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Mr. Rose Email Update 3/16/2020

Band Website Administrator
Mar 18, 2020
3 min read

Good Afternoon band families,

I hope that you are all finding things to stay busy with during this time of weirdness. I have to say that even though I am thrilled I have the time to support Mrs. Rose during this last month of her pregnancy and spend time with Harrison before his life changes drastically, I already miss you all so much. I miss making music with you all, I miss engaging with you all on a personal level, and I even miss your shenanigans in the band room.

I did receive and e-mail from MSBOA this afternoon that stated that the following events are cancelled and will not be rescheduled this year:

State Solo/Ensemble (select students)

State Band Festival (Concert Band)

State Jazz Festival (Jazz Band)

I know that this is a major bummer – I was looking forward to lots of accolades from our students. However, this is the right call to make everyone safe. Refunds will be given to schools for State Solo/Ensemble festival. I am waiting to hear from the state how that will be handled, but the executive board has voted to refund 100%. Once they figure this out, I will work with our band booster board to issue refunds to students. All other events (Cliff Bells, Spring Concert, Cleveland Trip) are still a go as of today.

Time for the fun stuff – practicing! I am currently working with both Smartmusic and Sight-Reading Factory to get student accounts up for both programs. They are both offering free student editions online for schools in our situation. When information becomes available, I will send that out. I have ordered music for everyone, and will be sending it out when it gets shipped to my house (it arrives Wednesday, so give me a couple days to scan in each and every part – a tedious process). There are things we can do without our instrument that will aid in our development as musicians.

First is learning the inter-workings of music. Many students have asked about starting an AP Music Theory class at Cousino. There is a free resource online to help you understand some of the concepts of music theory – everything from reading music, to building chords, to writing music. Musictheoy.net is free and open to use.

Secondly, I believe that one thing we can improve on as a program is our tone, or how we sound. I started a spreadsheet with a few band director colleagues of some of the best players on every instrument, with sound examples from Youtube. Of course after putting together this list, one of our other colleagues shared the following link with all of the work we were already doing. I encourage you to listen to as many as possible on your instrument and ask yourself, “how do they sound like that?” Hint – It is all about air and embouchure. I encourage you to try and mimic some of the sounds you hear from these recordings. Remember, these people are THE BEST in the world!

https://pioneermsmusic.com/resources/?fbclid=IwAR2lAcT40Ov3ldjGlcay6G_tZJixy-v31bVNokvnyHp-TrvPEFNAA2t1NTY

Finally, here is what I have planned for the Spring Concert. We will plan on performing these pieces, as well as one other from Taco Night. I have also included listening for these as well. Enjoy!

Cadet Band

American Big Top (Balmages) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9X5FBP5qrQAnd so He Loved the Bow (Barrett) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLGEvE6-pt8Ruckus (Standridge) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiIzjivn4o0

Concert Band

Basses on a Rampage (arr. Glover) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsOEKUzkl0MWhen Summer was Just Beginning (Daehn) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJfL8vDIDYCritical Mass (Stalter) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beFK-vgrYoY

Symphonic Band

Liberty Loan (Sousa) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KCU_9HGKTsShenandoah (Thomas) - https://www.omarthomas.com/shenandoahSlava! (Bernstein) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDl0Fm_9C_0

Jazz Band

At Last - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Sw0gY_B3QGoodbye Porkpie Hat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21MvWf5KG_YAbsoludicrous - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPkGLyhqkykBlue Bossa - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzzPzZ03HjA

One more thing, by weeks end, I will be sending out information about the Cousino Practice Challenge. One student from each class will be selected to win a gift card. Until then, keep on picking up that instrument!

Have a great day!

Mr. Rose