Bravo!

Congratulations to our 7th and 8th grade chorus students that participated with Riverview High School on their annual Renaissance Feaste. You did a great job! Way to go :-)

WEEK 17

The 6th grade chorus Winter Holiday Concert is this week, Thursday, December 11th, in the cafetorium at 7pm. We will present It's Christmas Everywhere! a muscal exploring carols and holiday traditions from around the world. Please meet in the chorus room at 6:30pm dressed in black and white to warm up and line up for the concert. Good luck!
The 7th/8th grade chorus (Brookside Singers) will present their Winter Concert next week, Tuesday, December 16th, at 7pm in the cafetorium. We will wear our chorus shirt with black pants and black shoes. Santa hats are optional. We will have a combined rehearsal on Thursday, December 11th. No vocabulary words this week.
7th/8th grade keyboard students will present a semester recital on Wednesday, December 17th, during class. This recital is the semester exam and counts 20% of the overall 2nd quarter grade. This week we are still working on Middle C position. Our written assignment is a review of Treble Clef and Bass Clef lines and spaces. The new song in this position is "Yankee Doodle".
6th grade music wheel class finished the study on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and will be in the keyboard lab learning a famous melody attributed to Mozart, "Twinkle, twinkle Little Star". At the end of the week we will watch and enjoy a new holiday classic, "Santa Claus 2".

WEEK 16

This is a busy time in our music department...
7th/8th grade chorus students are preparing for our Winter Concert on Tuesday, December 16th at 7pm. This concert is our semester exam. We have a group singing with Riverview High this week (see notice below for more info). 9 week notebook check and singing exam will be here before we know it (the week of December 15th). If you need a chorus shirt please see Mrs. DeWitt. We have some available for purchase ($15.00).
6th grade chorus students Winter Concert is next week on Thursday, December 11th at 7pm. We are memorizing music/narrations. Keep practicing at home. This week's vocabulary words are soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
7th/8th grade keyboard students began working in Middle C position. New songs include Good King Wenceslas and Happy Birthday to You. There will be no listening quiz this week. Our written assignment is a review of Treble Clef/Bass Clef lines and spaces.
6th grade music wheel students are in the keyboard lab reviewing Beethoven's Ode to Joy and will begin a study on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. We will have several written assignments to accompany this study and will head back to the keyboard lab at the end of the week to learn one of his famous melodies on the instrument.

Renaissance performance with Riverview High School

This week is our joint performance with the Riverview High Chorus. Dress rehearsal is Tuesday, December 2nd, 3:00-4:30pm at St. John's Methodist Church 6611 Proctor Road. The performance is Thursday, December 4th, 5:30pm pictures/rehearsal with the concert starting at 6:30pm. We will be finished @ 7:15pm. Wear you Renaissance attire on Thursday. We will sing A Festive Welcome, Holiday Wreath, Carol of the Bells, Annua Gaudia, I Saw 3 Ships and Joy to the World!. See you at the castle!

WEEK 15

6th grade music wheel students will finish "Music Man" and turn in the completed assignment. We will watch "The Lion King" and see how music can be used in animation similar to American Musical Theater.
7th and 8th grade keyboard students will review for the semester exam and decide what selection they will perform. No written assignment or listening quiz this week.
7th and 8th grade chorus students will Karaoke on Tuesday and review our music for the December 16th concert on Monday. Students participating on the RHS concert will rehearse in the chorus room during homebase on Monday and Tuesday.
6th grade chorus students will also Karaoke on Tuesday. Solo auditions for D'ou viens Tu? are Monday. This week's vocabulary words are ensemble and staggered breathing. Memorize your music :-)

WEEK 14

The week was gone before I had a chance to post the update. Better late than never...
7th and 8th grade keyboard students weekly written assignment was a review of quarter rests and whole rests. Our listening quiz this week is on staccato (short, detached) and legato (smooth, connected). We began rehearsing for our semester exam which will take place on December 17th.
6th grade music wheel began study the musical classic "Music Man". There is a written assignment to accompany the watching of the original movie version.
7th and 8th grade chorus students are feverishly rehearsing for our upcoming concerts. We had another after school rehearsal with RHS on Thursday for the Renaissance Feaste on December 4th. We completed Unit 2 lesson 4 on barlines and measures and our vocab words for the week are fermata, octave and tone.
6th grade chorus students have the same vocab words this week as 7th/8th grade. We are rehearsing for our December 11th concert. Narrations were assigned. Please get your narration and music memorized!

8th grade Renaissance performance news

8th grade chorus students participating on the Riverview High School Renaissance Feaste concert need to have their costumes by December 1st.
Girls - "peasant" type skirts in dark drab colors (black, gray, brown) with "peasant" style blouse, very plain, preferably white ballet style flat shoes
Guys - medieval style tunic in drab colors (black, gray, brown) with sandals
Any questions??? please contact Mrs. DeWitt

Week 13

7th and 8th grade keyboard students are learning to play the C major chord. We are working on playing hands together with 1 hand playing a 3 note chord (CEG)...focusing also on tied notes and slurs. There will not be a listening quiz this week. There will be a written quiz on Thursday reviewing music symbols learned thus far.
6th grade music students begin studying the life and music of composer Ludwig van Beethoven. We will culminate the study by learning to play one of his most famous melodies on the keyboard.
7th and 8th grade chorus students are continuing to focus on reading rhythms. We are working with whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes and rests as well as learning various time signatures. Students will continue rehearsals on music for upcoming December performances.
6th grade chorus students have signed up for speaking parts in our holiday musical and we will continue to hear students read for various narrations. We are rehearsing for our December 11th performance. This week's vocab words are time signature, common time and cut time.

