Friday Michaelmas Rehearsal, What we are working on

Dear Families,

Students in grades 5 to 8 will need to bring their instruments to school on Friday for our first Michaelmas rehearsal.


Thank you to parents who have paid for their student's books.  If you have not yet paid, you may put a check to WIWS ($7 for grades 4 and 5, $14 for grades 6 to 8) in the Finance Director's folder at the base of the tower.  Please mark yourself off as paid.

All students have received their book (with the exception of 2 8th grade pianists).  Middle school students will receive their 2nd book on Tuesday.  A somewhat alarming number of students are forgetting their music books.  I prefer not to take away from the experience of students ready to play music by doing a book inspection; please check in with your child to make sure that she or he knows where her or his music book is.

Below is what we are working on in class, and what students might do well to work on at home.  Some students will need lots of help with our school songs; others would well working on different material in their private lessons so that they do not risk becoming bored in school.

4th grade


We will work on pages 9 and 10 of Strictly Strings next week.  This will seem very fast for some students, and very slow for others.  My intention is to move quickly through the exercises on pages 9 to 12 to move to the "Songs for Fun" on page 13.  At that point, we will stay with those songs for a number of periods to allow students to catch up; more confident students will (ideally) enjoy playing familiar folk songs.

Especially if your child is not having regular lessons, you as a parent could really help by reading over the page with your child.  The Strictly String series provides clear and useful information (perhaps too much without a parent or teacher helping) at the start of each page.  I chose this series this year because last year's 4th grade parents found it hard to help their children at home unless they had a good deal of musical experience themselves.

5th grade


Our focus will be on "Oats and Beans" and "Jolly is the Miller Boy" for Michaelmas.  Some 6th to 8th graders will be playing with us, so it is quite fine if 5th graders learn easier harmony parts.  We will also work on Strictly Strings 2, page 4, exercises 1 and 4, and will begin the songs on page 5 (Jasmine Flower, Billy Bow, Carnival of Venice, and Touch of Blue).

6th grade


Our Michaelmas songs sound great.  We will touch upon them but focus on new material.  While we will review pages 2 to 5 of More Strings Extraordinaire, I will also distribute Jazz Philharmonic on Tuesday.  We will work on the two songs, "Groovin' for the First Time" and "De Blues."  This new series provides opportunity for improvisation; it also requires alertness.  Although the notes are easy, there is a great deal of syncopation.  I chose this series because the rhythmic and improvisational skills can transfer well to other instruments should our students pursue jazz in high school.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde