GHMS Music Department
January Update
January 26th: Grades 4 and 5 Orchestra, Band and Choir Concert
January 24th: Grades 6, 7, and 8 Orchestra, Band, and Choir Concert
February 15th: Drumline and Dance Team Performance
February 28th: Black History Month Program
Tuesday, Feb 28th at 6:30pm in the Glen Hills Commons.
What's Happening in Orchestra?
Every Thursday, scholars work on music theory and 4th and 5th Grade Orchestras are currently practicing being able to read the notes of the staff. 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Orchestras are learning about and practicing identifying key signatures. When we are playing instruments, 4th Grade Orchestra is learning how to play the D major scale. 5th Grade Orchestra has been introduced to playing with slurs, which is playing two or more notes in a single bow. 6th Grade Orchestra is starting a piece with new techniques, which will be featured in the May concert. 7th and 8th Grade Orchestras serenaded the 4th and 5th grade lunches with holiday tunes on December 16th. All Orchestras are working hard at polishing their concert pieces for their January concerts. A friendly reminder for concert dress is that orchestra students should wear white on top and black on bottom for the concert. Arrival time is 6pm for each concert in Mrs. Day's room (dates are featured above).
Jam-uary Band Update
Following a successful North Shore Winter Band Festival, the bands are preparing for another round of performances at the end of the month. 6th, 7th and 8th grade bands will be performing here at Glen Hills on Tuesday, January 24th; the 4th and 5th grade bands will be performing at Glen Hills on Thursday, January 26th. Students should arrive at 6:00 PM (no earlier!) to the lower level band room to check in and warm-up. The concerts officially begin at 6:30 PM and should last about 1 hour. Students should wear white on top and black on the bottom including black shoes. If any parents would be willing to help me check in the student musicians or with some basic stage managing, we would be so very grateful.
In the meantime, ask your child a few questions to help your child prepare: How is your instrument working? Do you have the supplies for the instrument that you need? Do we need to purchase more reeds/snare sticks, oil, etc.? Can I hear a preview of your music? Can you play a recording from your Google Classroom so I can hear what you will be performing? Do you need any help from Ms. Miracle with learning your songs? Reach out with any questions or concerns prior to that night to help things run smoothly. Each little bit helps our band grow!
Prairie School Jazz Festival
On January 25th, the Glen Hills Middle School will be performing at the Prairie School Jazz Festival in Racine. It will be a chance for our student musicians to perform alongside other middle and high school jazz bands from around the area. As part of the day, we will attend clinics specific to each section of a jazz big band to learn more about jazz style and technique. We will be leaving GHMS at 8:30 AM that day and return by 2:00 PM. We will be wearing our new Jazz T-shirts and black pants. If any parents are interested in coming along as chaperones, we would love to have you with us.
Choir: January is here!
As we enter the new year, all grades will be preparing for our January concert! All grade levels have been practicing riser and performance etiquette.
4th and 5th Grade choirs are currently adding Orff instruments to play while they sing "Hotaru Koi." We've been refining our other 2 songs for the concert by working on our diction, so the audience can understand us. After the January concert, each scholar will get a chance to self-reflect on their performance in the concert, thinking about what they liked about their performance and how they can improve for the May concert!
6th, 7th, and 8th Grade choirs have been working on adding phrasing to their new song "Dona Nobis Pacem." They've learned how a musical sentence can be divided into smaller sections, and how to use punctuation in the text, to determine the phrasing in a song.
We will also dive deeper into some music notation history and how it connects with other historical events.
All Grades will continue learning the melody to Lift Every Voice and Sing and the use of 6/8 meter.