SKDS Bands
More about
the Bands at SKDS
St. Katharine Drexel School is home to the
only middle school band in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Students may
participate in the following band options:
Junior Band, 5th Grade
Mezzo Band, 6th
Grade
Senior Band, 7th and 8th Grade
Jazz Band, 6th
through 8th Grade
Marching Band, 4th through 8th
Grade
Band practice takes place three periods per week.
Students also have one 20 minute lesson every two weeks. Jazz Band meets
for an hour Wednesdays after school.
Additional Performance Opportunities will be offered throughout the
year, such as:
* Performing at Recheck's Holiday Open House (November)
* Performing at Festival of Educational Arts
* Playing at school gatherings/assemblies, such as Veteran's Day, Awards
Assemblies, and Advent Services
* Playing at school Mass
What is SmartMusic?
SmartMusic is a computer program that enables kids to practice their
instrument with accompaniment. It is so much more than just playing
along with a recording, though! Students can choose any song from
several different method books, including the ones we use at SKDS.
SmartMusic will show the student the notes of the song, and have a green
cursor following along in time - no getting lost! Kids can record
themselves, save the recordings as .mp3 or .wav files, then e-mail them
to friends and relatives or burn a CD. In addition, the program can
assess students and show all the correct notes in green and all the
wrong ones in red. Students can click on a note to have a picture of the
appropriate fingering pop up. A tuner and metronome is also built in.
Smart Music is not inexpensive ($30 for a year subscription; you'll need
a microphone but any inexpensive computer microphone will do), but it
can be an incredibly useful motivator for many students. We've been
using it at school, so SKDS kids should already be familiar with it.
Check out their website and see if it's for you!
www.smartmusic.com
|
|
