Marching Band 2020-2021
Ms. Johnson Room 145 352-8293 Jackie.Johnson@matsuk12.us
Course Description: A performance class open to instrumental students above the beginning level with musical training through group and some individual instruction. Marching Band will focus on the fundamentals of marching, including marching technique, response to visual, vocal, and aural commands, balance, blend, and intonation in an outdoor setting. Course includes required participation in Pep Band. This course may be repeated for credit and is offered first semester only.
1st Semester Course goals: After successfully completing the first semester students will be able to 1. Demonstrate proper instrument care and maintenance
2. Utilize proper posture and breathing to produce full, good tone, and consistent intonation while moving.
3. Demonstrate correct and alternate fingerings to facilitate ease in playing musical patterns.
4. Identify the characteristic sound of major and minor scales and songs, sharp, flat, and natural signs, and identify and play in major keys.
5. Identify and play dynamic symbols and musical signs as they occur in music as well as tempo markings such as moderato, allegro, vivace, accelerando, andante. Respond to visual cues to create said dynamics and tempos.
6. Read, count, and play notes and rests from whole to sixteenth as well as dotted notes and triplets. Blend sounds with other instrumentalists in an outdoor setting.
Prerequisite: Previous playing experience in middle or high school.
Required Materials: Bring EVERY class period
*Instrument *Music *Music folder *Pencils Guidelines for Success - RED
Responsibility-we are not in control of everything and everyone around us but we are in control of our own words and actions. Choose them wisely!
Excellence-strive for your own personal best in everything you do and you can always walk away feeling proud.
Dignity- respect yourself and those around you and treat others as you would like to be treated.
Classroom Rules:
1. Come to class on time with required materials.
2. Complete all assignments to the best of your ability. See me right away if you need help!
3. Follow directions the first time, and use work/practice time to work/practice.
4. Be respectful to those around you and keep your hands, feet and objects to yourself.
5. Food, gum, candy, or liquid (other than water) are not allowed in the band classroom.
Activities: We will engage in many types of learning activities including independent, small group, and whole group playing and practice. We will also perform at a variety of functions including concerts, assemblies, sporting events, and field trips where we will perform off campus.
Grading Scale: A: 90%-100% *Academic Dishonesty will result in a zero.*
B: 80%-89%
C: 70%-79%
D: 60%-69%
F: below 60%
Grade Category Values:
50% Summative Evaluations---Performances: Performances include concerts, dress rehearsals, pep- band games, assemblies, etc. Each performance is worth 100 points. If you arrive late you will lose 25 points. If you leave early you will lose 25 points. (Yes, if you are both late and leave early you lose 50 points.) If you do not attend dress rehearsal you will not be eligible to play in that evening’s concert.
Assisting with clean up after a performance is everyone’s responsibility!
20% Playing Tests, Quizzes, Assignments, and Homework: In-class work submitted after the due date will be subject to late penalty. Class assignments and homework are due the following class period.
Additionally, there will be playing tests and quizzes on scales as well as other exercises and excerpts from class music.
10% Practice: You are required to practice 100 minutes each week and turn in accurate practice charts.
Each weekly practice chart is worth 100 points.
10% Employability: Students will be graded on participation, on-time assignments, preparedness, and adherence to classroom rules and procedures. 20 employability points will be awarded daily.
10% Final: Final exam—performance final in which students will play a particular practiced passage as well as complete a sight reading piece.
Policies: All WHS policies will be followed.
Classroom Procedures:
Entering Classroom
1. Be in your assigned seat or place on the field before the bell rings 2. Have your instrument, music, and pencil ready when the bell rings
3. Warm up your instrument and prepare for the activities on the board until I signal for your attention
Tardy to Class: If you are in the classroom when the bell rings, then you are on time. If you are not in the classroom then, you are tardy and must go to Mr. Polk (room 119) to get a late pass. A tardy will result in the loss of a portion of your daily employability points.
Instrument, Music, and Pencil: It is imperative that you have your instrument and music with you every class period. Coming to class without the required materials will result in a loss of employability points. There are pencils for you to borrow on my desk. Please return borrowed pencils at the end of the period for other students to use if needed.
Class Assignments and Homework: Class assignments, homework, and quizzes and tests will be graded and grades will be returned within two class sessions from the due date.
Finding out Grade Status in Class: We utilize the ParentVUE/StudentVUE electronic grading system.
Students may check their grades at home or in our school library. Students can request a printed progress report at any appropriate time. Students or families are always encouraged to contact me individually should they have questions or concerns about grades.
Make-up/Late Work: Missed classwork, including quizzes and tests, can be made up during advisory time or after school at an arranged time. All make-up and late work needs to be turned in before the
“Drop Dead” due date displayed on ParentVUE/StudentVUE. For late work, there is a 50% deduction for turning it in within one week of the “Drop Dead” date. No credit will be given to any assignments turned in outside the “Drop Dead” due date. Make-up and late work needs to be turned in directly to me.
Missed concerts must be made up within a week of the concert by writing a SIX page report on a
musical topic or composer of my choice. The highest possible make up concert grade is a 90%. To make up the full 100%, you must complete the paper AND complete an individual performance of all concert repertoire for me. This will need to be scheduled after school or during advisory.
