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THE MATT CHORAL PROGRAM IS BORN!

September 27

                   
                                                               PARENT NOTES

ANNOUNCING great news!!!   
    THE NEW MATT CHORAL PROGRAM IS UP and RUNNING-ALIVE AND WELL!
Singing is the most natural and joyous of the musical arts- using our voices in song is matchless in its ability to bring us together.  In our case, it is the blending of children's voices with their Parents' as well!!
Yes, after dreaming about it for a couple of years it is happening  You can still join in, Wednesdays at 5 pm. It's already  thriving, thanks to our Choral Director Wayne Strongman- a MASTER in the field of Choral Music in Canada ! And our Strings teacher Cecilia Lee is the very accomplished Piano accompanist on the brand new MATT keyboard. The program is funded this year through the Ontario Trillium Foundation. 

Wayne Strongman -at Start of class




Our FIRST  "CHOIR CONCERT" in class






















Practicing with your MATT student
Dear Parents of ALL MATT children,
You are giving a beautiful gift to your child- the gift of orchestra playing- the transformative gift of music! Your participation and total involvement, as their class and home advocate and mentor, is indespensible to their progress. Remember this IS a child - she/he cannot do this successfully without your strong encouragement, discipline and support! Ensure that correct position is always included. And praise, cajole, tease, celebrate every little step of porgress. 
It is the Parent's responsibility to set a regular practice time each day, when nothing else is normally scheduled, and before it's too late and the child is tired. 

Practice Charts:
The Practice chart for each level is designed to help you cover the necessary homework assignments. The BLOG details the Assignment for you- you can use lots of lines of the chart each week, to list what was practised and how many repeats were done of each task.
When the teacher checks the chart, it is her way to check that home practice is being carefully done and to help support your work at home..
                                      
                      Your dedicated support in this project IS worth it in the end!!

                                                       HOMEWORK THIS WEEK
BEGINNERS:
NEW this week How to SIT correctly and hold your instrument correctly
      PRACTICE THIS SEVERAL TIMES  each practice day : 
              Always:a) Back straight
                            b) sit on front of chair- stand with correct feet position
        c)  Review the steps for your instrument until instrument is held with out your hands.
        d)Check and copy the handout photos (Sorry- models very outdated!)

REVIEW -bow hold 
DAILY- scroll down to see last weeks tips for bow hold. Use photo handout to check. 

INTERMEDIATES
 For all selections below, write in note names in pencil! 
MS CURRIE WILL BE CHECKING THAT THIS IS DONE NEXT TUESDAY. Use your lines and spaces and AFS # 73 to help name the notes and to play them

1. AFStrings book: review #70 to #75 up to end of Bar 8
2. Pizzicato Magic  -up to bar 8
3. Beethoven's Ninth - up to bar 13

                      
ADVANCED CLASS

 BRING COMPLETED PRACTICE CHARTS TO CLASS 5 sessions per week

1. Scale of D 2 octaves. Each week someone chooses a rhythm for scale- have your rhythm ready! can have 8th notes, quarter notes, half notes- even 16ths!

2. Jingle Bells Hoedown- Your melody part will be checked beginning to END! Tuesday !.Mark in notes and finger numbers with pencil first.
                                                            VIOLAS:bar 5 to 12
                                  CELLOS: lower 2 strings always X 1-2-4 fingering 
                 special shifting bar 18: place finger 1 where 3 was and do extension 1-2-4 fingering  
                                                        VIOLIN 2: bar 15 and 32  and 58 (all same)- 
                                                        VIOLIN 1 bars 15, 32, 58 - embellishing melody "fiddle style"
 This piece is for December 5- Rose Orchestra Intermission performance
 Double stop bars (ie. one note on top of another for now )-play the note that is NOT an open string 
OR if it is marked "div" play  one note only (outside players play upper note, inside -lower)

3. Andante Cantabile: we played through all- -work on your hard bars each day with .careful work on counting and accidentals (added sharps) to bar 32-  there are lots of repeated parts. Cellos special "Shifting spot: " 

4. Blue Tango: Up to bar 20. Special attention to bars 7, 13 and 14

       EVERY STUDENT IS RESPONSIBLE TO THE WHOLE TEAM -DO YOUR PART !!

A FRESH START

September 20, 2017


PARENT NOTES

STUDENT SUPPORT: This blog is presented to provide to Parents and Students with the needed information to succeed. Your consistent weekly "Blog tune-in" supports what you as Parents can do to enhance the success of your child.

VOLUNTEERING WITH MATT: Please let Yogita know if you are interested in helping with MATT activities- a detailed list of important but easy help items will be available soon.

HEADS UP!
ROSE / ROSEBUD ORCHESTRA CONCERTS : In order for Parents and students to realize the possibilities for our music students into the future, we offer very reduced price tickets for all Rose Orchestra concerts. Some of them also feature the Rosebud Youth Orchestra (some of whom are former MATT students) 
In order to receive a MATT Certificate at year end, every students is required to attend at least one of these concerts.
The first one is OCTOBER 28th , with Rosebuds!   ORDER by October 17th 
                                1 Adult $20 up to 4 children : total $10.00!!


