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Have you heard all of the competitive buzz around the school about Music Ball? Yep, it's that time of the year!! I get super excited and pumped up about music ball- and this year is no different!! This year, each teacher picked different "food" team names and we are having a blast with it!! We even have a teacher combined team for the adult students who I'm secretly rooting for! How awesome would that be for the adult team to win?!?! At each student's lesson, we give points based on their theory work completed, practice days, and their attitude and posture in the lesson. Then, those points are added to a score sheet where the team gets an average. The team with the highest average for the week wins the game. We will compete for 7 weeks. At that point, the teams with the highest number of wins will be the winners. This year, we are giving prizes to our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams in each division. In addition, each team will have a Top Team Player- the player who has the highest average. All Top Team Players and 1st place teams will be invited to a lock in at Music SO Simple where we will get to watch a movie, play music games, eat pizza, and just have fun! This date will be announced later! Check out the current stats here! 
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 Well, it's the spring and it's time to get ready for Honor Roll 2021! I'm so excited!
As many of our students know, Honor Roll is a BIG deal around here. Mostly because it's HARD and the end result is amazing. We've changed up a few things this year. First, I want to say that making it on the Honor Roll is not easy. It's for the student who is ready to practice harder than ever before. If everyone was able to do it, it wouldn't be so amazing would it? Just like Honor Roll at school, those who rise to the occasion, practice hard, and complete all of their work each week will be on the Honor Roll and receive one of two prizes. Here at this year's requirements:
This year, we are giving our students an opportunity to get extra points. Students are limited to 12 total points for the entire duration of Honor Roll.
The 2 prizes are the composer bust for 65 points and higher. Those that get 50-64 points will receive the metal bookmark. Awards will be announced at the Spring Recital. Good luck!! Work hard! Let your teacher know if you have any questions! Whenever I teach a student a new song, one of the first things we do is figure out what the starting notes are in each of our hands. I always point to the note and ask “What letter is this?” At first, I might get a blank stare, then I say, “Remember the silly thing I say to remember the lines and/or spaces or treble/bass clef?”. Those little funny mnemonic phrases really help my students to remember those letters! How do I remember the spaces of treble clef? They spell FACE. That one most kids remember.  How do I remember the lines of treble clef? EGBDF, or Every Good Boy Does Fine. Now, sometimes my girl students don’t like this one, so we try to come up with something else. For a while, I used Every Good Boy Deserves Fortnight. I was cool with the kids then. How do I remember the spaces of bass clef? ACEG, or All Cows Eat Grass. This one is not only silly, but also factual! I have also used All Cars Eat Gas, but that one isn’t as silly. How do I remember the lines of bass clef? GBDFA, or George Bush Dances For America. I learned this one from my piano teacher growing up and it stuck with me, most likely because George W. Bush was president at the time. But now, kids have asked me “What is a george bush?” I felt OLD. So I came up with a new one, Good Burritos Don’t Fall Apart. Again, silly but true! This one has been a big hit with my students recently!  So, all of these mnemonic devices got me thinking, our students could probably come up with some amazing ways to remember the note names on the staff. So we should have a little contest! We are calling all students to submit their favorite way to remember the lines and spaces, or come up with a fun one themselves! Prizes will be awarded! Treble Spaces: FACE Treble Lines: EGBDF Bass Spaces: ACEG Bass Lines: GBDFA ENTRY DEADLINE WAS OCTOBER 24, 2020
Here are our winners: Bass Lines: GBDFA: Grannies Boogie Down Fifth Avenue! Bass Spaces: ACEG: All Crepes Equal Great Treble Spaces: FACE: free armadillos cross expressways Treble Lines: EGBDF: each gamer boy dies fiercly -Meredith Manley Our May Awards Recital is always something we all look forward to at the end of each school year! Due to the circumstances, our May recital this year looks a little different: instead of performing for a live audience, our students are submitting a recorded video of themselves performing at home. They have been working so hard on their recital pieces, and we wanted to give them a chance to still perform in the safest way we could. We will be putting together the videos to make virtual recitals and sending them out to all of our families! At the end of the May recital, we call up students one by one and present them their bag of yearly awards. Most families head home with their awards, but don’t always understand what they are for or how their child earned them. So I thought this blog would be a great way to explain all the different types of awards students can earn!
 Our last category of awards has to do with how long a student has been studying their instrument. Awards start at half a year of study all the way through their senior year.
Our intention is never to hurt anyone’s feelings if they didn’t receive many awards. We know how challenging it is to earn some of these, and we feel that students who achieve them should be recognized and celebrated. Reflecting on the quality of a student’s work is a valuable lesson no matter the outcome because it shows them how far they’ve come in the last 9 months, and shows them what could be improved so that they earn a certain award next year. We think awards are the perfect way to end the school year, and we really are so proud of all of our students!  |
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