I hope your band lessons this month are continuing well!
First, thank you SO MUCH for signing up for zoom lessons! They are going incredibly well. I have open sign up on Fridays, but I am now going to be making myself available for Zoom lessons on Tuesdays as well, from 9-1. Also, I am going to do a Jazz Band Zoom this week, Friday, at 2:30pm till 3:00pm (Thank you parents for all these incredible suggestions from our survey... you will see many of those suggestions added to this post).
Second, students should have finished up triple meter work last week. If not, no worries! Each video is just 3 minutes long and you can watch them at any time. They are on classroom as assignments. You can start them now!
Third: We are making a concert video!! I am really excited about this project. However, for it to work we need a lot of people to submit videos. That's the key here. The more of you who participate, the cooler our concert video will be. Here is how our concert video project will work
I will create a video of me conducting each song. Your job is to watch the video and while watching make a video of yourself playing the song, using screencastify submit, OR the video submission tool of your choice.
Once I have your songs I will create a montage video with everyone participating.
Here is our concert program:
Theme from Symphony #9
Frere Jacque
Jurassic Park
Ming Court
Patsy Ory Ory Aye
Jazz Band
Joshua Fit the Battle of Jerricho
This concert is of course shorter than it would be if we were in school, but I still think it will be fun and rewarding. The conducting videos are going up this week and I will break this down into a series, of assignments you must submit in order to participate in the concert.
Monday, May 11, 2020
Request for help
Dear Music Parents,
Thank you all for your support of music and arts in education during this time. Please see the below open letter from Dr. Amy Bovin, President of CMEA (Connecticut Music Educators Association). If after reading you are so moved, please consider sending a brief email in support of music and art in our schools to reopen@ct.gov (which is the email address for feedback to the reopen Connecticut Advisory Group advising the governor). While athletics has a representative on the council, the arts and arts education organizations have been left off, and many of us are concerned about the future of art and music education in our schools.
Thank you for your time and consideration and support. I miss working with the students in person terribly.
Mr. Akter
Thank you all for your support of music and arts in education during this time. Please see the below open letter from Dr. Amy Bovin, President of CMEA (Connecticut Music Educators Association). If after reading you are so moved, please consider sending a brief email in support of music and art in our schools to reopen@ct.gov (which is the email address for feedback to the reopen Connecticut Advisory Group advising the governor). While athletics has a representative on the council, the arts and arts education organizations have been left off, and many of us are concerned about the future of art and music education in our schools.
Thank you for your time and consideration and support. I miss working with the students in person terribly.
Mr. Akter
To Governor Lamont, Mr. Ojakian, and members of the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group,
My name is Amy J. Bovin and I am the President of Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA), the state affiliate of The National Association for Music Education (NAfME). CMEA is the largest current arts education association in Connecticut. We provide professional support for our members across the state and beneficial activities for our many students.
I first would like to thank you all for taking the time today to address the public. Though these are difficult and unusual times for us all, the transparency of your discussions shows your commitment to ensuring that any decisions made will be in the best interest of the people of Connecticut. I further thank you for the work that you have already done and the decisions that have already been made with the intent of safety and wellbeing of all people of all demographics in our state.
Along those lines, I write today on behalf of all music educators and all music students in the State of Connecticut with great concern over the future of music education in our state. This concern stems from reports across the nation of what the school year potentially will look like in the Fall. Music is amongst those subjects which have been on the forefront of discussion to be diminished or removed from the curriculum given the situation we are all facing from COVID-19. The purpose of the remainder of this message is two-fold: (1) to ensure that music education remain a part of the curricula of all schools in all districts across the state of Connecticut, and (2) to urge you to include a member of one of the art councils on the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group so that we become and remain a part of the discussion to safely reopen our state. Given the amount of work that needs to be done and the urgency of the above requests, I will keep the remainder of this email as short and direct as possible.
The 11 members of the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group each have an essential role given their titles and backgrounds. I am glad to see that almost all aspects of education are represented on this council from administrators to teachers, from early childhood education to collegiate, from athletics to health. I respect all voices which are currently on the board and trust that those individuals will be able to provide our state with proper advice and appropriate direction. That being said, it is disappointing and concerning to see that the arts are not represented. The arts need to be included in the aforementioned aspects of education which are already spoken for on the council in order to ensure that students in Connecticut will receive an appropriate education of music should any changes need to be made to schooling in our state due to the concerns of safety surrounding COVID-19.
