Welcome to my NORTH JUNIOR HS website.  I am excited to be teaching at North all the time this year.  I will be teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade bands and grade 6 "classroom" music.  I again have an assignment this year that is different from last year's.  This means I have had 8 different assignments in 10 years in St. Cloud.  You would think that being moved around is hard, but I am lucky.  I know more teachers and more students than most of my colleagues.  I have had the good fortune of working with GREAT students and adults in every building where I have taught(that is now 8 of the district's schools).  Now that I am teaching full-time at North, I will see students that I have taught before at Madison, Discovery, Kennedy and North.  This is good since I am not the best at having to learn a whole bunch of new names at once.  

Next Thursday, September 8th, there will be an assembly for all of the 6th grade students at North.  The assembly will be at 9:14 in the NJHS Little Theatre.  At that meeting I will:

1. Demonstrate the instruments we teach in 6th grade band.
   
2. Explain the "instrument matching" process we use to choose instruments for students to play.
3. Hand out information about how to sign up to play an instrument. 

The following week, we will have students come to the music room to try instruments to see if they would like to play an instrument.  If they would, they should:

1. Fill out and return a registration form.
2. Fill out and return a "Student Loanif they will play an instrument owned by NJHS.
3. Go to a music store and rent an instrument if needed.
4. Go to a music store and buy the books and supplies they will need for class.
5. Bring their things to school as soon as possible so they will be ready to play.

We will begin to meet in band groups beginning the week of September 19th.

Once students begin to play their instruments, they should plan on working on reading and playing the music for about 30 minutes a day, four or five times each week.  When they are working on the music, they should be sure to: 

1. confidently SAY the note names in the music.
2. securely "PLAY" the piece silently with their instrument in the "practice position" with fingers, slide or mallets locating the notes.
3. count and "hiss" the speed of the notes in the piece.
4. create a strong final performance by adding steady sound to the other skills.

Remember that, at first, you won't hear the student just "blowing" or "playing" constantly, but taking breaks to go through the steps above.

Many of our 7/8 grade students will be trying to "figure me out" at the beginning of this year if they have not had me in band class before.  Luckily, there are several 8th grade students who have had me for band before(in 6th grade at Discovery).  I am SO EXCITED to get to teach them again!  My priorities for the beginning of the year include:

1. We will learn to begin class quickly so that we can make the most of the time we have together.
2. We will get used to the posture we will use to be ready to sound our best.
3. We will begin to create a quality sound that will be the foundation for everything we do this year.
4. We will get to know each other so we can be ready to learn and perform together.