Monday I was happy to see the kids throughout the day picking up their instruments and music, etc.
Yesterday I spent a lot of time messing around in my music room at home playing all of the instruments I brought home, and trying to play the parts from our concert music. (some better than others ofcourse) That kept me and my own kids entertained for quite a bit of the day.
Today I played the saxophone on one of the pieces that I really love that we are planning for the spring concert, and it made me really sad. Playing at home wondering how this is all going to work out is definitely not quite as fun as playing in class with everyone.
I’d like to encourage you to tell your kids to get their instruments out anyway. Playing an instrument has always been something that allows us to take a break from the frustrations of the real world, and that is more relevant today than ever before. Focus on the music, spend some time working on that part that is hard to play. And if they don’t feel like working on band music, be creative and figure out something else on your instrument. (Like the mii song, or Careless Whisper or Bad Guy or Hey Jude or whatever other hugely popular song you can think of) Record yourself playing all of the parts of your ensemble that you have, using the acapella app. That’s the one that people use for those videos on youtube where they have themselves playing all of the parts. I’m working on making one of those as well.
There will be more information posted in the google classrooms today, some short tips I have for various instruments while working on the band concert music, and hopefully something fun if I can get it to work… =)