Jazz Bands: WES and Pine Ridge team up!

 I will be starting a jazz band at WES and Pine Ridge, my two schools.  They will rehearse the same music separately, then come together before performances to rehearse a few times together. 

Rehearsals: lunch hours on Day 2 (Pine) and Day 3 (WES).  

Purposes of the band:

1. to have fun

2. Learn Jazz music and improvisation

3. Perform at the Brandon Jazz Festival in March 2025

The band will be playing challenging music, so there will be auditions/cuts.  

Auditions will be held at each school during the week of October 28-Nov 1.  There will be a sign up sheet.

Audition Preparation:

• Students should choose a song to perform for me, 30 seconds or less of music
• Students will need to sight read a bit of music
• and it will be fun!

Contact me through the school website or lincoln(dot)wiebe(at)gvsd(dot)ca if you have any questions!

Notes:

If accepted into the band, you'll need to make every effort to attend all rehearsals and concerts

You can do sports and Jazz band - we'll talk about conflicts between them as they arise

Do we want to create a band t-shirt?

Rap your Way to learning the notes on the staff!

 Here's a couple of videos made by a music teacher that likes using rap as a learning tool.

Listen and try the challenge in the video!

Treble clef:

and for the bass clef:

here's a bonus song for bass clef notes:

Another cool video to showcase the instruments

Lean on Me

Lean on Me is an amazing song, written and performed by Bill Withers in 1971.  Many of my bands played it this year, or were working on it. 

Here is a recording of the original.  

I played along with this today, by ear.  If you want to try it, here are some of the starting notes for you.  

[start playing when he starts humming]

flute/trombone/guitar/euphonium/tuba/xylophone:

C    C D E F    F E D C      C D E E   D... 

clarinet/trumpet/tenor sax/euphonium TC:

D    D E F# G    G F# E D    D E F# F#   E...

Alto/Bari Sax

A      A B C D    D  C B A    A B C C   B ....

Horn:

G    G A B C   C B A G   G A B B  A...

Grab some headphones, turn it up a bit, and play along!

A Treat for the Clarinetists among you

I usually post trombone stuff.
But this is CLARINETASTIC!

This was posted April 19, just 10 days ago.  All these people are stuck at home like you and using their time to make joy and music for us!

My Video Experiment #1

I always love those multi-player video recordings people post to YouTube.   Here is one by one of my trombone heroes, Christopher Bill.  This one is not me...

Here is one of my first attempts.  Song- "As the Deer" by Martin Nystrom.  I guess i have a long way to go, but it is UNBELIEVABLY FUN making these!

How to Practice!

I love this video.  There are so many good lessons about practicing in it. 
As a special bonus, try to copy the 1980's hairstyles! 
I would like all band students to watch it.  We all can improve in our way of practicing.