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 !!