Christmas Break

Break!!!!Sometimes the students and the teachers think this break can't come fast enough but I always find myself looking ahead at what wonderful things are coming up and I think about the excellent music that I and the children will get to explore once our Christmas concerts are over. I also get excited for upcoming performances. The 7th and 8th grade will sing at ILCC in Estherville in January.

The high school students will start to prepare solos and choir selections for the pops concert. The kids enjoy this time of year the best I think because they get a lot of leadership opportunities in January. They do get to help advise me on musical selections at this time of year.

In addition to the pops concert, I often start to think ahead, at this time,to our State Solo Contest. This is a chance for our singers to perform on very difficult musical selections in small groups and solos. They work in lesson time with me and we discover songs that fit their voices and we present these selections in front of a judge who will give a critique. The children have a chance to be medal earners by receiving a division I II or III. It provides a wonderful chance for self expression and musical growth.

Have a fantastic time with your family and friends next week and come back ready to sing!!! I consider it an honor to work with your children they are just terrific!!!

Parents please encourage your child to get involved with vocal music everyone is welcome to join us!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also wanted to mention how proud I was of all of my choir students last week on the fall concert performance. The gt choir has come a long way and I really think this was one of the best concerts ever!!! Please tell the kids what you thought of the concert and encourage them to keep up with their musical endeavors. Musical skill can last a lifetime and can be a source of great enjoyment! Please don't ever let go of the music in your life! Keep singing!

I was very proud of my music students who worked with famous organist and conductor Kent Tritle last night at the Sami Center in Spirit Lake. The students who were involved were Kayla Sandbeck and Matthew Mcgrauth. They did a great job! Our next honor choir will be coming up soon it is the Cornbelt Conference honor choir. Can't wait for that one how about you?

HIGH SCHOOL:Our school year has begun and the choir is off and running! We are working on music which will be performed in October on the fall concert.

The date for that concert has not yet been decided please watch the school calendar. The students seem to like the Michael Jackson/Jackson 5 selection" I'll Be There" I was surprised so many of them knew it! We have also started on a song entitled "Jai Ho" from the movie" Slum Dog Millionaire" this song has a driving rock beat and it incorporates text from the Indian Language. Our focus at this time, will be on preparing songs for our fall concert and starting the show choir! The show choir will prepare a thematic dance and song sequence which will feature our many talented singers in our GT show choir. I am so impressed with all of the new outstanding 9th graders who have joined our little family of singers. I am also eager to work with our seasoned old timers who did a fantastic job for me in choir last year!!!! I am looking forward to another great year of musical experiences!!!

Please don't forget about our trip in three years now! It is time to start planning! If you have a freshman in music they will travel with the choir or band their senior year of high school.

Rose Meyer,Crystal Nissen, Melissa Mathews,and Sharrie Girres have worked very hard on organizing our GT Music Booster group and our funds are indeed growing!! Please let Rose Meyer,President, know if there is anyway you would be able to help us out with our year of fundraising . Our major income for our booster group comes from the football concession stand and we are often short handed so please help if you can or just come and enjoy a hot chocolate or popcorn! All proceeds go to our music students!

Thanks so much I look forward to seeing you at the football games and at our music concerts! Thank you for encouraging you child to be involved in our choir!

7th/8th CHOIR

I have not yet met with my 7th and 8th choir but I can tell you our main focus for this group will be preparing a show choir to take to ILCC. As you can see from our pictures from last year we had a great time performing for the judge in Estherville. We will sing in January! I will keep you posted as to what date and time.

6th Grade

These kids keep me pumped up! They are so full of energy! I need to stay up to date on musical trends for them and keep them excited about music. This year I have decided to depart a little bit from our text book ,which is not current, and I will have them sing some actual choral music. In other words, I will make them into a choir rather then just a general music class. We will learn the basics of proper singing and work on more challenging music then we have in the past. Those of you who were able to see our middle school musical last year" The Music Man", know just how much talent we have in the 6th grade. I hope to see the students continue on in there expansion of their musical skills! Our main focus will be part singing in two and three parts yeah!!

5th

In the fall, I like to work with my Silver Burdett Music Text book. The book follows along nicely with our IEM standards and the Iowa Core for music.

We work hard on keeping steady beat, and incorporating percussion parts provided by each student. They play varied instruments both pithed and non pitch. They write melodies using the staff and a meter of their own creation. This is the last year of a real general music class so we focus on getting the basics of music down. We sing upbeat and uplifting message songs that help students realize the role of music in our world. The 5th grade will be putting on a Christmas play for sure, which we will start working on in October! The kids love doing the show please encourage them to audition.

