Week of September 26

PLEASE TURN IN YOUR PRACTICE CARD MONDAY OR TUESDAY! You should have the following items on your card for full credit:
* Four days (minimum) - minimum 15 minutes practicing daily
* Two hours (minimum) - 30 minutes/day on the four day plan
* Parent signature

FUND DRIVE
Our fund drive continues through this week and weekend. Parents, please sign the Permit to Sell form. Forms should be turned in no later than Tuesday, October 4. DONATIONS ARE WELCOME! Every $5 in cash or check = 1 item sold from the catalog. Thank you for your help and support.

6th Grade
BOOKS! Pg 4-5 Review
Quiz on bottom of pg 5 - Monday-Wednesday
New pages 6-7 this week
Review Twinkle and Boile em Cabbages with all variations
Review Hot Cross Buns, Monkey Song, D scale

7th Grade
Purple book - pgs 9-12
Quiz on pg 9 - Wednesday
Campfire - keep starting your practice slowly, then speeding it up
Wild and Sonata - keep tuning....
Composing!

8th Grade
Green book - pgs 5-6
Toccatina - tune tune tune and run-through
Jericho - energy in ff section
Stew - keep looking ahead to learn
Composing!

Finally, Dark Star hit 30 pounds this weekend! He is going to be a big boy. His fiber is also starting to come in and it looks like he will be a "true black" color once all his adult fiber grows in. He will look brown until that first fiber starts growing out. His fiber has lots of luster and is starting to get curly. What is luster when used to refer to an animals fiber? Write your answer on a piece of paper and turn it into the practice card box. Don't forget your name!


Happy Practicing ...and don't forget to turn in that practice card!!!

Week of Sept. 19, 2011

GET ANY TICKET FOR THE INDIANAPOLIS SYMPHONY FOR $28 - until Friday only at the website: www.indianapolissymphony.org

Video of the Week - Yay Cellos!
Click here.

6th Grade
Book Practice pg. 2-3
Twinkle & Boil em Cabbages (notes in post below)
Review Hot Cross Buns on all strings

In your words: How to Learn New Music
Clap the rhythm
Pluck the notes
Say the note names and finger numbers
Practice slowly then faster
Airbow

7th Grade
Purple Book pg 8-12
Speed up Campfire
Tune and polish bowings for Wild Western and Sonata

8th Grade
Green book pg 4-6
Toccatina - ending, watch Bflats!
Jericho - 44-end
Fiddlers Stew

Alpaca Pictures: No coat this weekend! It was toasty enough to have Dark Star show his beautiful dark brown color.


Peek-a-boo! Happy Practicing students!

Week of Sept. 12

6th grade:
You need your Essential Elements Book 1 for next week! Please purchase from JW Pepper or me. It costs $9.
Note names for songs:
Twinkle:
D D A A B B A -
G G F#F# E E D -
A A G G F#F# E-
A A G G F#F# E-
D D A A B B A -
G G F#F# E E D -

Boil them Cabbages
F#F#F#F# G - G -
F#F#F#F# E - E -
F#F#F#F# G G G G
F#F# E E D- D -
(Also play with double stops and "Down Kitty Up Kitty" rhythm)

7th grade:
Refine old pieces - TUNE! TUNE! TUNE!
Begin "Campfire"
*Pizzicato
*Play slowly at the balance point
*Practice spiccato on open strings
*Practice song up to tempo with spiccato at the balance point

8th grade:
Finish learning Toccatina - the key signature STILL has one flat on page 2!
Refine Jericho - TUNE! TUNE! TUNE!
New piece - Fiddler's Stew - learn notes and rhythms. How much can YOU figure out?

Alpaca picture of the week:
To make sure a cria is thriving, you have to weigh it every day. It should gain between .3-.7 pounds in a day. Dark Star has been alive for 8 days. He started at 20.3 pounds and now weighs 24.8 pounds. Is he doing OK? (Write your answer on a piece of paper and put it in the practice card box! Don't forget your name!)

Dark Star has to hang in the scale. Neither he nor his mom like that too much. Lots of humming during this time of night!

Here's mom getting some grass. Dark Star looks lost...

(Did mom sign my practice card this week?? I did practice humming a lot!!)

Don't forget to turn in practice cards on Monday! 6th Graders, we will get our practice card this coming week!

Short Week 9/6/11 - and a surprise!

Hope everyone's Labor Day was wonderful! 7th & 8th graders - please turn in practice cards Tuesday and Wednesday this week!

6th grade:
Click on your "Beginning Instrument" link on the right to get a list of posture tips and notes for beginning songs.
Bow exercises on OPEN STRINGS only.
Plucking songs that require fingers.
Assignments given on paper throughout week.

7th grade:
Click on "Metronome" on the right and then on "A440." You will hear an "A" that you can tune to. You can use the metronome to check if you are practicing your pieces with a steady beat.
TUNE!
C, G, and D Scales for warmup - also pgs. 2-6 in Purple book.
Fine tune Wild Western Frontier
Work out the middle and end of Sonata Vivant. 37-end.

8th grade:
Click on "Metronome" on the right and then on "A440." You will hear an "A" that you can tune to. You can use the metronome to check if you are practicing your pieces with a steady beat.
TUNE!
Green book pgs. 2-5 for shifting
Scales and exercises for Toccatina
Toccatina - tuning
Jericho - tuning

And... as many of you know, my husband and I have a small alpaca farm. Yesterday, we had our first birth on the farm - a little boy cria named Dark Star. Cria is the word for "baby alpaca." As promised, here is the picture. He has to wear the little coat to keep warm. Alpaca crias cannot regulate their body temperature for the first few days of life. More pictures next week... Stay tuned (Get it? Tuned?) for more pictures and updates next week!