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.