The advanced guitar class did a great job with the combined 7th and 8th grade ensembles concert last week! This group has grown by a couple of members since last year, and the new students have blended in seamlessly. They performed “Stop This Train” by John Mayer, which has many challenging harmonies that are played with fingerstyle technique. They have also been working on improvising and created a new section in the song “No Rain” by Blind Melon. They learned about the importance of listening to each other and ways in which visual cues can be used to communicate during an improvisation. This group continues to improve with each performance-it is amazing how far they have come since last year!
0 Comments
The intermediate guitar class did a nice job with the combined 7th & 8th grade ensembles concert last week. A definite highlight was “Cleopatra”, where they accompanied Peyton Hunter, who is a member of the 7th and 8th grade Chorus. They learned about phrasing, and the importance of following a singer by listening to where they take breaths and how they phrase music. They have started choosing new songs to learn in addition to improving their music reading skills.
6th grade had a good concert last week in conjunction with the 5th and 6th grade guitar and orchestra classes. They played the songs “Despacito” and “Smoke on the Water”. I was excited to have some students improvising during “Smoke on the Water”-it takes courage to do that on stage in front of a crowd. The class has recently started learning “Another Brick In The Wall” and will start learning to read music notation for guitar soon.
The 5th grade guitar ensemble had a successful concert last week as part of the Wonderful Wednesday concert series. They played “Blues in G” and “Sweet Home Alabama”. They have learned basic open chords, strumming patterns, and guitar tablature. We have started learning “Castle On The Hill” by Ed Sheeran as well as “Happy Birthday”. I’m pleased with how the students have been doing so far, they have come a long way!
|
AuthorBrian Mitchell, Middle and Upper Learning Music and Guitar Archives
November 2017
Categories |