Instructor: Mr. Dulas Room: 114
Office Hours:
Grade Level: 9-12 grades
Prerequisites: Pass an audition with Mr. Dulas
Course Length: Year
Course Description:
Wind Ensemble is a
performance-oriented course designed to offer musicians at least eleven
performance opportunities a year.
Performances include playing in congregations for worship services, at
concerts, for certain athletic events in the form of a “pep band” and on
musical tours throughout the
Course Objectives:
1. Acquainting students with a large variety of musical styles;
2. Developing the technical and musical abilities of each student;
3. Providing students with an understanding of basic theory skills;
4. Advancing students’ ensemble skills;
5. Improving students’ listening skills;
6. Offering opportunities for performance in local festivals and/or interstate musical tours; and
7. Giving the musician more opportunities to serve their Lord and witness their faith in school and in the community.
Evaluation Procedures:
Each musician will be evaluated on the basis of a 100-point system. Points will be earned by completing various criteria. The criteria are listed below:
Scales 20 pts Monday Night Band 20 pts
Sectionals 10 pts Jazz Band* 10 pts
Charting Instrument 15 pts Pep Band (non mandatory) 25 pts
Performance Quiz 30 pts Article Reports 15 pts
Theory 25 pts Private Lessons** 20 pts
Concert Attendance 40 pts Practice 15 pts
All-State Audition 40 pts Honor Band Participation 30 pts
Solo 20 pts Ensemble 20 pts
* Jazz Band membership is based on instrumentation and an audition.
** Mr. Dulas must approve private lesson teacher
Grading Time Line: 50 of the 100 points per quarter must be accounted for by “midterm”. The remaining points are due on the last day of the quarter.
Explanation of Performance Criteria:
Scales: Each musician must know how to play scales from memory. The goal of the instrumental music program is to have each student know all the major, minor and chromatic scales before they graduate Mayer Lutheran. Musicians will be given eight scales to memorize each quarter. They will be evaluated on those scales only at the end of the quarter. Musicians who work ahead and learn more than the assigned scales will receive extra credit. Scales include: Major- C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db/C#, Gb/F#, Cb/B, E, A, D, G. Minor- C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db/C#, Gb/F#, Cb/B, E, A, D, G in natural, harmonic, and melodic forms. Chromatic Scale the range of your instrument. All scales are to be memorized ascending and descending.
Sectionals: There will be two required sectionals each quarter. Mr. Dulas will assign a date for each sectional and run the sectional. Sectionals are a way to work on musicianship by listening keenly to smaller details of the music for each section.
Charting Instrument: Musician will be required to chart their instrument using the computer and software in the music room. The “Intonation Trainer” software will help each student not only know the specific characteristics of their particular instrument but will train their ears to listen and know what playing in tune sounds like, print out the chart of each musicians instrument, and train musicians to hear chord tone characteristics. Students may sign-up to use the program on the door of the music office. The software program will be explained in the first few weeks of school.
Performance Quiz: Musicians who choose this option will at various times during the course of a quarter be called upon to perform a selection from the music currently in the Wind Ensemble Folder. This may be done in or outside of class.
Theory: Musicians will use the “Alfred’s Music Theory” software program to increase their theory skills using the computers in the music room. Mr. Dulas will keep progress and scores on the computer for review.
Concert Attendance: Musicians must attend a concert (they are not performing in themselves) each quarter. Students must write a report on the concert. The report must include: the group or soloist who performed, performance selections, a ticket stub or program of the concert, an overall impression of the group or soloist performing, an overall impression of the music being performed, a detailed reaction to at least two selections of music performed, what you liked about the performance, what you disliked about the performance.
Practice: Musicians must practice an average of 150 minutes of practice per week. Only private practice will count as practice. Musicians choosing this option must fill out a weekly practice journal and have parents sign each week to verify the amount of practice.
All-State Audition: Sophomores and juniors who want to audition for the Minnesota All-State Band must see Mr. Dulas for requirements and auditions dates.
Honor Band Participation: Mr. Dulas will announce local honor band or festival band auditions and dates. Students who are interested in attending will be given the information on audition requirements and times.
