Another morning of perfect attendance. That is no small part of our success so far.
The band is moving on to Page 10. Growth is apparent every week, and this week is no different. Thank you for continuing to encourage their work at home.
Page 10 will introduce the tie, where two notes are joined together with a curved line that creates one note with a duration of their combined values. We will also be learning learning about 2/4 time signature (2, not 4, beats to the measure). We are also adding a G concert to our range. (G for flutes and percussion, E for saxophone, A for trumpet and clarinet).
CLARINET and SAXOPHONE families. Please be sure to have some back-up reeds ready for them should they need them. Reeds are delicate, and the slightest crack or chip makes their job of playing well far more difficult if not impossible. We are working on habits that prevent this sort of damage, but I am in great hopes that their progress isn't slowed by their trying to make it work on a bad reed because it is is all they have. Let me know if you need resources to get these reeds. I recommend no harder than a 2 or 2.5 reed at this point, unless their private teachers are recommending otherwise.
Practice is as much about developing muscle memory as it is an intellectual exercise. I bet virtually everyone at MIT could explain to you with very little effort the amount of arc and velocity needed to propel a basketball through a hoop, yet we don't see MIT in March Madness very ofter, do we? They don't shoot a lot of foul shots on that side of the Charles. They understand them, but they don't practice them. Let's make sure we repeat our successes at home, and train our bodies what they feel like, so we can recreate them later!
(Harvard, also on that side of the river, makes a few more than MIT does, but not enough to get into the Sweet 16.)
All the best,
Joe Wright
Sanborn Band
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