I am very exited to begin our new school year! We will begin music classes the week of the 27th. 6th Graders can be ready to play our first week, so bring your instrument! 5th graders will be learning abouut their choices and how we get started. We will begin playing once we have met for a couple of classes, and we will need time to assign instrument. Please look around my web page at the videos and private teacher information. See you soon!
0 Comments
If your child is in 5th grade, they will need to practice over the summer to be ready to play in 6th grade. I sent home detailed information with them. They should also bring their instrument home. 6th graders who are going into Orchestra at Hillside MUST practice during the summer. They will have music to practice. Here is some additional information:
If you can, purchase great book for working on your own. “Sound innovations” Book 1 - (for your instrument) for 5th graders and Book 2 for 6th graders go on in middle school - It can be found online or at any local music store. Private lessons: Here are a few teachers that I know, but you can take lessons from any teacher you like. There may be someone in your neighborhood, or even an advancing high school player or family member. Violin- and viola- Ramona Meyer (lives near Hillside) 801-699-3194 Mary Danzig (north salt lake) 801-918-3015 Tina Cho Johnson (near hillside) 801-879-1237 Grace Jackson Ehlert 801-232-1409 Cello- Marty McMillan - [email protected] Aaron Stoddard - [email protected] Therisia May [email protected] Tamra Baca - [email protected] Bass- Thomas Zera (Salt lake) 801-560-9992 Another resource for lessons is The Gifted Music School https://www.giftedmusicschool.org/private_lessons Also Summerhays Music Center and Riverton Music Tuning your instrument! I highly advise you to either download a free tuning app, or purchase a snark tuner (about $15 on Amazon) Find someone in your area who plays and could tune you once a week, or a local music store could tune you. Basses can tune with a tuner easier than the rest. Taking occasional lessons will get your instrument tuned at every lesson. Another great benefit! Don’t bump your instrument and it will stay in tune longer. Be prepared and dress nicely! Practice extra the week before the concert! Your child's instrument must be taken home to practice. Please remind them. The more the students practice at home, the more successful they will be! Please set up a schedule for them, and remind them. As a parent of 2 children who play cello and violin, I know the challenges in getting your child to practice at home. I make it homework, just like all other homework. If you set a schedule, and have them stick to it, it is much easier to fit in. Pick the least busy evenings, and make it a priority. If they say "I don't want to" your answer needs to be "do your homework!"
No student will learn to play an instrument with any proficiency without regular home practice. They will fall behind and be frustrated. They will say "it's not fun" Of course it isn't, when you don't want to do the work. Learning an instrument teaches children something that most classes do not cover. That is, that it takes time and hard work to accomplish goals. Instruments take years to master and hard work. There is NO short cut. That is a valuable, and even essential, skill to becoming a person who will know the value of hard work later in life. Music is something they can take with them forever. They can share it at home, in church, among friends, and someday with their own children. Help them stick to it. Help them remember. It will pay off in the end! We are off and running! Great to see you all this week. 5th graders will be choosing instruments over the first 2 classes, and 6th graders will be playing the second class. Lots of new music, so make sure to start practicing right away!
For information about tuning, lessons and what to do during the summer, click the new Summer Information Tab above! Have a wonderful summer, and practice as much as you can!
If you are a 4th grader signing up for 5th grade music, take a look. Here is a new feature on the Utah Symphony page. It features members playing their instruments, so you can hear all of them. Check it out!
Utah Symphony Instruments In May, we will be having Spring Concerts for many of the groups. Please remind your child to practice at home! Even 10 minutes a day can work wonders. If their instrument is not coming home, you need to intervene! They WILL NOT make progress and keep up with no home practice. They will not be successful, and that isn't fun for anyone. We depend on all of our players to make the entire group sound good. Imagine a dance troop that has 2 people who don't know any of the steps, just shuffling around while others, who worked hard, dance next to them. It's distracting, and it isn't fair to those who practiced. I have been sending home practice charts, and now we are completing them online. If your child does not practice, they will not be able to perform. PLEASE remind them regularly. Many of the students are working hard, and we want to have a concert we can be proud of and feel good about. Hard work pays off, and it's a life lesson that is good for all parts of life. I am looking forward to our Spring Concerts!
If your child may be attending Hillside Middle School and is interested in the orchestra, please read below. There are two orchestra levels at Hillside. Orchestra I is for any student, even beginners. This class is for students who have not played, or have played in elementary but can't note read or need more experience. This class requires no audition and performs at school concerts. The Orchestra II class is the advanced group. All students must audition to be in this class. Mrs. Misco will give out audition materials in January and hold auditions in class, the last week of January and the first week of February. All students must note read, know their D and G major scales and play an excerpt given by Mrs. Misco. This class performs several times each year, including concerts, Highland High, district festival and Lagoon. There will be a concert for 6th graders at Hillside on February 2nd at 9:15am. We will also perform at the Hillside Open House on January 19th at 7:30pm Our Winter concerts are approaching, so please make sure you practice at home regularly. The more you practice, the better you will sound!
Scheduled concerts: (so far) Beacon Heights- December 7th at 1:30 (at Hillside) Dilworth- December 15th at 1:45 Highland Park- January 25th(5th grade) and 26th (6th grade) at 1:30 Indian Hills 6th- TBA in February All students should practice AT LEAST 3 days a week at home to be ready for their concert. Ask them to play for you this week!! |
TeacherMrs. Misco teaches orchestra at 4 schools. Hillside Middle, Beacon Heights, Dilworth and Highland Park. This is her 25th year of teaching Orchestra in Utah! Archives
May 2022
Categories |
- Home
- Introduction of Instruments
- Concert information
- Teachers and how to help
- note reading help
- videos
- SUB PAGE
- Recordings
- tuning!
- weekly assignments
- Music to Print
- Concert videos
- Hillside Orch II summer music
- 4th violin at Beaon Heights
- Summer information
- 3 things to know
- Bass Players!
- Instrument borrowing, rentals, information
- Forms
- Contact Mrs. Misco
- Teachers and how to help