Evening Concert Reminder

Berry Shoals Orchestra Spring Concert

Thursday, May 21

D5 Fine Arts Center

Call time: 6:00 pm

Performance begins at 6:30 pm

Dress is concert black and white for performers

Spring Concerts and New Orchestra Students

It is once again concert time, and I am very excited about our upcoming performances.  We have a few things on our program that we have never done before at the Intermediate School level.  The students have been working very hard on their music and are ready to perform.

In order to help the high school out with their concert schedule, we adjusted our evening concert date.  I sent home an announcement flyer with this information a few weeks ago, but wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the change.

Our daytime at school concert is still May 18 at 1:15 pm.  Dress is concert black and white.

Our evening concert at the Fine Arts Center is now May 21 at 6:30 pm.  Please arrive at 6:00 for tuning and set up.  Dress is concert black and white.

As a bonus for my students, extra credit will be given to any student attending the Byrnes Philharmonic performance on Monday, May 18 at 7 pm.  Bring in a program the next day to receive extra credit.

To the newest members of the Berry Shoals Orchestra program, welcome!  We are so excited to have you join our family and we hope you can attend our spring concert to see what is in store for you in the future.  Please take this opportunity to subscribe to my blog to ensure you never miss a post!  Parents, if you have any questions do not hesitate to send me an email at kelsey.grant@spart5.net. 

Orchestra Sign Ups

Welcome future 5th graders!!!

Orchestra sign-ups will be held in the Orchestra room (203) on May 5th and 7th from 3-6 pm.  Bernhardt House of Violins will be here with lots of instruments to play.  Unsure which one you'd like to do?  Come try them all!  I will be here as well to answer any questions parents may have and to reserve your spot in the Berry Shoals Orchestra program.

Also, in case you missed it, here's our orchestra promo video:

Concert Festival Seating 2015

I have finished the seating for Concert Festival and it is posted here:
Concert Festival Seating 2015

A few notes about this round of seating auditions.
-If a student chose not to take the playing test, they received a 0 and will not be going on the Concert Festival field trip.
-If a student took and failed their playing test, they have two chances to improve their grade and be added to the Concert Festival seating list.
-To determine stand partners, the upper odd number sits with the even number below (ex: Chairs 1 and 2, Chairs 3 and 4, etc.)
-The scores this year were some of the highest I have ever recorded.  Nice work!  Very competitive.
-If there is an asterisk* next to your name, you will also be performing in the full orchestra piece (Mahler Symphony No. 1) in the spring concert.  Congratulations!

A note to parents:
We will be holding two after school rehearsals for concert festival in the upcoming weeks.  I will send home a letter on Monday with further details, but mark the dates Wed., March 18 and Tues., March 24 on your calenders.  Rehearsal will be at Berry Shoals from 3:00-4:30.

Any other questions, shoot me a message.  Have a great weekend!

Welcome back!

A heartfelt welcome to new and returning orchestra students.  I hope everyone's summer felt long and restful like mine did.  I am very excited to start this new school year and I can tell my students are as well!

I sent home a folder on Monday with your child that included the Orchestra Handbook, the Personal Shopper form, and for some, the Instrument Rental form.  Please have these forms turned in to me by Friday, August 22nd.

I have been working at updating the "Classroom Materials" and "Private Lessons" pages.  If you lose a form, you can print a copy from home to turn in at school.  Also, there are quite a few new private teachers in the area if you are interested in getting your child lessons.

As always, I am only an e-mail away, so let me know if you have any questions!

Rehearsal Date Change

Due to Berry Idol rehearsal, we have changed the date I originally posted for our dress rehearsal. 

Dress rehearsal for Concert Festival will take place on Monday, March 24 from 3-4pm.  We will perform a preview concert for parents in the cafeteria at 4:00pm.  Please come support your children as we prepare for Concert Festival and give them a chance to play our festival pieces for you.  The preview concert will last no more than 15 minutes.

This date is the same one shown on the field trip permission slip, but is changed from my original blog post last week.

Also, a link to the field trip permission slip which is due Monday, March 24:
Concert Festival Permission Slip

Concert Festival Rehearsals

Happy rainy Sunday to everyone!

With everything going on this week, here is a quick reminder about upcoming rehearsals for Concert Festival.

We will have after school rehearsal for the Concert Festival Orchestra on the following dates:
Monday, March 17
Tuesday, March 18
Tuesday, March 25

These rehearsals will be only for students in the Concert Festival Orchestra from 3:00-4:00 pm.  Please be at the school at 4 to pick up your child.  I would like to have everyone in attendance for as many of these rehearsals as possible.  I understand that afternoons are very busy in the spring, but these rehearsals are the only opportunities we will have to play together as a full orchestra before Concert Festival on March 26.

Also, the final copy of the seating chart for Concert Festival is linked below:
Concert Festival Seating Final

Everyone did a great job on their challenges; results were always very close.  Congratulations to everyone for their hard work.

Have a great weekend!