Jazz Band: Jazz Band is a
typical big band format where musicians study the style of jazz. Musician must pass an audition to become a
member of this group. Rehearsals are
held twice a week in the mornings from
Pep Band: For all intents and purposes the Wind Ensemble is the “pep band”. However, the Wind Ensemble does not perform more than two times for each sport per regular season games. Since their are plenty of more opportunities to perform during a given season, musicians who wish to support their team through music may do so in the non-mandatory pep band. As far as the public is concerned, the pep band and the non-mandatory pep band are the same. However, for the wind ensemble member they are not the same. The non-mandatory pep band is one of the ways you can earn credit for your grade. Non-mandatory pep band performances will be listed as Pep Band on the schedule and Mandatory pep band performances will be listed as Wind Ensemble.
Article Reports: Musicians may choose to read approved articles and write reports on those articles. Approved articles may be picked up from Mr. Dulas. The report must include the title, author, summary of article, reaction to article and conclusion. Article reports are due two weeks before the end of the quarter or mid-term.
Private Lessons: Musicians who take private lessons with a qualified instructor may use that experience to earn points toward their Wind Ensemble grade. In order for the musician to receive points Mr. Dulas must approve the private instructor.
Solo: Preparing a solo for performance is one of the best ways to develop musicianship. Musicians choosing to perform a solo must first have their solo approved by Mr. Dulas. Once the solo has been approved, the musician prepares the solo for performance over the course of the quarter. At the end of the quarter the musician make an appointment with Mr. Dulas and performs the solo for him.
Ensemble: There are a number of groups that have formed in the past. Those groups include: Brass Quintet, Clarinet Choir, Flute Ensemble, Pit Orchestra, Saxophone Quartet, and Percussion Ensemble. Any group of instruments that are willing to practice together to perform a selection for Mr. Dulas or perform in public under Mr. Dulas’ guidance qualifies as an ensemble. Various ensembles in the past have used their talents in area churches to praise God through music. Ensembles that wish to form should see Mr. Dulas to get started. Remember that an ensemble can be any where from 2 members on up.
A. Grading: We will be using the “Uniform Grading Scale” as found in your “Parent Student Handbook” to determine your letter grade and G.P.A.
A 95-100% 4. A- 92-94% 3.667
B+ 89-91% 3.333
B 86-88% 3
B- 83-85% 2.667
C+ 80-82% 2.333
C 77-79% 2
C- 74-76% 1.667
D+ 71-73% 1.333
D 68-70% 1
D- 65-67% .667
F 0-64% 0
B. Late Work: Late work will receive a 50% reduction in value.
C. Make-up Work: Not all performance criteria are able to be made-up (ex. performances). If you miss a performance, you will not be able to make-up the lost points and your grade will be lowered one scale degree. (Ex. A- to a B+)
D. Semester Exam: Each semester you will have a written and
performance final. The written final
will cover music theory and will be a review of the previous two quarters. The performance final will be very similar to
the audition you took to be a member of wind ensemble. (Sight-reading, scales, prepared piece,
rhythmic reading)
Classroom Expectations:
It is important to have structure in our rehearsals so that we may get the most out of each rehearsal and leave rehearsal feeling good about what we have accomplished. The following procedures will help make each rehearsal beneficial for everyone. Respect one another.
·
Upon entering the room each musician will get
his/her instrument, a music stand and go to their assigned seat and
warm-up. This should be done between
· All musicians will have their music in the order it appears on the chalkboard.
· All musicians will warm-up and tune their instrument properly using the strobe tuner or the “Intonation Trainer” software program.
·
Rehearsal will start at
· “Ready to rehearse” includes the following: music in order and on music stand, pencil on stand, being quiet and instrument assembled and warmed up.
· While the group is rehearsing, there will be NO talking or unnecessary playing of instruments.
· There will be no talking or playing of instruments while the director or devotion leader is addressing the group.
· If you have a question during rehearsal, please raise your hand and wait to be called upon.
· After rehearsal, you are responsible for putting away your music, instrument, chair and stand.
Materials: each member must have an instrument to play during Wind
Ensemble and a pencil.
School Instrument Rental: Lutheran High is glad that you are able to use one of its instruments to praise God through music. All students using a school instrument this year need to fill out a rental agreement form and return it to Mr. Dulas with your rental fee before the instrument will be checked out.
Students will be expected to utilize word processing and power point technology for papers and presentations. A computerized music theory tutorial is available for students to put into practice music theory skills covered in the class. Furthermore, Internet research may be required as assigned by the teacher.