HOMEWORK THIS WEEK

BEGINNERS

* REMINDER*: CAREFULLY UNPACK INSTRUMENT- ON THE FLOOR
 Without the bow: 1.Make a BUNNY-middle two fingers, thumb 
                                                                                wiggle bunny's nose  
                                                                                bent thumb "chin"
                                                                              practice ears up /ears down
                                    Practice making a bunny 5 times

     With the bow:  2. take bow out of case, tighten slightly:
                                                                        Hop "bunny" onto frog of bow, 
                                                                       two middle fingers flat on frog 
                                                                        Thumb bent inside frog
                               3. Violin/viola: place pinkie on top, round, close to middle fingers,
                                                      curve pointy finger  around stick of bow
                                   Cello/bass: all fingers are flat on frog, tips do not extend over edge
                                                     thumb is on the side , bent, tip on frog corner

Bow exercises with bow: With correct grip above,hold tip of bow in the air :

1. "Windshield wiper- wrist turns hair of bow to face ceiling, then to floor- repeat 5 times

2. "Monkey crawl" -Keep bow tip pointing to the ceiling:  finger tips crawl in small steps slowly up to the tip and back down to frog -repeat 3 times  

3. "Elevator" - NO bow: Place right hand in front of you with palm facing the floor
                    
                    (a) Place a coin on the top of our hand

Violin/viola:(b) without tilting the flat palm / dropping the coin, bring your hand up to eye                                level, fingers pointing left
Cello/bass: (b) without tilting the flat palm / dropping the coin, place hand in front of                                       "tummy  button", point your fingers forward

                    (c) Using Twinkle words for each movement, -Violin/viola- lower hand                                                                           smoothly to tummy button level, then back to eye level.
                            cello/bass- keep hand pointing forward and move hand out till arm is                                                       straight, then back to center.
                                                          Repeat till song is done!

                     Will look forward to seeing beautiful bow grips next Tuesday!

 TUESDAY INTERMEDIATES

 BRING COMPLETED PRACTICE CHARTS TO CLASS 5 sessions per week

For all selections below, write in note names in pencil if needed!

1. AFStrings book: review #70 to #75 up to end of Bar 4
2. Pizzicato Magic  -up to bar 4
3. Beethoven's Ninth - up to bar 8

                      In your daily practice, take the time to get to know each bar well.


ADVANCED CLASS

 BRING COMPLETED PRACTICE CHARTS TO CLASS 5 sessions per week

1. Scale of D 2 octaves. Each week someone chooses a rhythm for scale- have your rhythm ready! can have 8th notes, quarter notes, half notes- even 16ths!

2. Jingle Bells Hoedown.  For December 5- Rose Orchestra Intermission performance
Be working on your Double stop bars (ie. one note on top of another)-play the note that is NOT an open string 
OR if it is marked "div" play  one note only (outside players play upper note, inside -lower)

3. Andante Cantabile:careful work on timing and accidentals(added sharps) to bar 32-  there are lots of repeated parts.

4. Blue tango: a sassy dance- make sure the rests and dots are noticeable! Up to bar 20. Special attention to bars 7, 13 and 14

                               All great music!!!! Have an excellent week, everyone!





      



GAGE PARK BBQ Saturday Sept 9 ALL MATT FAMILIES are INVITED

Sept. 8

GAGE PARK SEPT 9 PERFORMERS' INFO

ARRIVE 11AM : GAGE PARK BANDSTAND, GAZEBO (Hurontario south of Queen)

BRING : instrument,
               9 pieces rehearsed- in folder you will receive the printed order at arrival
               clothes pegs
               music stand
WEAR: LAYERS-(weather: max 18 C)
             Purple MATT shirt, no jeans- black or darkish color

YOU ARE FABULOUS!! 
Thanks for attending this event . Have fun showing what you can do!!


REGISTRATION FOR FALL 2017

 at MATT office: 
Monday to Friday 10 am to 12 noon
MONDAY Sept 11  : 5 pm to 7 pm 

BEGINNERS: 
ORCHESTRA REGISTRATION BY SEPTEMBER 11TH
Orchestra- Strings classes are held:
 Tuesday 4 to 4:45 pm
OR
Thursday .4:30 to 5:15 pm

CHORAL REGISTRATION CONTINUES through the fall

Choral class is held :   Wednesdays  5 to 6 pm 

First class for all CHORAL and ORCHESTRA STUDENTS
: September 12:Strings/ 13:Choral /14: Strings See below 

                                                  
  RETURNING ORCHESTRA STUDENTS:
Come to Intermediate or Advanced class
Continue scrolling down for all details!

Looking forward to making music with you all!