February 2021

 Parking Lot Performances

Over the next 4 weeks we will be featuring a different music class in an afternoon performance for the parents in the Eich parking lots. Musicians will present a socially distanced concert beginning around 1:25pm. Arrive early for a good parking spot or check out Eich's social media pages for a video recording later that evening. 

**Please note, some performances are in the Main Side parking lot and some are on the E-Wing side

Performance Schedule:

Friday, February 5th: Per1 Advanced and Per2 Intermediate Bands, Main Parking Lot

Wednesday, February 17th: 3rd Period Beginning Band, E-Wing Parking Lot

Thursday, February 18th: 4th Period Choir and 5th Period Choir, E-Wing Parking Lot

Friday, February 26th: 7th Period Guitar, Main Parking Lot

Composition Projects

All classes are currently working on music composing projects. 

6th graders will complete their projects the week of February 15th, before the end of Trimester 2

7th/8th graders will continue working on their composition into Trimester 3

All students will complete formative check-ins along the way and progress can be tracked in the assessment and gradebook (formative) sections of OTUS.

End of Trimester 2

Our 2nd Trimester ends February 19th. 

Missing and Late work may be turned in until Friday, February 19th. Anything submitted after the 19th will not be included in the Trimester grade report. 

6th Graders:

Class Change

All 6th graders will start a new Wheel Class for Trimester 3 on Monday, February 22nd. Check OTUS to see which class you will switching to. 

Next Year...

I invite each and every one of you to consider joining one of our yearlong music classes next year. We have award winning programs for Band, Choir, and Guitar. Not only do our ensembles win contests and bring home trophies, we also get to represent Eich and Roseville City School District at some pretty incredible places! Last winter we performed in Disneyland! 

We will begin the process for choosing 7th grade electives in late March/early April. Be on the lookout for info from Mr. Brown and Mr. Larsen. 

Instruments

All school instruments will need to be returned on Friday, February 19th, including buckets and sticks, ukuleles, and wind instruments. 

If you are interested in renting or purchasing an instrument of your own, please reach out. I have lot's of suggestions for you!  

Band Club

Band club is still happening via Zoom! Each group meets twice a week. 

Meeting Schedule:

Intermediate and Advanced Band: Tuesday/Wednesday @ 2:45-3:15pm

Beginning Flutes: Tuesday @ 2:15pm

Beginning Clarinet/Saxophone: Wednesday @ 2:15pm

Beginning Trumpet: Thursday @ 2:15pm

Beginning Trombone: Thursday @ 2:45pm

ALL Beginning Instruments: Friday @ 2:15

Honor Band

Dates

Monday, October 5th	Honor Band Audition Music Distributed Link **Also available on the OTUS announcement page **All materials can be assigned/practiced in SmartMusic, just ask!
Friday, February 5, 2021	Audition Recordings Due  Email to Mrs. Aldridge by 4pm
Sat/Sun February 6 and 7	Online Judging by MS Directors
Tuesday, February 16, 2021	Results Emailed and Music Distributed
Wednesday, March 3, 2021 6-8pm	Online Zoom Honor Band Rehearsals with Pete Nowlen Final payments due
Wednesday, March 10, 2021 6-8pm	Online Zoom Honor Band Rehearsal #2 with Pete Nowlen
Wednesday, March 17, 2021	Student Recordings Submitted for final video
Spring 2021	Final Video Published

Sign-Up Form

If you are auditioning you must complete this form AND email Mrs. Aldridge to confirm you have signed up: jaldridge@rcsdk8.org

Audition Recordings

Recordings must be emailed to me by this Friday, February 5th at 4pm. I will then upload and submit them.

Cost

There is a $20 performer fee to participate. This fee will be due after results are released and if you have been accepted. 

September 2020 Schedule Update

As you are probably aware, we have a new bell schedule beginning September 8th. 

Here is a link to the new bell schedule

Live class time has been reduced and independent work time has been added to the end of each day. Please read through the blog to learn what these changes mean for the music room. 

 Weekly Class Schedule in Otus

Students are assigned a Weekly Lesson in Otus. 

It will look like this on the Lessons page:

Inside each lesson are tiles containing all of the information students will need for the entire week.

Here is what the lesson will look like when you open it:

 

Week-at-a-Glance Tile

The Week-at-a-Glance tile will have a link to our weekly schedule. Each day will show the live lesson activities (synchronous), independent activities (asynchronous), and any assessment/assignment that is due in Otus. 

All files needed for each day will be linked through the Week-at-a-Glance document. 

Daily Activity Tiles

Also included in each lesson are daily activity tiles. These tiles contain the assignment for the Independent Time at the end of each day and include the same information as the Week-at-a-Glance document. Each daily activity should take approximately 10 minutes. 

It is my hope that the daily activity tiles will help students to track their Independent assignments.

Students can mark the daily activity tile as "complete" if they want but are not required to do so. All activities should be complete by the end of the week. 

Daily Lesson Structure

Live (Synchronous) Lessons

It is expected that students will participate in the daily live lesson. With the shortening of our class periods, I anticipate that we will be live for the entire class time. 

If you miss a lesson, you are still responsible for learning or practicing the content for the day. Please refer to the Week-at-a-Glance document or watch the recording of the class. Class recordings are available in the GoogleCalendar for each day's event. 

Independent Work Time (Asynchronous) Activities (1:53pm-3:14pm)

Tuesday - Friday between 1:53pm 3:14pm students will be expected to spend approximately 10 minutes on the independent activity listed in the Daily Lesson tile. These activities will most often involve practicing the music we went over in the Live Lesson. Practice minutes will be tracked in our music software applications (SmartMusic, MusicProdigy, or Breezin' Thru Theory).