One Concert Down...

We had our first band concert of the year last night at my school.

Friends and families of the students seemed pleased.  This is a particularly strong bunch of 7th graders.  

The concert went well.  The next day in class we listen to the concert.  It's a tradition.  My kids know the rules:  we take turns, we listen to what others have to say, no comments about performances by name (by section is OK, but nothing hurtful.), be ready for follow-up questions from me, if someone says something that applies to your performance-- don't just brush it off--- listen!  

These discussions always make for some ideas to work on.  It is easier to motivate students when they think it is their idea.  The next concert is going to be about tone, blend and tuning!

We need to do a number of short assignments on SmartMusic that use long tones.  Kids will need to listen to their sound.  

Tuning can be a sort of science experiment/data collections thing...chart your tuning.  Glad every kid has access to a tuner in SmartMusic.

Blend will need to happen mostly in rehearsal, after all it really is about how you fit into the group.   But I think kids will have a better idea of what that sounds like with an accompaniment recording that features some fine players.  Glad they added the near CD quality audio.