7th- and 8th-Grade Band Concert

November 17, 2008

8th-Grade Band performs at Homecoming

October 3, 2008

Today the 8th-Grade Band performed at Homecoming with the Monona Grove High School Bands. The 8th-graders have worked for the past month to learn the "MG School Song", "Louie, Louie", and several other fun songs the high school band plays during the game. They performed "Beauty and the Beast" with the high school band as the homecoming court was introduced.

Everyone seemed to have a good time, although some didn't dress quite warmly enough.

Photos to follow soon!

8th-Grade Band Recording Project

On June 3 the 8th-grade band recorded their CD at the high school auditorium.

Jazz Band members met at 7:00 a.m. at the high school for some treats from Mr. K. After sound checks, the band recorded their tunes.

The rest of the 8th-grade band arrived at the high school around 8:45 to begin recording. The band voted on which songs they wanted to record from their 7th- and 8th-grade concerts. Once we got underway, the band quickly realized that making a recording demands concentration from everyone. While we recorded many songs in one take, there were several that we tried multiple times before getting a "final" version for the CD.

Mr. K manned the booth for us; he started and stopped the recording as well as adjusted sound levels. (He also played trombone on a couple of songs.) Mr. Dorn helped us get our initial sound levels set, manned the booth while Mr. K was playing trombone, and played clarinet with us on a few tunes.

After we were done, we went to the East Towne Food Court for lunch. Since this was an early dismissal day, we bused students to Taylor Prairie School, Cottage Grove School, and Winnequah Middle School to drop them off so that they could return home for the rest of the afternoon. Mr. Dorn, Mr. Kasparek and I got to go back to school and pack up the band room for our impending move.

7th- & 8th-Grade Band Concert

June 2, 2008

The 7th- and 8th-grade Band Concert began with a few tunes by the Jazz Band. They played "Steppin' Up To The Blues" and "Let It Groove". Several of the Jazz Band members chose to play solos during the songs!

The 7th-Grade Band played next, beginning with "Valdres." They followed that with a fun song called "Ghosts In The Graveyard." The next song, "El Toro Rojo Grande," featured the trumpet section including special guest musician Mr. Schlaefer! "Don't Feed The Drummers" was a percussion feature. The 7th-grade band ended their portion of the concert with "Our Kingsland Spring" which is the first movement of "Georgian Suite" by composer Samuel Hazo. Next year the band will play the second movement of this suite as 8th-graders.


For this last concert of the year, I gave the 8th-grade band members input on pieces that they would like to play. They provide me with songs titles and then I look to see if I can find band arrangements of those songs that would be appropriate for this level of experience, and would still provide good learning experiences for the band. The first two pieces of the concert were chosen from the list of songs provided by the band members.

The first 8th-grade band selection was the "John Williams Trilogy," which contained music from "Jurassic Park", "Schindler's List," and "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

The second piece was a medley of songs from "Pirates of the Caribbean."



During my time at Winnequah, I have talked with Ms. McGinnis about her participation in band in middle school, high school, and college. This was the last concert that Ms. McGinnis attended as Winnequah's principal, and I asked her if she would like to play a song with us. (I also asked her to choose a song that she would like to play, and she chose "Brighton Beach.")

After looking at the score for "Brighton Beach" I realized that the 8th-grade band needed a few more people to fill out the instrumentation. (For example, this song called for 4 french horn parts! I asked the entire 7th-grade french horn section to join us because we don't have any french horn players in 8th-grade.) So I asked several of the 7th-Grade Band members (clarinets, french horns, trumpet, & trombone) to join us for this song. They worked on Brighton Beach in GIGs and attended part of 8th-grade band once a week to prepare. I really appreciate their help on this song because it made this song sound much better to have a few more students to fill out the extensive instrumentation needed.


Ms. McGinnis told me that she hadn't played her clarinet in many years, but after a bit of practice she played very well. (We had a GIG after school, and worked on "Brighton Beach".)



I'm glad that she joined us for the song. The band played well, and it was good for them to experience a song that presented many challenges.


