Upcoming Musical Opportunities

Hello!

I hope that you and your family have stayed warm and safe during this Midwest weather.  First of all, Christmas program DVD’s have been sent home!  Please let me know if you have any issues with your order.  I also wanted to outline a few upcoming opportunities for your child.  Many of the resources mentioned below are also available here on my district blog.

All Students are currently working with Unit 2 in our Spotlight on Music series.  We are addressing numerous musical concepts through singing, playing, and studying a variety of folk and other music.  In all classes, we are also using Mr. Everybody’s Musical Apartment.  Using this system, students are able to learn the names of the line and space notes in the treble clef.  We will also briefly study the bass clef using an extension of this system.

3^rd-5^th-Recorders-In addition to Spotlight on Music and Mr. Everybody’s Musical Apartment, 3^rd-5^th graders are currently working on several songs on recorder.  3^rd and 4^th grades are using the Recorder Karate system, where they earn one of nine belts upon mastery of each song.  5^th graders are learning songs which they will perform at their Recorder-Band Concert on Monday, May 13^th at the High School.  Students may come in for extra practice or to test for belts during most morning recess and specified lunch and lunch recess times.

On Thursday, February 28^th, all 4^th graders in Geneseo schools will be traveling to the Symphony Day at the Adler Theater in Davenport.  The theme this year is “Immigrant Stories.”  We will be doing activities during music class to help familiarize students with some of the music that will be performed.  Students will load buses about 9:45 a.m. for the 11:00 concert.  We will eat lunch when returning to school about 12:30. Please have your child bring a sack lunch, or request a sack lunch from school.  Please also have your child wear nice school clothes the day of the concert.  Below I have attached the resource guide I received which helps to introduce these musical pieces and performers to students.  Please feel free to look through it and do some of the activities if you wish.

Also on February 28^th, 4^th and 5^th grade students will be performing at the 45^th Annual Music In Our Schools Concert on Thursday, February 28th at 7 p.m. at the High School.  Please plan to arrive by 6:45 p.m.  A perfect attendance award will again be given students who have performed all concerts this year.  Students who attend this concert will be invited to attend a pizza party at Happy Joe’s!  Practice tracks and music notation are posted under “4th+5th” at the top of the page.

4^th Graders- Our 4th Grade Musical this year will be Bones! We will perform it on Tuesday, March 19^th at 6:30 p.m., and again two days later during our annual Fine Arts Day.   In this musical by Sally Albrecht, Sam, the custodian, has accidentally knocked over the famous Charles Cartilage skeleton! All of the disconnected bones have amnesia from the fall and have no clue what they are – or where they belong!  We will begin rehearsing for this performance during class next week.  Auditions will take place on Thursday 2/21 and Friday 2/22. Please see this packet for audition materials:

All-Our Southwest Fine Arts Day will take place on Thursday, March 21^st.  We will have a variety of artists presenting their craft to students throughout the day.  Also as before, the Middle School Jazz Band and Swing Choir will perform for us, and we will conclude the day with a final performance of our 4^th Grade Musical.  Please help!  We will be looking for a variety of volunteers to help the day go smoothly.  Stay tuned for a communication from our PTA regarding opportunities where you may become involved in this great event.

3^rd-6^th Graders- Please consider joining the Geneseo Children’s Choir this summer from July 3-10!  This choir workshop will include a variety of fun musical activities in addition to preparing concert music.  Here is the form:

As always, please let me know if you have questions at meckwall@geneseoschools.org or (309) 945-0699.  Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Mike Eckwall

General Music Teacher

Remaining Southwest Fine Arts Dates 2018-19

Quad City Symphony Day-(4^th grade) –Thursday, February 28, 2019, 11:00 a.m. concert

Music in Our Schools Concert (4^th and 5^th grades)– Thursday, February 28, 2019, 7:00 p.m., HS Concert Hall

4^th Grade Musical – Tuesday, March 19, 2019, 6:30 p.m. at Southwest

Southwest Fine Arts Day– Thursday, March 21, 2019 at Southwest

All-Unit Concert (4th and 5th grades)- Monday, May 6, 2019, 7:00 p.m., HS Concert Hall

5^th grade Recorder Concert Monday, May 13, 2019

Practice– TBA

  Concert–  7:00 p.m., HS Concert Hall

Southwest Spring Programs– Thursday, May 23, 2019, Southwest Gymnasium

• Grades K-2 8:45 a.m.
• Grades 3-5 10:00 a.m.