Covid conerns/conditions: Safety is always a priority. Many mitigations have been put in place to keep band students safe during this unprecedented time. Students will be provided playing masks with openings for mouthpieces, brass bell covers and woodwind instrument masks for droplet containment, and wind blocks for flutes. There will be individual trash cans with liners for brass spit valve clearing.
At the end of each class period, we will clean each area thoroughly with district provided
cleaner/sanitizer/disinfectant. **While some of these procedures may seem extreme, it is what is required of us to play. In many schools in Alaska and across the country, band classes are being
canceled. We are grateful to our building administration who value music education enough to see that we have the necessary requirements for playing and continuing to provide our WHS and other valley students with opportunities for instrumental music education.
Should we go online: In the unfortunate event that we must go to online learning, there are a few things in place. First, we have a google classroom. Our code is bnxvkjx Please join the class so that should we need to go online, we are ready to go! Should we go online, we will be using google classroom and Rehearsal Live Share. This program will allow us to actually play together as a group online. We will be going over this in-person so that in the event we must go online, we are prepared and everyone knows how to use it! This will allow us to keep playing as if we are in class, and will make things much easier for everyone should we go online. Online, our weekly graded material will be rehearsal grades just like in person as well as our weekly practice charts. Please note that you only have to turn in practice charts for our “on” weeks of class. Students can certainly practice on their off weeks! I encourage them to! If they want to turn in a practice chart for off weeks they will receive extra credit.
Ending Class: Ten minutes prior to the end of class we will straighten our work areas, return supplies to their designated locations, clean, and listen for announcements. After the bell rings I will dismiss the class.
Hall Passes: There will be NO pass privileges the first 10 minutes of the class period.
Personal Electronic Devices: Students who bring their personal electronic devices to class assume responsibility for them at all times. They must be POWERED OFF and PUT AWAY at ALL
TIMES unless approved by the teacher. Unapproved electronic device usage will be confiscated and given to an administrator. Devices may be used for tuning the first five minutes of class then put away.
Consequences for Classroom Rule Violations: If you violate a rule you may be assigned a consequence.
Depending on the frequency and severity of the misbehavior, you may receive one or more of the following consequences:
Verbal Warning
Change in assigned seating
Loss of employability points
Student - teacher conference
Parent contact
Detention
Disciplinary referral
Concert Uniform and Behavior: You are expected to behave in a professional manner and appropriately represent WHS. You should also be in complete uniform at all times. Uniforms are black pants, socks, and shoes and any red shirt. We are working toward being uniforms.
Any issues with behavior, attitude, or dress during a performance will result in a full grade deduction.
Disrespect, foul language, or inappropriate conversations at any event will not be tolerated.
Renting Instruments: We have some instruments available for rent from the school. Rental fees are $25.00 per semester ($50.00 for the year).
Lost or Damaged Folders: Lost or damaged music folders are $10.00. Lost or damaged Pep-Band folders are
$20.00
Class Communication: Please note the last page (to be returned to me) asks for your preferred method of communication. I will do my best to accommodate your needs but at times I am limited by our location and available services! Thanks in advance for your understanding.
Remind: Do to the nature of our class (performances, performance related travel, etc.) we utilize the Remind App for communication. Remind is a free app that allows me to send messages to the class or individuals to help keep up with the many activities we do, due dates, events, Covid changes, etc. It is not a requirement but is certainly helpful. It is a closed system that is supervised and does allow students to send me messages. This certainly helps when travel is involved.
Student Remind groups (join the one you belong to):
Band –code @f43e86 Drums---code @6ghb3e
Parents---code @c644ag
*Please sign up for the appropriate class/group for you. If you end up in the wrong group I will move you to the correct one. We avoid mixing parents and students for safety reasons. Plus, there are times when I need to send different information to each group. Thank you for understanding.
Facebook: We have a private/closed group page, Wasilla High School Bands on facebook that also helps with communication. I am the administrator of this closed group. To get in, you must answer some questions to be admitted as I do not let just anyone in---students and parents only. At times, I may post pictures to this closed page. They are visible only to group members----not to the public. If you don’t want your child’s picture posted just let me know. That is no problem.
Email: Emails are sent out through ParentVue/StudentVue/Synergy. However, if we are doing something out of the classroom, the mobile application of this program does not allow for mass communication. This is the reason why we have both Remind and Facebook.
Important Band Dates:
***Please note that this is NOT a complete list of our dates/activities! We will be adding basketball, hockey, baseball, and more to this list! As soon as I have date confirmed, I will send them home. Thank you for being patient.
Marching Band
Please detach this page and keep the first pages for your records.
By signing below, you acknowledge that you have read, understand, and agree to abide by the expectations outlined in the Marching Band Syllabus.
We have read the syllabus. We understand that performances and dress rehearsals are part of the curriculum for the class.
Student Signature ___________________________________________________Date_________________
Parent Signature ____________________________________________________Date_________________
Preferred Communication:
I use/plan to use the following:
________ Remind app
________ Facebook—Wasilla High School Bands page ________ Email
There is an app, Band App, that is a combination of Remind and Facebook. It has a place for it’s own calendar and is a closed system for only our group where we could share info, pics, music, etc as well as messages. This app would essentially and eventually replace Remind and Facebook above.
_________ YES---I would be interested in using the Band App.
__________NOPE---not interested in the band app. Keep what we’ve got.
