean, visually appealing interface.
• Fingering Charts/Info: Instruments in Reach.  More than just a fingering chart, this app contains trill fingerings, audio files of popular etudes and solo pieces, and much more!
• Ear Training/Music Theory: Karajan Music & Ear Trainer.  Has a wide range of activities to help with concepts of music theory and ear training with a pretty slick interface.  Very, very useful!
• Music Dictionary: Oxford Dictionary of Music.  A good app for when you’re working on a piece and don’t have access to your library or a computer.

The article also highlighted applications for Windows Mobile devices, devices running Android, and the Nintendo DS.  If you are interested in the apps out there for those devices, let me know!

I’d like to take a moment to thank the students (especially the underclassmen–go freshmen and sophomores!) who’ve attended all three home football games to play in the stands.  As you all know, since pep band is considered a club, attendance isn’t mandatory.  That makes the dedication of the students who do take the time out of their schedule to show up that much more impressive. It shows your desire to get involved with your school, your commitment to the music program and your unwillingness to let your classmates down.

I’m looking forward to the remaining games we have–being as raucous as possible, getting the crowd on its feet and helping keep this unbeaten streak alive.

Thank you, and please know that your hard work makes a difference!