According to a report from NAfME (2014) music education leads to numerous benefits for students of all ages and backgrounds, all of which can be applied to courses outside of the arts and to skills needed to become essential members of society post a pre-K to 12 education. These reasons are why music education is and needs to remain to be a crucial component of the school curriculum in all districts and at all levels. For the purposes of this email, I highlight the following below and direct you to https://nafme.org/20-
(1) Development of language and reasoning due to the areas of the brain music learning affects.
(2) Mastery of memorization and a sense of discipline due to the many skills needed in the practice and performance of music.
(3) A recognition of the need to as well as a desire to improve one's work due to the knowledge that great work is more rewarding than mediocre.
(4) Increased hand-eye coordination, motor-skills, and auditory skills due to the techniques and skills needed to play a musical instrument, sing in a choir, and/or participate in any type of music course
(5) A sense of achievement due to mastering goals at any level and to any degree and through learning how to take responsible risks and push through such barriers as fear and anxiety to achieve one's goals.
(6) A continued engagement in school due to the overall enjoyment and high interest of the subject of music and of students' music classes.
(7) Success in society due to music's ability to shape character, build self-confidence, develop creative thinking, and contribute to a child's overall intellectual development.
(8) Development of emotional intelligence through the creation of empathy of all cultures and the self esteem of the individual and development of spatial intelligence which provides students with the ability to perceive the world more accurately than they would without a music education.
(9) Development of pattern recognition through the repetition of music and techniques used throughout music education and music classes.
(10) Ability to achieve higher scores on the SATs and other standardized tests due to results of previous studies which have found a correlation between a student's involvement in music and high scores on standardized assessments.
The previously listed items are only the beginning of the numerous benefits music education has on the student. These listed and non-listed benefits are the reasons why music education needs to remain in all curricula across the state and thus needs to be an essential element of the discussions to reopen our state.
That being said, we recognize that given the concerns over safety from COVID-19, music classes, as with all elements of schooling, might need to be altered in order to create the safest environment possible for our students. For this purpose, we feel that it is not only essential for music education to be part of the discussion, but that there be a member of an arts council on the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group. Similar to how each member already chosen is there to provide expert advice for a specific aspect of education, a member of an arts education group will be able to provide their expertise in the realm of the arts to ensure that students in Connecticut will continue to receive a high quality arts education in whichever school they attend in our state.
Therefore, in addition to keeping music education in our schools this Fall, we recommend that you offer an invitation to the President of one or more of the following statewide organizations:
Connecticut Arts Administrators Association, Dee Hansen, President
CT Alliance for Arts Education, John Prins, Executive Director
Connecticut Art Education Association, Maureen Berescik, President
Connecticut Music Educators Association, Amy Bovin, President
I thank you for your time in reading this today and for addressing the concerns of Connecticut music educators, music students, and music parents/guardians. I hope that you will address our concerns to keep music education a part of the curriculum this Fall and to add a member of a Connecticut Arts Organization to the Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group.
On behalf of all music teachers and students, we thank you for your hard work in providing our state advice and direction at this time,
Amy J. Bovin, Ph.D.
President, Connecticut Music Educators Association
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Music Games for Mr. A!
Dear Parents,
When I see your awesome kids for music class, these are the songs we do! We begin in a circle on the floor and play through and sing the following songs. The students take turns picking which activity they would like to do next off of a choice board. I thought it might be fun for you and them if they sang them at home. I miss them SO much. This wonderful class is the highlight of my week.
Wake Up You Lazy Bones is a fun game. One the words "wake up!" the students run in place. On the words "the cows are gone" they stop running and look around for the cows. On the words "the sun is hot" they wipe their brows." On the words "I think I'll rest" they pretend to take a nap. There is a pause and then on the words "wake up!" the leap up and repeat the game:
William He had Seven Sons is a song where the children make up motions. The melody is below. They get to pick what each son does. So, perhaps number one chopped wood and then we all prepare to chop wood, and so forth. We then go back to singing the melody.
Do Your Ears Hang Low: This is one my favorites. We do the hand motions while singing the game:
Bow Wow Wow: Is a fun one! The video shows you exactly he we do it!
Grand Old Duke of York:
We do the Grand Old Duke of York standing in pace. When we march up the hill we go on toes and when we go down the hill we crouch. Here's a cute video from Peppa Pig going over the song!
