Beginning 5th grade band

After yesterday's post I dug through my archived pictures/videos and found this gem.  This is one of the first times the band was able to play a "real song" together in group band.  This was recorded September 24, 2014.

5th grade band

One of the joys of my job is teaching 5th grade band. Every year is a new adventure with them and it's a guessing game with what each year accomplishes.  What I love the most is the growth they make in that first year. No, it's not pretty in September when they are barely able to hold notes for 4 beats, but they change rapidly.

This year I've had about 50 students throughout.  A couple of students dropped at Christmas, but then I gained a few that wanted to start. Instrumentation has been tricky with this number and we have absolutely no school instruments left which is a good problem. I had 10 starting alto saxophones which is a LOT!!!!  But this class surprised me with their internal motivation. I have had anywhere from 5-15 students in practicing during recess time. Yes, some days it was to avoid the bitter winter, but they were practicing none the less.  

Our Christmas concert was their first performance and they squeak out "Jolly Old St. Nicholas", "Good King Wenceslas" and "Jingle Bells". These are all out of their beginning book and for the first debut it's not bad.  It's not great, but not bad. 

After Christmas we move out of their books and on to sheet music. They're feeling pretty proud of themselves by now.  We played for one of our school assemblies and did a very nice job.  However, they were playing a piece that shouldn't have been playable until April. I had the joy of choosing a little harder music for our concert. We played 2 pieces that were 6th grade material. 

Since our concert we are playing songs just to challenge them a little more, but I continue to have to pull new pieces as they sight-read them on the spot. Another good problem. 

During lessons is when students are pushed individually and I can meet their needs and challenge them directly. Several students are already in their 2nd book and continue to "wow" me on a regular basis. The following video is an example of this as they are adjusting to each others' part while playing a duet. This is usually something that has to be taught and comes with time, not as 5th graders.

SPRING CONCERT 2015

On April 7, West Marshall Elementary held our annual spring concert.  Each grade provides three songs all about a certain theme.  This year themes included animals, spring, patriotic, continued learning, healthy habits and humor.  The K-2 program ended with a mass singing of "Fly a Kite". The 5th grade band also played two pieces as we'll as 4th graders wowing the audience with their recorder skills.  The 3-5 program ended with a new personal favorite called "LOL". We spread students throughout the gym and got several audience members participating with us.  It was a great way to end a concert as the picture shows below. 

Next spring we'll be trying something different for concerts.  We're going to have 3 separate concerts at the elementary gym. They will be split up according to K/1, 2/3, and 4/5. This should make concerts shorter and take less of teachers' time. We also eliminate transportation issues and use of high school facilities.  I'm excited to be able to try some different ideas for these concerts.  We could use more classroom instruments or do some folk dancing or even show off some parachute movements. I'm excited to do some brain-storming over the summer.