4th

Voice production and melody are the main concepts worked on in music at the 4th grade level. You may notice they no longer sound the same to you. They are getting bigger and the voices are starting to change just a bit. This will be the time when the boys may want to sing lower and the girls will start working for a more mature sound (we call it head voice)it simply means they no longer sing from the neck and chest area. They will learn about proper singing techniques and strive for a better sound.

I believe that the 4th grade music student is able to grasp the major music concepts. They really are a fun age! We work on rounds and partner songs and we review note reading,staff and meter. They will also be major players in the Christmas play! We start our second year of recorders and will continue to explore on other instruments as well. So parents if your child is like mine you may need to start looking for that recorder today because they may have buried it for winter!

3rd

They are excited to be in the big kid building!

As I see them in the hallways their eyes are as large as saucers. Third grade is full a new experiences they are very good readers. They no longer memorize everything; they actual can read the music and the words together in our music books. We do a lot with partner songs and rounds just like in the fourth grade. We review notes,staff and meter.

We start to talk about good vocal production in Third grade. The biggest undertaking is the start of the recorder, which we will do in the spring. I love recorders and I hate recorders. At first I wear my earplugs cause those kids have lungs on them. They play so loud to start as they are mastering their skills. After a week they can play songs and I can measure their musical growth. The thing I love about recorders is they are really reading music and when we sight read songs it is a beautiful brain function to behold! I just love to see it happen for the first time!! They are so proud of themselves. Parents have patience they do get better! We will start recorders after the Christmas play in December and the school will have them for sale in the office!

2nd GRADE

The 2nd grade students are the big kids at the Graettinger building so they will be the ones I turn to for our Christmas play to be the leaders. They will begin working on the show in October.

We focus a lot on reading in 2nd grade music because they are working so hard on reading in the regular classroom. I try to foster those skills in my room as well. For the first time in school they get a music text book. The first day, Friday, I just let them look through the bright colorful book and they were enchanted. I am always surprised that in this digital world children can still loose themselves in books. That is very encouraging! They were quit tickled to get the books this year and we already started it on Friday. We focus on following the text looking for music road maps such as dynamics and repeats, and standard note values. We also do a lot of play acting and song stories. It's a lot of fun!

1st grade

They are so cute! I tell you when they loose those front teeth I just find that to be an adorable age. They are so proud about it too!! Many times, I have had discussions with first graders about the tooth loss incident. They often tell me that it may limit their singing ability for awhile. Some how teacher and student both manage to get through this huge event.

With first grade, in the music classroom, we move a lot!!! Which I think really helps learning concepts. I am a big fan of kinesthetic learning. We feel the beat by walking, running and jumping! We also act out note values. Everything is physical with these kids. I truly believe it helps them with math and reading concepts that they use during the day. We like to use both hemispheres of the brain in music class, by which ,I mean,we cross hands a lot and we move and sing and play all at the same time, while using emotion with the music. We play countless group singing games with movement. The movements help them remember the text of the songs. This is my loudest music class!!

K

In Kindergarten we focus on getting to know one another and learning about our school. We talk about manners and we sing positive songs that foster a good feeling about learning. In music along with social skills we learn about animals and families and engines. All of these songs help a child to explore the universe around him. Some of the songs you sang as a small child you may hear your child singing. For instance, Nursery Rhymes such as Jack and Jill and Teddy bear Teddy bear are classics and are still taught. Little Red Caboose and Pop Goes The weasel and Hickory Dickory Doc! They will also be singing on the Christmas concert in December with the 1st and 2nd grade! See you at the concert!

what's up in vocal music??
Things we are working on k-2 introduction to the staff (lines and spaces)Every Good Boy Does Fine you remember!

3-8 is working on the Music Man/ Musical show date is march 26th 7:00p.m.
We will continue with weekly practices and starting in march I want the full company to rehearse everyday after school. For the transportation there will be a bus that will return children to Graettinger after the practice. Practice will end at 4:45 and students will get on the bus and be returned to Graettinger at that time.

I will also be having practices on a few Saturdays. The dates are Sat. March 6th Sat. March 13th and Sat March 20th for these practices on Saturday I will not have transportation for your child. Parents will have to find rides for children as I do not have a bus or driver for those days.
The practice time will be 1:00 to 3:00.

Please parents start finding costumes for the show. If you have problems or questions call my cell or call me at school.
Work with your child and make sure they are memorizing the script.

High School is working on selections for our Pops Concert! The date is March 9th the show will be held in Graettinger at 7:00p.m. See you then!!

ILCC show choir festival 7th and 8th

Madrigal

The GT Choir presented Handel and Gretzky a Renaissance Dinner and Play on Sunday December 13, 2009.

It was highly entertaining with not only the choir but heralding trumpets and a brass band directed by Mr. Pedersen.