Pass The Shoe: Here's another of my favorites, performed by the wiggles. We sit in the circle and use a small plastic tube as our "shoe" and pass them around them the room. Here's the Wiggles giving us a fun version!
Miss Mary Mack: We use hand clapping games to practice numerous skills. Here' s Miss Mary Mack!
Let Us Chase the Squirel:
Here is a video of music teachers in a workshop learning folks song games. They perform Let Us Chase the Squirrel for us exactly like we do it in class!
Chop Chop Chippety Chop:
Our final game is Chop Chop Chippety Chop. We sit in the circle and pretend to chop ingredients for our soup (or salad). The students can pick any ingredient they want, from the serious to the silly. The imaginary ingredient is then "chopped" with our hands while we practice keeping a steady beat and until every student has a had a chance to pick an ingredient. Here is a fun recording!
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Week of April 14
Dear Band!
There are two main items on our agenda this week.
First, thanks to everyone who signed up with smart music! Your student emails work for this. You will not get a confirmation email but I will verify your account. I will be verifying accounts at least twice a day. If you have not done so PLEASE sign up for your smart music account.
Your first assignment (due Friday) is to try playing lightly row with your smart music account. I will be making a video demonstration of how to do this with my saxophone so you can see how it works.
Second, I will be posting some rhythm reading videos this week. Your only job is to watch these and participate.
Finally, I am making plans for a concert video. I will be in touch with instructions on this soon.
There are two main items on our agenda this week.
First, thanks to everyone who signed up with smart music! Your student emails work for this. You will not get a confirmation email but I will verify your account. I will be verifying accounts at least twice a day. If you have not done so PLEASE sign up for your smart music account.
Your first assignment (due Friday) is to try playing lightly row with your smart music account. I will be making a video demonstration of how to do this with my saxophone so you can see how it works.
Second, I will be posting some rhythm reading videos this week. Your only job is to watch these and participate.
Finally, I am making plans for a concert video. I will be in touch with instructions on this soon.
Mr. A
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Smart Music
Dear Band Parents and Students,
We have an issue with smart music at the elementary school. Your emails are locked so you can't get emails from people outside the newfairfieldschools.org domain. That means, when you sign up for Smart Music, you can't complete the process, so it isn't working for you.
I am working on this problem now with tech support, but a workaround is to sign up with parent's email.
I am very sorry for this hiccup. I didn't anticipate this difficulty and they didn't run across it at the other schools as the student's emails are fully functional.
Mr. A
We have an issue with smart music at the elementary school. Your emails are locked so you can't get emails from people outside the newfairfieldschools.org domain. That means, when you sign up for Smart Music, you can't complete the process, so it isn't working for you.
I am working on this problem now with tech support, but a workaround is to sign up with parent's email.
I am very sorry for this hiccup. I didn't anticipate this difficulty and they didn't run across it at the other schools as the student's emails are fully functional.
Mr. A
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
April 8
Dear Band Parents and Students!
I am now able to email all of you, which is a nice treat.
Quick points for the week:
1) Our Wednesday check in video is up on Classroom!
I am now able to email all of you, which is a nice treat.
Quick points for the week:
1) Our Wednesday check in video is up on Classroom!
2) Students should sign up for Smart Music. The instructions for students are on classroom
3) I am asking students who volunteer to share videos with me for band recruitment for next year. Parents, if your child submits a video I will be asking your permission to share the video with the 4th graders. A permission form will be sent home. Participation for kids on this is entirely optional! I am just thinking ahead.
Details for students are on classroom
I hope this helps.
Mr. A
3) I am asking students who volunteer to share videos with me for band recruitment for next year. Parents, if your child submits a video I will be asking your permission to share the video with the 4th graders. A permission form will be sent home. Participation for kids on this is entirely optional! I am just thinking ahead.
Details for students are on classroom
I hope this helps.
Mr. A
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Instrumental Lesson Week of March 22nd
I excited to share this video. I have some new learning in this video which I hope makes it very effective.
This will work for ALL instruments on the current pages in the book, and also includes our entire rhythm reading unit! Tomorrow I am going to be posting general music lessons and Presto and also adding a new lesson on "Minor Tonality."
Hope this helps! Please email me if you need to or comment in classroom!
Rhythm Unit
Check out our video!
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