Getting ready for a new school year

The end of the summer is approaching. Personally, I have had a great summer! I went to 4H camp with my nephew, visited my uncle who lives out in Nebraska, attended a Mariachi workshop in Las Vegas, spent a few more days in Las Vegas with my wife, and finished building my pergola in my backyard. There are still many things I wished I could have done this summer, but I am very excited about what is coming up.

This year, I am teaching three new classes: Mariachi, Music Technology, and American Popular Music. 

Mariachi

The administration sent me to Las Vegas for the workshop because I am teaching this new mariachi class. I am feeling very confident that we will get off to a good start. We just ordered the instruments a few days ago. I'm not sure when they will come in. We might get a few before the school year starts, but we should definitely have everything by the second or third week.

Music Technology

The digital recording studio is finally put completely together and the MacBook Pro cart is ready to go. I know what I want the students to learn in the class, but I am still working out the order of it. I think it will depend on the students and how they react to the different subject matters. I want students to be able to create and edit music on the MacBook Pros and to record live sounds and music. I think we will be able to split class times up learning a little bit about each as we go.

American Popular Music

This class is going to be great for our students. This is a dual-enrollment course, which means students that pass the class will also earn college credit through Woodland Community College. As of today, this is the class that I need to work on the most. I was hoping for some more materials to come in so I don't have to create a bunch of materials from scratch. It is a lot of work creating a curriculum. I do have the book to work from, but it would be nice to have a little more.

Advanced Band

The performance calendar is set and I have began the process of choosing music for this year. I need to choose and order music for the first part of the year early this next week so we can hit the ground running.

What we really need to accomplish in this class this year is a refocus of our band culture. We, both director and students, need to be creating an atmosphere that can make us be the best we can be. Everyone needs to be positive and have a forward moving goal. I want students to be proud to be in this band. Students need to want to make themselves and those around them better than they were before. We need to constantly be improving. There is a lot of potential in this band. I look forward to the paradigm shift that will happen this year. It will take a lot of work on both my part and that of the students. Let us make this a great year to be in band!

Beginning Band and Guitar

All my materials are ready to go for the beginning of the year with these two classes. I look forward to meeting new students in these classes and creating music with them.

The 2017-2018 school year is going to be great!