Welcome!

Welcome!

Dear NFMS Band Students and Parents!

Welcome to the band program at New Fairfield Middle School. There is a ton of information to communicate, and I want to let you know how I will be communicating with you this year.

First, you will be getting emails from me as the year progresses. This is the most frequent means of communication that I employ. Any and all important information that you need to know will be emailed to you, but I also encourage you to contact me at any time. My email address is akter.emre@newfairfieldschools.org, and my office phone is 203-312-5896. If you have a question or concern, please do not hesitate to get in touch so that I can help.

Students, I will be emailing you frequently. You will get an email almost daily letting you know what is going on in band. Please do read them; they are extremely short. You will be able to keep track of the band schedule easily (when your lessons are, when rehearsals are, when you need your instrument) so long as you pay attention to those daily emails. They are about three sentences long each.

Full band doesn't start right away, so students have a little time to acclimated to the new school year. We will begin mid September. I will send an email as we get close.

The only students who will have band "right away" are those students who have the band "mini" the first trimester of school. These students will not be needing their instruments the first week of school. Those students who have the band "mini" first trimester won't need their instruments until our second meeting. .

Almost every day I post a blog entry. You can see the blog entries from last year by scrolling down on this site. There will be more blog entries this year because we have the new "band mini" class. I blog out every lesson plan as we proceed, and tweet links to the blog daily. If you are interested in what you will be learning in class ahead of time, just check out the blog!

If you have any questions regarding student progress, where they are in their method book, or observations/concerns please email me! I promise to get right back to you!

Please watch for those emails. They will contain any information that you need. And please don't hesitate to contact me with questions.

I will leave you with this short article from the National Association for Music Education on what it takes to make good progress on an instrument, and how to avoid a loss of interest in music. Just click here to access it.  

I keep our twitter account active. Follow us on twitter @NFMSbands

Thank you!

Mr. Akter

First Band Mini!

Band Mini - First Day Lesson Plan

Welcome to band class! This year you will be getting a band lesson for 1/3rd of the year during the "band mini" if you are in 7th or 8th grade, and ½ of the year if you are in 6th grade. The remainder of the year you will have your lesson during PLC. I always post the lesson plan for the next day on the blog, so you can know what to expect. Those of you who have the band mini this week don't need your instruments. This week the lesson plan is the same for every band "mini."

Our Plan:

1) Welcome!

2) "Switch Spots! Quick!"

     This will be a fun game. The band room chairs are all stacked away and there are just enough set up for us to have room. We are going to form a circle, move around, and get to know one another a bit.

3) Snowball fight!

      I love this activity. It's a way for me to get know you guys a bit. It is an activity that allows you to       anonymously share information about what your hopes and fears are about the upcoming band year, and helps me to address the band members' needs.

4) Band Survey!

     After the snow ball fight I will do a little talking about leadership roles in band, and how you can get involved in our after school band council which meets after school the last Thursday of every month. The first band survey is your chance to make your voice heard on everything from what you'd like your leadership role to be, to what sort of music you'd like to play.