Welcome!

To those of you who are new to this blog, welcome! This is the blog for the KML Colt Band. Starting now, I will post a weekly recap of the Monday night rehearsals and some practice goals for the week. On 11/18, we met in the PAC auditorium for rehearsal. Here are the highlights: 1. We made some changes to our songs for the December concert. "Jingle Bells" from the red lessons books was added. "Castles and Kings" will end at the end of measure 32. "Christmas Chant" will end on beat 3 of measure 38. 2. Warm-up time for the concert on December 7 is 6:15 p.m. Where you will meet will be announced soon. 3. Concert dress: White long sleeve shirt/sweater, black pants or skirt. Black shoes. No athletic shoes. Ties for the boys are optional. We had a great rehearsal on Monday, and I'm excited to see you all again in two weeks! (If you tell your lesson teacher that you read this blog post, you get 2 awards points.) Happy Thanksgiving!

2 Rehearsals Left!

This coming weekend is the second last rehearsal of the year! You're almost finished with year 1 of your band career, and next year you'll be so experienced compared to those little Colt Band kids :)

Last week we focused a lot of the rehearsal time on Cool Blues. It's starting to come together, and I think some of you are starting to like it...even if you wouldn't admit it out loud. Rests are as important as notes in this song, so we spent a good amount of time working on staying out of the way of the low brass' glory. If you were there, you know what I mean :)

See you Saturday!

Rehearsal Notes 2.23.13

Hello! I know it's been awhile since I've updated our blog. We had great attendance today and some great progress on American Spirit March. The word for that portion of the rehearsal was speed! Well, counting too. Thanks for working hard and doing what I asked. Your behavior control was much better today. Talking was minimal while I was giving instructions, and I expect it to only improve from there. Thanks! The second part of the rehearsal was spent learning to make up 1 measure melodies using DO, RE, and MI for your instrument. Flutes, oboe, low brass, and percussion are DO = B flat, RE = C, and MI = D. Clarinets and trumpets are DO = C, RE = D, and MI = E. Alto saxophones are DO = G, RE = A, and MI = B. French horn is DO = F, RE = G, and MI = A. After that was settled, we didn't talk about notes as letters but as DO, RE, and MI for our common language. I played a 4 beat melody using those pitches, and the band echoed. Then we did the same process playing over a groove track I created on GarageBand on the iPad. Next was students composing their own 4 beat melodies in groups of like or unlike instruments. They played, and we echoed. At the end of rehearsal, each group played in turn with the groove track. Next week, we'll expand on this. Come with your creative juices flowing! Great rehearsal, everyone!