Norwell High School Music Department

Looks like the weather is going to be fine, so be here ready to play at 6:15pm!

Greetings, everybody.  Since we’ve really spent the last week or so simply putting our noses to the grind, there hasn’t been a lot to post to the website.  There are, however, a couple of things definitely worth mentioning:

1.  The United States Marine Band (“The President’s Own”) will be performing on Saturday, October 27th at Brockton High School.  This is a great opportunity for students and their parents to see one of the finest symphonic bands not just in the United States, but in the world.  The President’s Own was established in 1798 by an Act of Congress, and as a result is the oldest professional ensemble in the United States.  Tickets are free, but in order to get them, you have to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Brockton HS Music Department, 470 Forest Ave., Brockton, MA 02301.  I can’t recommend doing this highly enough!  Also, request tickets as soon as possible, since these events typically sell out well in advance.  You may only request up to four tickets at a time.
2. Private lessons.  I also can’t recommend strongly enough the benefit you can get from taking lessons with a private teacher, regardless of your ability level, grade level or instrument.  I’ve already had several teachers call me looking for students, so if you’d like to really dramatically increase your fluency on your instrument, see me for a teacher recommendation.
3. Pep Band: Our second pep band game is this Friday, September 28th.  Please be here by 6:15 so we can get ready and head down to the field well in advance of kickoff.  Also–if you haven’t yet bought a lyre, either see me to try to get one on loan or swing by Music Unlimited to get one.  We will be standing when we play on Friday, so you’re going to need some way to hold your music up!  A lyre is an inexpensive, easy way to get the job done.

Looking forward to seeing all the parents at Open House tomorrow night at 7pm!

Cheers,

John O’Briant

1) Symphonic Band: Great work at the football game on Friday!  We’ll be working on symphonic (concert) material all this upcoming week and most of next week as well, since our first concert is early this year–October 25th.  Be ready to sight read on Monday and to start digging into our new material starting on Tuesday!

2) Jazz Workshop: We’ll be digging a little more deeply into rehearsals on material for our first concert.  I’ll be stepping away from the piano for a while until we sound more secure as an ensemble.

3) Music Appreciation:  Big week ahead!  Monday is a review day, followed by our first assessment on Tuesday.  Wednesday we begin a two-fold approach to our next unit: I’ll introduce a segment on Western and non-Western instruments and we’ll begin our first Music Review project with some brainstorming.  I can’t stress enough how important it is that if you need extra help on anything to come see me in my office.  I’m there virtually every day after school for office hours.

4) Music Theory: We’re going to spend some time at the beginning of the week looking not only at minor scales from an academic standpoint but also from the standpoint of the different scales’ utility in composing.  I’m very impressed with our progress thus far–keep it up!

-Mr. O’Briant

1) Jazz Workshop: Tomorrow, we begin work on Cousin Mary and Happy People.  Make sure you have instruments, music and pencil ready for all rehearsals.

2) Symphonic Band: We’ll be continuing our romp through the pep band music, culminating in Friday evening’s home game.  Report time for the game is 6:15pm, kickoff is at 7pm.   Wear as much blue and gold as you can muster, and if you happen to still have a pep band jacket from years past, wear that as well.  Be ready to make some noise!

3) Music Appreciation: We’re covering Cultural Perspective 1 and Chapters 1-6 pretty quickly this week, so please feel free to swing by if you have any questions or would like something explained.  Also, make use of the listening examples pointed to in the book and the online StudySpace: www.wwnorton.com/enjoy.   (Click on the White Book, then pick whatever chapter you’d like more help with.)

See you in class!

Mr. O’Briant

Two notes about the 2007-08 handbook:

1) I’ve updated the Handbook tab above to contain the 2007-08 updated version. If you lose your copy of the handbook, you can still view its contents here!

2) The Handbook Receipt Page is due back today. Thanks!

-Mr. O’Briant

It’s been a hectic yet exciting first week back in school, and since we’re welcoming some new students to the department (and therefore to the website), I thought I’d post a quick reminder about what we’ll be up to in the coming days:

Symphonic Band: As of Friday, you should have a concert band folder (which you may be sharing) and a flip folder (which most of you should have individually).  Since we’ll be spending the better part of this upcoming week on pep band music, I recommend that if you’re seeing the flip folder for the first time, start sight-reading through the material in it over the weekend.  For those of you who are already quite familiar with its contents, I recommend sight-reading the new material and trying to get a look at the new symphonic material. We’re young this year, but I’m really excited about our potential and our attitude!

Jazz: We’re still in pretty full-on nuts ‘n bolts mode and will be for a few days more.  As of Friday, you should be fully-certified composers of simple bass lines!  Starting on Monday, we’ll get everybody some time working on playing a basic swing beat, then we’ll probably spend a little time with the guitarists.  I expect mid-week to be starting to play material for the Fall Concert.

Appreciation: Now that we’ve spent a little time getting to know each other, have some fun and test our musical literacy, we’re going to get down to business.  This upcoming week should feature material on defining music, talking about music and the fundamental elements of musical construction.  Be ready to take notes!

Theory: Expect this upcoming week to do more with Unit 1: The Basics.  We should be through staves, clefs, pitch and keyboard layout as of Friday, so I’d like to move on to duration/rhythm and more in the second week.  We will be devoting some time early in the week to note and keyboard trainers.  It’s very important that we make the skills we’re learning automatic as quickly as we can, so I recommend spending as much time as you can manage on MusicTheory.net making your note naming and keyboard ID as fluid as possible.  Good work thus far!

It’s great to be back, everybody, and I’m looking forward to a great year!

Mr. O’Briant

Quick reminder:

Handbook and/or Syllabus Receipt Forms are due back to me by this Friday, September 7th.

Thanks, and great to see everybody today!

-Mr. O’Briant