4th and 5th Grade

4th grade has added Bonny James Campbell (page 10, Basic Fiddler's Philharmonic) to our repertoire. The children were intimidated because it was new; when I worked on it in a private lesson with a student, he and I found it very manageable. It is pentatonic and could be played on a Choroi pentatonic flute, a kinder lyre, school glockenspiel, or (in a different key), on the black keys of a piano. Some students might want to try the song this way, too.

5th grade will also take up this song. 5th graders will also continue to have Olympiad preparations during strings class time on Wednesdays through April, so I will plan on making good use of our Monday class time with the 5th graders.

With warmth and light,

William

4th grade yes, middle school off

Dear Families,

Necessities of play rehearsals for grades 5 and 6 to 8 have altered the schedule for strings classes in coming weeks. I look forward to starting fresh with the students after their robust performances in Eurythmy and drama in the coming weeks.

4th grade strings will meet as usual (barring illness) for the next 2 Tuesdays and Fridays, but not the Tuesday before break (April 12).

5th grade strings will likely meet next Monday and Wednesday (not at all this week because of illness, Olympiad, and an extra 5th grade play rehearsal), but not the Monday and Wednesday before break (April 11 and 13).

6th to 8th grade strings will meet again with instruments on the Tuesday after Easter (April 26). Students would do well to keep their instruments in a safe and convenient spot until then.

Class teachers or I will update you with any changes.

William

Instrument Choices for Rising 5th Graders

For current 4th grade parents, please remember that it is likely your child will be able to switch to bass, cello, or viola next school year. As you may know, our instrumental program has changed and evolved over the years, and we are still working toward a stable, long term plan for the program (when the time is right, we would like to bring the winds program back for upper grades). In the meantime, it is relatively safe to assume that current 4th graders will have the same instrument choices next year as the current 5th grade (and it might be good to talk to parents of bass players before you give your child the option of playing bass). It is not time to switch yet, but keep this in mind as you consider buying or renting new instruments.

Concert Ahead: What we are working on

In May, there will be a concert for the choirs and strings ensembles. We will give you exact time and date soon. As Olympiad and Musical preparation subside, my classes will focus on preparing.

4th grade. When we play "Bile them Cabbages Down" or "Oats and Peas and Beans," every student plays something. The strength of folk music is that it embraces players of many different levels. That we can sing the songs to helps some of the players tremendously. We will likely perform "Cabbages," "Oats and Peas," and "Sourwood Garden." Students have been excited to play the next song in Basic Fiddler's Philharmonic--Arkansas Traveler. We will play this in class. I don't plan to play it in concert; it has many more technical challenges than other songs in the book.

5th grade. In addition to the songs we will play with 4th grade (above), we will perform "Classical Bash" from Strictly Strings 2. We may also add additional folk songs from Basic Fiddler's Philharmonic.

6th to 8th grade. We will definitely play Vive La France and Hymn of Praise from More Strings Extraordinaire. I want to find one more challenging piece in the classical realm. Some violinists are doing well with Handel's Rigaudon and navigating the shift to 3rd position; that said, the piece has counterpoint that is not coming together yet, so it is still a maybe.

We will likely play Mairi's Wedding, Alison's Waltz, and Indita and Polka (from the Southwest) from Fiddler's Philharmonic Encore. We may find additional songs to play from there.

Opportunities, Illness, and Correction to Jazz

I trust that families in grades 5 to 8 have been informed of the Olympiad classes on Wednesdays at 2 (in lieu of strings class) and the Musical rehearsals for the middle school on Thursdays during strings class.

Because I have been ill and missed class, this has caused some bigger gaps in the strings curriculum than we anticipated; in other cases it has been a blessing to have such a rich alternative to strings--today, for example, I have no voice to teach and feel blessed that the 5th graders have an enriching Olympiad class already scheduled this afternoon. When I stepped in to help with the strings program, I had hoped to bring movement into the classes to bring a wholeness to the activity (to avoid having class just being about drilling violin, technique).

Similarly, the middle school musical works on many of the same elements of musicality and ensemble work that I might in strings. My vision is that students will emerge from the play as an ever stronger ensemble, ready to prepare for future orchestra concerts.


Students seem very nourished by my regular substitute Carrie Fong on other days. Although they are not playing their instruments, I get the sense they are working well as an ensemble, and I find this helps their ensemble playing more when I return (similarly, I devoted one 4th grade class to observing the children at an extra recess and had a much better sense of how to reach them as an ensemble afterward).

I received mixed reports of the success of the day when I had a substitute conduct the ensembles.

Some students may be disappointed (others thrilled) to have these alternatives. Some parents may have questions what to do about lessons in these times. In my lessons I teach privately, I find it a great opportunity either to help a child catch up with the group (I can sense the child's feeling of relief) or work with a child on music that stretches her or him that is not part of the school curriculum.


ABOUT JAZZ

In reading Mr. McDanniel's communication to parents, and in observing the class schedules in the middle school, I note that teachers (and perhaps students) still refer to the class I teach as jazz. My intention was for jazz to be part of the class, not the whole class--somehow this name took hold for scheduling purposes (not my intention). I did intend to try to use jazz to bring together the 8th graders--who have had a different instrumental experience through the years--with the 6th and 7th graders, who have had a consistent strings experience. Although the exercises and melodic lines in Jazz Philharmonic were just right for some of the 6th and 7th graders (and perhaps too challenging for some of the others, who tended to sit out rather than play), the music did not work for our ensemble as a whole. Although some of the rhythm players made excellent strides, the rhythm section as a whole was not strong enough to support the playing of the entire group. In checking with class teachers, it did not seem likely there would be time to get the rhythm section solidified to make the music work. It was an experiment to try to work with jazz in this way with the middle school. I'm glad I tried it, but it didn't seem to be working. Some students might want to continue working on songs or exercises with a private teacher if they are interested in playing jazz violin, viola, or cello.

For this reason, I switched us back to folk music (Fiddler's Philharmonic Encore), which can be driven by the melodic players, has a more predictable harmony part, and has something for players of all ability levels to play. This being said, the 6th and 7th graders also benefit from the technical challenges and counterpoint of classical music, and we are continuing our work in More Strings Extraordinaire.

Feel free to contact me with suggestions or comments or concerns or questions.

Thanks for your support,

William