Last day of school at Winnequah

June 10, 2008

Today was the last day for students at Winnequah Middle School. It was a fun morning of signing yearbooks, swimming, and team choice time. In keeping with tradition the staff met at the front of the school to say goodbye to all of the students.



After lunch, we all went back to packing for the move since we have to be completely done in 2 days. We took a band staff photo in the band room once we had everything packed up and taken off of the walls. As you can see, we had another flooding incident during the last few days of school.

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.

6th-Band, Choir, Orchestra Concert

May 29, 2008

The 6th-grade band, choir, and orchestra concert was on May 29. The 6th-grade band played first, and did 4 songs.

We started with "Court Festival" a piece written by William Byrd during the Renaissance and arranged for band by Bruce Pearson. Next we played "Bach N' Roll" a piece that gave a rock beat to one of J.S. Bach's songs "Menuet" from Anna Magdalena's Notebook.

Here, Ms. Tam (our student teacher) is conducting the piece "All Ye Young Sailors" by Pierre La Plante, a Wisconsin composer. This piece was the band's first experience with a new time signature, 6/8 time.









We ended our portion of the concert with the band's favorite: "Let's Go Band!"


The 6th-grade orchestra played several pieces. This one was accompanied by a slide show of photos that they had taken.



The 6th-grade choir closed the concert.

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

Glacial Drumlin School

On May 1st, we got our first chance to see Glacial Drumlin School! Of course, I was especially excited to see the new band room. There is still construction going on and the carpeting is partially installed. The shelving has also yet to be installed in the band room. This picture shows the view of the band room from the door leading in from the hallway. In the far corner the door on the right leads to one of the small-group instruction rooms and the door on the left is an exit to the outside:


This photo shows the band room from the back corner looking towards the music office where Mr. K is standing. The three doors at the front of the room lead to small-group instruction rooms where we will teach GIGs and where students can practice.


This view is from the corner where the door leads to the outside looking back at the band office and the doorway to the hallway.



This shot is from the front of the room looking back towards the doorway that leads to the hallway.


This is the middle small-group instruction room where we will teach GIGs next year.


And this is the second large small-group instruction room where will will also teach GIGs.


If you look closely, you''ll see that the band room and both practice rooms have WINDOWS! I am really excited because it will be the first time in 15 years that I will get to teach in a room with windows!

This next picture shows part of the cafeteria. There will be a stage that has a space that can be opened between the cafeteria and the gym so that the stage can be used from either direction.


Mr. Dorn, Mrs. Stone and Mr. Kasparek in the new band room for the first time.

Winnequah band room flood

Tuesday, April 29, the Wisconsin State Journal ran an article about a natural spring in Monona that has been dry for deacdes that recently began flowing again. Winnequah Middle School has it's own "spring" and it is located in the band room. (In fact Mr. K. nicknamed the band room "Lake Spitvalve.")

While the band room hasn't flooded during the 15 years I've been teaching here, the record-setting snowfall this winter and the heavy April rains raised the water table to what seems to be a new high. The week of April 21 a little water began seeping into one of the stairwells that lead down to the band room. A few days later it seemed to dry up, but after the heavy rains that Friday more water began to come in, and by Monday morning water covered the floor of the entire band room.

Since we couldn't have classes in the band room, we've been to several other rooms in the school this past week. This photo shows Ms. Tam, our student teacher, working with the 6th-graders in the orchestra room. For a week we held 6th-grade band during A&E at the end of the day in order to have a room to rehearse in.

Most days this week the 6th- and 8th-grade bands relocated to the Orchestra room, but on Thursday we had an early dismissal day and due to the alternate schedule the Orchestra room wasn't available, so we got to meet in the cafeteria instead.

The 7th-grade band met in the choir room for several days.

All of the band students deserve lots of credit for their flexibility and focus this week throughout the various changing rehearsal locations!

Our custodians have been battling the water all week long, and have been doing a great job of getting it out as soon as it seeps in. On Friday, the decision was made to remove the risers in the band room due to the water underneath. We thought that it might be the fastest way to get back in the band room once the water stopped coming in.

The custodians worked all day and into the evening to remove the risers, which was a really tough job. Mr. K helped out once or twice with the sledgehammer too...

On Monday the next step was to remove all of the instrument storage shelving.

Once that had been accopmlished, there was nothing left in the band room and it was ready to dry out once the water stopped coming in. Fortunately, on Tuesday that was the case. We were relieved to finally be able to get back into the band room and have our own space back!