Klarinet Archive - Posting 000044.txt from 1998/04

From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: An educational observation (was Re: Brass VS. Woodwinds)
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 19:29:29 -0500

Gary VanCott described his experience with a community band playing
with a middle school band (below) - the conductor of our community
band is also a music teacher at one of the local middle schools -
what she has done is to pair up the Fifth graders with members of the
community band who play the same instrument. We write letters back
and forth and then will play a concert together. The adult band will
play some things alone, the kids will play some things alone, and
then we play things together. The program is called "Band Buddies"
and its a lot of fun. The kids really look forward to the letters
that travel back and forth. As an added bonus, the kids do more
writing for band (although not necessarily during band) than they do
for any other class except their English class.
There are more detail on the Band Buddies at:
http//www.geocities.com/vienna/strasse/4914
(the North Star Community Band Home page).

diane k.
> Last night our community college band (mostly community, not much college)
> played a joint concert with a middle school band. The director of the
> middle school band plays trumpet in our band. The format was:
>
> middle school concert band
> community college band
> middle school jazz band
> (one of the) community college jazz band(s) (mostly guys you would have
> seen playing on the Las Vegas Strip 15 years ago)
>
> I think the kids in the middle school bands got a tremendous amount out of
> the concert. They had a chance to play in a nice auditorium. They (and the
> parents that were there) had the opportunity to hear more mature players.
> They saw their band director playing and having a good time (one of the
> students at the middle school also plays in our band). I think they were
> especially thrilled to hear a professional level jazz band play (most
> middle school students don't have this opportunity). The college jazz band
> played "Four Brothers" which the kids were familiar with and they gave the
> band a standing ovation.
>
> A good time was had by all and that is one of the reasons I am happy to be
> involved in music again after many years away.
>
> Gary Van Cott
> Las Vegas, NV
>
>
>
>
>
>
Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
2105 Independence Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64124
email: dikarius@-----.EDU