After the concert we took a staff picture with me, Ms. Tam, Ms. McGinnis, Mr. Schlaefer, and Mr. Kasparek.

8th trip to "Wicked"

On May 21, 8th-grade Band and Choir students traveled to Chicago to see the musical "Wicked." Our first stop in Chicago was to Ed Debevic's to eat lunch. Here you see the group lined up outside as we waited briefly to get in.

After lunch we had time to go to Millenium Park. In the background you can see the outdoor performance area in the park, the Jay Pritzker Pavillion, which was designed by architect Frank Gehry.

While in the park, students explored the sculpture many people know only as "the bean." This photo was taken from the inside of the sculpture. The reflections show the many people wandering through it.

The sculpture's real title is "Cloud Gate," but you can see why people have dubbed it "the bean." Here you can see Ms. McGinnis and I in front of the end of "the bean." To see more photos of "Cloud Gate," go to the following link. http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/cloud_gate.html

After a bit of exploring, we walked a few blocks to the Oriental Theatre where "Wicked" is playing.

The story of "Wicked" is the prequel to "The Wizard of Oz." The story revolves around the two witches, Glinda the witch of the East and Elphaba the witch of the West. I really enjoy the music, and have seen the musical 3 times now. For more information on "Wicked," go to: http://wickedthemusical.com/#AboutWicked

Veteran's Expedition Celebration

On Tuesday, March 11 the 8th-Grade Band and two of Ms. Hovey's classes honored veterans at the expedition celebration at MGHS.

8th- and 7th-grade band clinic

On Monday, February 25 the 7th- and 8th-grade bands traveled to the McFarland High School Auditorium to participate in a clinic with Verona's 8th-grade band and Mc Farland's 7th- and 8th-grade bands.

The 8th-grade band arrived first and was the first group to perform. We played two of the songs that we are working on for the Veteran's Concert, "Sons of Liberty" and "To Honor, Thank, and Remember."

After we performed our pieces, Professor Terri Dobbs from UW-Madison worked with the 8th-graders on "Sons of Liberty."

After the 8th-grade band performed, we listened to Verona's 8th-grade band.

The 7th-grade band performed next, and played "Chorale Elegant," "Kinetic Energy," and "Forward March."

The Great PIG Race

THE GREAT PIG RACE

Students who sold 20 or more items in the music fundraiser were eligible to participate in the pig race.
Mr. Heineke of Geckler fundraising brought his stable of pigs and the racetrack to Winnequah for the event. There were 6 different heats, with a winner in each. Then these winners raced in 2 semi-final races and then the top two pigs raced one last time.

7th- & 8th-Grade Band Concert Expedition

Thursday, November 29

The 7th- and 8th-Grade Bands performed their first concert of the year in the high school auditorium. This was the first performance of the year for the 7th-grade band, and the second for the 8th-graders. Both bands played well! (And we even managed to finish the concert in plenty of time for everyone to get home and tune in for most of the Packers/Cowboys game.)

The 7th-Grade Band played the following songs:

Nottingham Castle by Larry Daehn
Stillmeadow Overture by Dennis O. Eveland
and
Little Rock by James D. Ployhar

In a quick informal survey during class the day after the concert, the 7th-graders said the songs that they enjoyed most were Stillmeadow Overture and Little Rock.

The 8th-Grade Band played:
Gopak by Modest Mussorgsky, arranged by Andrew Balent
The Monument March by David W. Moore
and
Psalm by William Himes

The 8th-graders liked Psalm best and discussed possibly including it on the CD that they will record at the end of the school year.

8th-Grade Band performs at Homecoming - October

Winnequah's 8th-Grade Band experienced the fun of performing at the Homecoming football game with the Monona Grove High School Bands on October 5, 2007. They played "Yesterday" which was one of the songs in the Beatles-themed halftime show.

The 8th-grade students also got to play some fun tunes like "Louie, Louie" as well as playing the Monona Grove fight song each time our football team scored. Fortunately for us, we got to play the fight song several times during the first half of the game!