Party in Paradise

Party in Paradise
Saturday, February 21st, 2009
7:00-11:00pm
Sarasota Sailing Squadron

Have a great evening out with other Brookside Middle School families to raise money to support the students and staff at Brookside. We will have dinner, music, and a live and silent auction. We also have sponsorship opportunities if you are interested. If you are interested in working on the Party in Paradise committee please contact Traci Schofield at 993-8491 or Cassie Vassallo at 374-4630. Support the PTSO!

Week 12

6th grade chorus students have begun working on their winter holiday concert program..."It's Christmas Everywhere" a musical exploring carols and holiday traditions around the world. We will sign up for narrations on Tuesday the 4th.
6th grade general music students are learning to read and write pitches in the Treble Clef. We are focusing this week on learning the names of the lines (EGBDF) and spaces (FACE). We will also continue "High School Musical".
7th and 8th grade keyboard students are learning accidentals this week focusing on...sharp (#) and flat (b). Our listening quiz this week is on identifying tempo...fast, slow, moderate. Review Day is Friday.
7th and 8th grade chorus students have begun rehearsing a new piece for the winter holiday concert..."Ho! Ho! Holidays: A Medley" and will be starting 2 additional pieces this week for that concert. We are continuing working with reading rhythms and rehearsing music (8th grade) for our concert with Riverview High School.

WEEK 11

Riverview High "Kiltie" band came to visit on Wednesday and presented a concert for the school in the AM. Friday, the 31st, was our first "RENAISSANCE" day of the 2008-2009 school year. 3/4 of our chorus/keyboard students made Renaissance first quarter...way to go! Keep up the great work :-)

Fundraiser Prizes

Congratulations to all of the chorus students that participated in our fall fundraiser! Prizes were distributed in all classes today...way to go!

Week 10

6th grade music wheel students have their first day of class Monday, October 20th. Students need to bring a pencil and pocket folder with paper to class each day. We will learn to read/write music in the Treble Clef, some basic keyboard skills, music history and watch/study two musicals.
7th and 8th grade keyboard students begin a new grading period by learning to play harmonic intervals of 2nds and 3rds. Harmonic intervals are playing more than 1 note in 1 hand at the same time. We will continue working on reading the lines and spaces of the Grand Staff. The students will also receive new keyboard assignments and different keyboard partners.
6th grade chorus students are continuing with the development of their music reading skills and vocal development.
7th and 8th grade chorus students will perform on the school morning news show Thursday, October 30th. We are singing a 2 part song for the season titled "Autumn". We are also rehearing our music for the upcoming December concerts and continuing with honing our music reading skills.

Fundraiser

Thanks to all of our Brookside Chorus students that participated in our music department's fall fundraiser. All the money has been collected and the products have been distributed. A HUGE thank you to the Brookside PTSO parents that spent most of the day here on Wednesday unloading and sorting cheesecakes and cookie dough. You are awesome!

Week 9
7th and 8th grade chorus students had their 9 week vocabulary test on Monday. Notebook check for this grading period will be on Wednesday, October 13th. We are rehearsing music in class for our December concerts. The students received their 9 week singing test grade (rubric) last week.
6th grade chorus students also took their 9 week vocabulary test on Monday. Their 1st quarter notebook check is today. We are continuing daily vocalizing and the students will receive their 9 week singing test grades on Thursday, October 16th (the last day of the grading period).
6th grade music students on the wheel have 3 days left in this rotation. We finished our study of "Music Man" and "Lion King" to see how music is used in movies and musical theater. These students will move to Tech Ed on Monday, October 20th.
7th and 8th grade keyboard students are continuing with reading the lines and spaces of the Grand Staff. Our new note this week is the dotted half note. There will be no listening quiz this week as the students do not have school on Friday. We are continuing to play in C position with both hands. Review day is Thursday.

8th grade chorus students have an after school rehearsal TODAY in the chorus room from 2:30pm-3:45pm with the Riverview High School Chorus students and their director, Ms. Betty Mullet. We are preparing for the RHS Renaissance program December 4th at St. John's Methodist.

Week 8

Welcome to the ALL NEW Brookside Middle School Chorus and Keyboard BLOG! This tool will help to keep students, parents, teachers, and the world, updated about the musical happenings in our chorus and keyboard department.
7th and 8th grade keyboard began learning to read the Grand Staff. The right hand reads and plays in the Treble Clef while the left hand reads and plays in the Bass Clef. Keep working on reading lines and spaces!
7th and 8th grade chorus began rehearsing for our Winter Concert this week. We finished our first 9 week singing test and the 8th grade singers have an after school rehearsal on October 9th (2:30-3:45) with the Riverview High School Chorus students in preparation for their Renaissance concert. The 9 week vocabulary test will be on Monday, October 13th.
6th grade music students began studying the musical "The Music Man" this week. We are completing an accompanying assignment while watching the Meredith Wilson classic.
6th grade chorus is in the process of finishing our 9 week singing exam. These young singers are doing well learning to use their singing voices. Our 9 week vocabulary test will be on Monday, October 13th. Study your 25 words!
Next week ALL chorus classes will have their 9 week notebook check. Be organized and prepared!