No Worries

Dear Families,

With field trips and travels, we have some off days from classes in the coming weeks, and I do not want students and parents to take on unnecessary stress. So here are some updates.

First, note that strings classes are not performing at the year-end assembly. Students would do well to bring their instruments home after their final regular class.

4th grade will have class as usual this Friday. Next week 4th grade will be on a field trip on Tuesday, and I will be at an early childhood festival on Friday, so we will have no strings classes next week. On Tuesday, June 7, we will have our final class and play our new songs (Devil's Dream and Turkey in the Straw) and try to remember songs from the year. After this, students should take their instruments home.


5th grade will be on a field trip tomorrow, and we have no class on Memorial Day. The Tchaikovsky Festival seems too much for the group to take on with limited classes. We will work on the three new fiddle tunes (Devil's Dream, Turkey in the Straw, and Cluck Old Hen). We will have class on Wednesday, June 1, Monday, June 6, and perhaps on Wednesday, June 8 (that is the final regular class of the year). We will likely reprise songs from earlier this year (and maybe see how much we remember from last year).

8th graders will definitely play guitar and sing at graduation. Two songs come from Simon and Garfunkel arrangements: Bookends, and Scarborough Fair. We will also play and sing Moon River, which has been a favorite of that class for a number of years.

It has been a challenge this year to integrate the guitar with a regular orchestra class, so it is nice to end the year with something the guitarists feel very confident on.

Some to many of our other strings players note that our bowed instruments do not yet sound as smooth as the 8th graders on these three songs. While the 8th grade is on their trip, I will rehearse these 3 songs with 6th and 7th grade. If we are ready, we will accompany the 8th grade at graduation. If it is not coming together, the 8th graders will sound great by themselves, and since it is their graduation, it will not be tragic if they are not joined by violins and violas and cello and bass. I will let you know after our last class on Tuesday, June 7, whether students should bring their bowed instruments to the graduation.

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Classes this week

4th grade will have class as usual this week on Tuesday and Friday. We will work on Turkey in the Straw and Devil's Dream. We will likely reprise familiar songs the students find pleasure in.

5th grade will have class with me Monday and then be on their trip Wednesday (with no class next Monday for Memorial Day). We will also work on Turkey in the Straw and Devil's Dream--plus Cluck Old Hen from Basic Fiddler's Philharmonic. Because a number of students really enjoyed classical bash, we will also take a look at the Tchaikovsky Festival at the end of Strictly Strings 2. It includes the themes from Swan Lake and March Slav. It could also be a bit too challenging for our group as a whole to pull together in a few classes. That said, I want to offer at least an attempt at it for those students hungry to play some of the great classical themes.

6th to 8th grade are preparing for graduation, and the 8th graders will lead us in the music on guitar and voice, with our violins and violas and cellos and bass adding background. The songs we are working on are Scarborough Fair/Canticle (Simon and Garfunkel version); Bookends (Simon and Garfunkel); and Moon River.



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Looking Ahead for 4th grade

While I do not expect 4th graders to spend a great deal of time with their violins during Potlatch, I know some students feel more comfortable and confident if they can preview what we will work on in class. While we still touch on other songs that some students have fallen in love with (some students have apparently tried every song in Basic Fiddler's Philharmonic), we will focus on the following 2 songs in class for our final 2 weeks of school:

Devil's Dream
Turkey in the Straw (which is challenging, but we can sing to help us along)

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Thanks--and respite

Dear Families,

I want to thank you and your students for making the concert possible, for the practice and lessons, the transportation of instruments, the acquiring of clothes (students looked like an ensemble when I watched the choir), and for enduring the weather. Students impressed me with their effort and achievements.

It seems organic to have a class of games and movement after a concert. Because classes have a lot of other intense activities right now, this means the following for the various grades:

4th grade will have outdoor play time with me this Friday. No instruments needed. Next week they'll be at Potlatch during Tuesday's strings class and off from school next Friday. We will dive back into playing on Tuesday, May 24. Some students have expressed enthusiasm about other fiddle tunes in Basic Fiddler's Philharmonic, and we will try a a number of these to see which one or ones seem to work best for the ensemble as a whole.

5th grade. Although 5th grade has had lots of chance for movement with their additional Olympiad training and will be off from school next Monday, it still seems to make sense for me to hold a games class with them next Wednesday, May 18. I feel this will increase enthusiasm and focus when we return to instrumental practice on Monday, May 23. I am still considering what will be the best piece of pieces to work on in the final weeks.

6th to 8th grade will play volleyball with me tomorrow, Thursday. No instruments needed. Even though 7th grade will be away next week, 6th and 8th graders should bring instruments and be prepared to play--I am working with Ms. Kenney and Mrs. Pfeiffer to see if there are vocal songs that would work well with a strings ensemble (8th graders could sing and play; 6th and 7th--when they return--can be the orchestra).

Thanks,

William Geoffrey Dolde

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White Shirt Help

Dear Families,

I know some parents are at work donating or collecting donations of white shirts for Wednesday's concerts. I realized this morning that I have a collection of 6 white shirts--all cleaned and pressed--that I used to wear at one restaurant job, and now I have a completely different set of shirts for my current restaurant. Rather than donating the first set to Good Cheer, I will bring them to school to be available for the concert. They will obviously be too big for some of the students, but they remain as an option if no other methods of acquiring white shirts or sweaters or tops are working for your family.

The ensembles are all coming together. The material challenges the students in very different ways--some are chomping at the bit for even more challenge, while others express some anxiety. I have tried to let students know that the ensemble can still sound strong even if an individual misses a note here or there or has to sit out a section. I guess my message is: worry not.

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Concert Program

4th and 5th grade

Bonny James Campbell (first time through, cellos and bass on drone; 2nd time through violins on drone; 3rd, mixture)

Bile Them Cabbages Down (7 times; optional improvisation 3rd and 4th times; singing times 5 to 7).

Oats and Peas and Beans (3 times; 2nd time advanced part only for melody instruments; 3rd time singing optional)

Sourwood Mountain (4 times; 1st time instrumental; 2nd time first verse and chorus; 3rd time advanced melody parts only and rhythm section; 4th time singing 2nd verse and chorus)

Arkansas Traveler (small group with individual solos or duets)

Classical Bash (5th grade only)


6th to 8th Grade

Mari's Wedding (3 times)
Alison's Waltz (3 times)
La Polka and La Indita (once each, with a return to La Polka's A part at the end)
Lanigan's Ball (3 times), directly to Swallowtail Jig (played by a small group from memory while the rest of us turn pages; 3 times), followed by Off She Goes (3 times)

Hymn of Praise
Vive La France!

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