And the Bands Played On

Here's how school band works in our town:

Fifth grade is the earliest that a student begins playing a band instrument, and the elementary music teachers teach both general music to all elementary students and instrumental music to any fifth-graders wishing to be in band. There are five elementary schools: four of them house grades kindergarten through five, and one is for only sixth grade. That means that the four small fifth-grade bands combine the next year to form one large sixth-grade band.

In preparation, each spring all the fifth-grade bands combine to perform a few songs as one band at the All-City Band Concert. Each fifth-grade music teacher prepares her own students beforehand, and then the sixth-grade band teacher takes over conducting duties for the combined band of fifth-graders the night of the concert. We got to hear Abigail, our fifth-grader, play her saxophone in that group at this year's All-City Band Concert tonight!

Here is Abigail playing saxophone with the fifth-graders on "Regal March."

As a fifth-grader, Suzanna performed in last year's concert playing percussion rather than her trombone--here is why. As a sixth-grader this year, she got to play her trombone. Her band director was slated to conduct both the fifth-grade and sixth-grade bands, but he has been out of school on sick leave, so a substitute teacher got the honor of conducting those groups! (And he did a fine job.)

Here is Suzanna playing trombone with the sixth-graders on "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?"

We listened to Abigail's band perform, followed by Suzanna's band, followed by the seventh-grade band, the eighth-grade band, and two different bands from the high school. The final number on the program was performed by all the students . . . grades five through twelve! The elementary students sat together, the junior high school students sat together, and the high school students spread themselves out, joining one or the other group of younger students to play along with the corresponding sections (i.e., high school flautists with the elementary flute section, etc.). Considering the massive group, spread out over a large space, composed of such varying levels of expertise, that last song went pretty darned well!

Abigail and Suzanna play "We Will Rock You" with the combined bands: grades five through twelve.

Catablogue: Animal Review

Animal Review

The "About" page at this site says simply, "This site reviews animal species objectively." The brevity and intentional inaccuracy of that description are clues that those who write this blog are out for humor, but so is the silliness of the mission itself: to review animal species as one might a movie or a novel or a theatre production. It's ridiculously awesome.

In each blog entry, the bloggers choose a species and write about its merits and drawbacks, finally coming up with an arbitrary grade to summarize their "review." One species might be extremely dangerous and get an A from them just because they don't want to get on that species' bad side; another species might have evolved certain characteristics that the bloggers don't think are that impressive and thus get an F from them essentially for being boring. Sometimes "cute" gets a species bonus points, but looks alone don't cut it in most cases.

One of the joys of reading the blog is discerning the fact from the fiction; both are interspersed throughout each entry. The scientific name of each species is given, but the English translation of the Latin words is never reliable (e.g., the sidewinder rattlesnake's name Crotalus cerastes is translated as "Have you see this thing move????"). Footnotes are provided but more often direct the reader to a made-up "fact" or some humorous commentary than to a scientific citation.

Still, you will learn while laughing. Fiction may make each review fun to read, but fact is the basis--so you can laugh at the bloggers' description of how an alligator is like the old coworker who refuses to learn how to use new office technology, but at the same time you'll learn facts about the alligator's lack of significant evolution over the past however-many years, how it kills its prey, why it has upward-facing nostrils, etc.

It's fun to read, so it's easy to overlook the learning that's happening while the entertaining is going on. I laughed out loud throughout the entry on the sea cucumber, but now I shall forever remember its unique (and incredibly ridiculous) defense mechanism. I recommend this site to any child who is learning in school about animals, or to any adult who has an interest in animals, or to any human who can read, who has a sense of humor, and who likes to get smarter.

(What is a catablogue?)

Artsy-Fartsy Weekend

Friday night, Susan and I attended a performance of the play Arsenic and Old Lace produced by the local community theatre group, Sneak Pique Productions. We saw that group's first-ever production in November (remember?), which was quite good, and so was this one. Do you know the play? Famous as it is, I had never read it or seen a production of it before, so I was surprised by the plot twists and the jokes throughout. Everything was very polished, from the directing to the acting to the set and props and costumes to the publicity. I'm sure most people would be surprised to know that this is a brand-new theatre group!

Saturday afternoon, Abigail and Suzanna performed in the 2010 Trinity Junior High and Elementary Solo and Ensemble Music Festival. Last year was our first experience with this event when Suzanna, as a 5th-grader, sang a solo (remember?). This year, Abigail, as a 5th-grader, was old enough to perform, too, so she played a saxophone solo, and she and Suzanna sang a duet. Abigail's band teacher helped her prepare her instrumental solo, and Susan and I helped the girls with their vocal duet. Wanna hear?

Abigail just started playing the saxophone last summer (remember?), so keep that in mind as you listen. She was working on using breath support to get all the notes to come out while still observing dynamics (i.e., blowing enough air to hit the notes even while playing soft during the parts marked piano).

When Abigail's music teacher (who taught Suzanna last year) heard this song at a music workshop, she thought of it as a possibility for our daughters to sing for this event. So they did! Note that, just days ago, the girls came down with some kind of cold, so they were singing with stuffed noses and draining sinuses (graphic, perhaps, but true).

This afternoon, our family drove to Richardton, ND to perform for the residents of the nursing home there. A couple months ago, a woman who works there phoned us to say that she had heard about our family's singing, and she wondered if we would sing for the residents (part of her job is arranging for people to come and provide music for the residents on Sunday afternoons). So we offered a musical smorgasbord: I accompanied on the piano as the five of us sang, as Susan and the girls sang, as the three girls sang, as Abigail and Suzanna sang their duet from yesterday, as each daughter sang a solo, as Susan sang a solo, as I sang a solo, and as Susan and I sang a duet. Each daughter played several piano solos from memory, and Abigail (on saxophone) and Suzanna (on trombone) each played an instrumental solo, too. Afterward we joined the residents for coffee and cookies and visiting.

Afterward, we drove back to Dickinson in time for me to perform in "Guys Get Funky," an all-male piano recital sponsored by the Badlands Music Teachers Association. The group puts on this recital to let boys who take piano lessons see all the other boys who take piano lessons--as well as men who play piano--in order to encourage them to stick with piano. There were beginning pianists, high school boys who were quite good, a university student who was outstanding, and a few adults, too. I was last on the program, and I played a song ("March" by Hansi Alt) that I had played for a piano festival when I was a kid competing each year the way that our daughters do now. Who would have guessed that I'd ever perform again in a piano recital with my own piano lesson days so far behind me?!