First, I want to tell you what a pleasure it was seeing so many of you a couple of weeks ago at our open house. Your involvement in your children’s education is the reason they have been and will be successful.
There are several points I want to touch on in this email… our current progress; how to keep up with the information you and your young musician need; supplies needed to be successful (and prevent costly repairs); and supporting our music program.Looking at our current high school band and jazz band, I am as excited as I have been in a long time. For the first time in at least twenty years, East Rochester has a full jazz band: 5 saxes, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, and a complete rhythm section. In band, we are playing more musically and with better sound and intonation (tuning) than at any time in my eleven years here.
For students in both groups, home practice is essential. In band, some of our students are able to be successful on our current music without much work outside of class, but our music will be getting much more challenging throughout the year. In jazz band, there are no students who have complete mastery of our current music. Some students are doing much better than others, however, and after just five weeks we are beginning to see a real gap in achievement between those students practicing outside of class and listening to the provided CD, and those who are not doing those things.
The best source of information for you is our website, located at www.gowmanmusic.com. There is a link at the top of the page for the current lesson schedule, and upcoming performances are listed on the left sidebar. Recordings of current music are located on the pages for the different ensembles, and there is currently a button on the main page that sends you to our supply list. It is very important for students to have these supplies so that they can not only play well, but also maintain the quality of their instruments. (Example: A “pad saver” for flute/clarinet/saxophone costs $5-$15, but can add years to the life of the pads, which cost $300 to replace.) I have a stock of many of these supply items available at here at school, and can save you a trip to the music store and even pass on our discount!
Finally, I want to talk to you about supporting what we do here. We will need parents to help with fitting, cleaning, and possibly altering our tuxedos and gowns in time for performance. I am also looking at a fundraiser this year that we will need your help with… likely a dinner of some sort. I would like to do this in the near future, but I think we should have our groups perform at this event, and they are not quite ready. Finally, please support your child’s hard work by attending our performances and encouraging others—friends, family, people you’ve never met—to attend as well. Now that they are teenagers they probably won’t tell you this, but it means as much to your children to see you in the audience—and to have a large, appreciative audience—as it did in the 4th grade.
Two years ago, I regularly posted information on our blog page (linked from the main site), but I got away from that as it seemed no one was reading it. I will be posting again on a fairly regular basis, and I encourage you to sign up as a follower or through an RSS feed.
If you ever have any questions—or if you are interested in volunteering or purchasing supplies—please feel free to contact me at 248-6344 or mark_gowman@er.monroe.edu. Thanks!
-Mark
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