Upcoming Events
If you haven’t already, download the Orchestra Master Calendar for all Orchestra events. Please add these dates to your family calendar.
| DATE | EVENT | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Oct 24 | Orchestra Concert | Our first concert of the year! 7 PM @ MSN Cafeteria. Dress up in a Halloween Costume! |
| Saturday, Nov 2 | ILMEA Festival | Congratulations to Sienna M for being accepted into the ILMEA Festival Orchestra! |
| Monday, Nov 25 | S&E Registration Deadline | The deadline to register for Solo & Ensemble Contest. More details to come. |
| Thursday, Dec 12 | Orchestra Concert | Our Holiday/Pops concert! 7 PM @ MSN Cafeteria. Wear a tacky holiday sweater. |
Halloween Concert (10/24)
Check out the event page to stay up to date with information on the upcoming Halloween Orchestra Concert on Thursday, October 24.
Wear a Halloween Costume!
Students are invited to wear Halloween costumes or Halloween spirit – otherwise, students should wear their orchestra polo and/or black.
A few rules for your costume. Your costume cannot affect your playing ability in any way. For instance, if the costume has a hat or sunglasses you should take off the hat and or sunglasses before you are about to play. Always remember , your performance is the most important.
Concert Reminders
- Students arrive to orchestra room at 6:15 PM to tune, warm-up, prepare, etc.
- Performance at 7:00 PM.
- Students are invited to wear Halloween costumes or Halloween spirit – otherwise, students should wear their orchestra polo and/or black.
- Always remember, your performance is the most important.
- Costumes cannot affect your playing ability in any way. For instance, if the costume has a hat or sunglasses you should take off the hat and or sunglasses before you are about to play.
- As a school rule, students should not wear a mask or anything that fully covers their face. Makeup is fine, but nothing that masks the student’s identity.
- Make sure your iPad is charged!
Orchestra Polo & Music Theory Book
6th Grade Families: If you haven’t already ordered the Orchestra Polo ($25) & Music Theory Book ($7), please do so as soon as possible. I will be placing the polo order soon and need to know what sizes to order.
Please visit the following link to order your shirt size. Thank you!
Prima Musica
Congratulations to the following students for being accepted into the Prima Musica Ensemble! These students perform more challenging music while meeting only once a week for rehearsals. Congratulations to:
- Violin: Ethan C, Theresa F, Joe G, Anastasia B, Elijah C, Likhith D, Tyler L
- Viola: Charlie M, Sienna M
- Cello: Jay J, Paul L, Gordy L
- Bass: Hawk F, Josue G
In the coming months, other students may be invited to join this elite ensemble.
Sectional Classes (aka Lessons)
Students have been doing a lot of quality work in our sectional classes. We have been focusing our studies on the following:
- 6th Grade: Can you perform the (simple) D Major scale and arpeggio really well with a metronome?
- 7/8th Grade: Can you perform 9 one-octave scales with a metronome?
- How does proper posture and playing position help you become a better performer?
- Can you perform your concert music really well?
- Identify the challenging sections in a piece of music.
- Identify what makes it challenging.
- How do you figure out how to play that challenging section?
- Experiment with various strategies to make it better.
Students performed for me (each alone) parts of their concert music last week and I’m excited to have a good group of hard working students that gearing up for a great concert. Thank you to all students for working hard!
Congratulations to our Section Leaders
During their playing test, these students performed their music with precision as well as executed the details as outlined by the composer. For example, not only did they play with good note and rhythm accuracy, but they also performed more subtle instructions such as: forte, spiccato, hooked bows, pianissimo, etc. with great accuracy.
These students have a responsibility to not only perform their music well, but also assist other performers in their section to perform well.
| Instrument | Chamber Orchestra | Intermezzo Orchestra |
| Violin | Ethan C & Ysabelle S | Filip K & Isabella E |
| Viola | Zach L & Charlie M | Sienna M & Adrian N |
| Cello | Jay J & Paul L | Gordy L & Sarah E |
| Bass | Shiv S | Jake K |
Ork Bjord
The Ork Bjord (aka Orchestra Board) student leadership group has met a few times after school to help make orchestra awesome! Thank you to the following students for volunteering their time and effort to make orchestra great!
- Joe G, president
- Theresa F, vice-president
- Majusha P, manager
- Neha S, secretary
- Likhith D
- Ysabelle S
- Sienna M, 6th grade rep
- Sarah E, 6th grade rep
- Additional Members: Hawk F, Aiden A, Pranav R, Jade H, Josue G
