Focus Moving Forward

Dear Students & Parents – We have three focal points regarding our concert bands as we move into January:

Basketball Band Music & Performances
Solo & Ensemble Music, Recital, and District Festival
Festival Music – March & April Performances

“Mom & Dad, I don’t have anything to practice right now.” – This is a phrase that you will not hear out of a Sherwood Band student’s mouth.

Practice your proficiencies, Practice your Basketball Music (Remember you have a Basketball Band Binder Assignment Due on January 4th!), Practice your Solo & Ensemble music, Practice Festival Music once Mr. Stai gets it to you in January.

Next Proficiency Due January 17th.

Basketball Band – We successfully launched our first Basketball Band performance last night. Great work! Now we have 9 more games to go for the season that the band will be playing at. Remember that you must attend 5 games (Yes, you are more than welcome to attend more than 5 if you would like to).

Solo & Ensemble Recital – This week we have started talking about Solo & Ensemble in class. All students are expected to find a 3-5minute piece of music to perform as a soloist or as a small ensemble (Duet, Trio, Quartet, etc.). We have a ton of literature here in the Sherwood Band Room to select from. We then put on a recital night on Thursday, March 2nd as a band program. We will have approx. 5-6 rooms running with performances throughout the course of the evening.

Students actively engaged in lessons most likely already have their literature selected, and it is most likely in the ballpark of 5-7.5 minutes in duration.

Anyone who has gone through this process will testify that you grow exponentially as a musician when you prepare and perform a solo or ensemble piece of music. It is a priceless experience for our young musicians who are looking for a challenge and to push themselves beyond the average day of music class.

Soloists who are looking for Piano Accompanists: