Great work in clinics and full band rehearsal this week! See what the next measures of focus are…..
In this note:
- Small group clinic teacher names and rooms for 1st hour, next rehearsal, Oct. 7.
- Tip of the week
- What we played at rehearsal Sept. 30, and what’s NEXT!
- Save the evening of Friday, Dec. 13 – our concert at Brookfield HS!
- Save October 21 to go out for an hour following rehearsal. Location TBA.
- Go directly to your clinic rooms next Monday (set up, warm up- between 6 – 6:25)
Neil – music room #154 rhythm section (guitars, piano, kit, aux.)
Zac – staff room saxes and flutes
Rocco/Heather – auditorium stage trumpets and clarinets
Colin – music office area trombones
- Tip of the week:Smart Music gives you a count-in, shows you the beat visually on the music as you play, and allows you to practice pieces like Pink Flamingo slower and increase the tempo as you are ready. Smart Music has a free trial period. If you don’t use Smart Music, download a metronome app, and use it as you practice each piece. Most metronomes allow you to set the metre (4/4, also noted as a C for common time, or 3/4 as in Afro Blue), and usually the first beat in each bar is a different sound than the other beats, denoting the first beat of the bar. This really helps you to check your rhythmic accuracy as you count bars of rest and hear if your beat 1 is still in sync with the metronome as you progress through the piece. This tip is not just relevant for new musicians – a pro I know says, “If you don’t practice with a metronome, you aren’t practicing.” Rhythmic accuracy makes music jazzy, and is achieved with listening, and slow, calculated practice of the tricky bits.
- Here is what we played at rehearsal (listening links – click the title):
Pink Flamingo Night (Sorenson) pro band – excerpt
Pink Flamingo Night (Sorenson) – high school band Ex.A Bb Blues Scale page 14, piece page 16 -17 with great two and three note solos using the flat 3, 4, and 5 of the scale. Reminder: Don’t hold it – get off the last note of measures 5, 7, 9
NEXT: Play improv practice (page 15) again this week in IPS (Smart Music or Free Interactive Practice Studio). Try the suggested written solo from m 29 if you are looking for an extra challenge.
Blue Bossa We played measures 8 – 24 again this week and continued m 25- 39 with the tune, harmonized in parts. Reminders– last note in measure 9 – get in on the off- beat, (before beat 1 in measure 10). Also, observe the dotted half note+ eighth pattern in measure 9, 19. (trick – try lifting off the first note, with a breath, to avoid rushing to the eighth)
NEXT: Work on measures 1-7 * piano solo, m 25-39, and m 63-78 if time
Autumn Leaves/Les Feuilles Mortes We played measures 1 – 19 and continued through the new measures to 27 once Reminders – m 9-19, rhythm pattern A, B, B, A (more precisely – fl/sax measures 4 and 10 are same rhythm, and m 6 and 8 are the same rhythm. tr/cl measures 12 and 18 are same rhythm, and 14 and 16 are the same rhythm.
NEXT: Keep working for rhythmic accuracy from 9- 19, m 20 – 27 *CLINICS – start working on soli sections (fl/sax at m36, tr,cl, m 44)
Ain’t No Sunshine We played m 1 – 19 and 28 – 36 (trombones have tune and others echo a variant of their tune. Reminder: consolidate the rhythms from 1 – 19, 28 – 36.
NEXT: trombone feature m 25 – 28 (in band the other winds will start work together on the pattern from 19 – 25, which we all share)
Afro Blue We didn’t get to this piece in full rehearsal week 3,
Reminder: Week 2 we played measures 5- 12
NEXT: work on m 21 – 28, and if mastered, then 15 – 21 (*guitar solo with rhythm section from 9 – 12)
- and 5. Mark your calendars. More info to follow!
