Category Archives: Music

Congratulations to Jen Scherbarth and Cydney Jancik for being selected to the Oregon Trail Honor Band. They will be in Gering on Monday, January 14th for rehearsals. There will be a concert at 5 p.m. at the Gering High School auditorium. Eli Badje and Brittany Ferguson were selected as alternates.

Welcome to the Christmas season in the music department!

Please note the Night, Lights and Music concert has been moved to Saturday, December 15^th.  Tickets are $5 presale; can be purchased at Security First Bank, Sackers, Hip Hop or at the school office; or $7 at the door.  This will be a nice concert featuring the Swing Choir, HS/ML Band, HS/ML Choir, Flag corp., and perhaps some additional surprise performances!

K-5^th grade Christmas concert will be on Tuesday, December 18^th.  The title of this year’s program is “Light Up the World” and should prove to be an extremely entertaining evening, I know the students can’t wait to share it with you!

Beginning Guitar class continues to meet on Wednesday mornings.  We faithfully have nine 3^rd-5^th graders attending.  Keep an eye out for this group as they will make special appearances throughout the year.

The 4^th graders are carrying on with their recorder lessons.  Starting after our Christmas concert we will be doing testing for beginning band, starting band early in the 2^nd semester.  The majority of school owned instruments are already being used, so students will be responsible for purchasing their own instruments.  We will be hosting an instrument display where Haggerty’s Music from Rapid City will come and have an assortment of instruments for a semester rental with an option to buy.

Please remember 4^th grade through 8th grade students should be practicing each and every week.  Parents need to sign the practice records each week, simply stating I’ve seen & heard my student practicing throughout the week.  These practice times are a part of the student’s grades.  Please note that week #17 over Christmas Break counts as extra credit; a good opportunity for students having trouble getting all their practice times in.

We have some exciting news!  The music department got 48 new music stands!  We are looking to get rid of the old stands.  For $5 a stand you can get your student a stand!  They will be offered on a first come, first served basis.  These would be great to use at home for your own practice time!

Upcoming dates:

Saturday, December 15^th Nights, Lights and Music Concert 7:15pm – Please note the change of date!

Monday, December 17^th Preschool Open House—6:00 pm

Tuesday, December 18^th K-8^th grade Music Concert—7:00 pm

Mrs. Varvel’s new guitar class is a hit with students. Eleven guitarists attended class this morning! Class meets each Wednesday from 7:10 am to 7:50 am. Talk to Mrs. Varvel if you are interested in joining them!

Mrs. Varvel is beginning an acoustic and electric guitar class on Wednesday mornings from 7:15-7:50. If you are interested in participating you will need to bring a:

• Guitar
• “Essential Elements” guitar method book

Books can be purchased at Marbow Music in Chadron, Haggerty’s Music store in Rapid or can be ordered off the internet. This class is open to 4^thgrade through high school students and will be focusing on beginning guitar skills.  Class begins Wednesday, September 12th! Hope to see you there!

With year 1 under my belt, I can’t wait to get started on year 2!  Already there are several new additions and new performance opportunities taking place in the music department.

Let’s start with swing choir.  Mrs. Beth Jungck is going to be co-directing this group with me!  We held auditions last spring before school was out.  The 2012-2013 swing choir consists of: Kate Roberts, Brook Scherbarth, Jen Scherbarth, Zoe Schneider , Jordan Encinia, Nate Letcher, Shane Vifquain  & Austin Weyers.  We will again be practicing on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7:15-7:55.  Rehearsals will begin on Thursday, August 16^th.

I am extremely excited with what is happening in our instrumental department.  Numbers are on the rise and I am looking forward to seeing how this group will progress through the year.  I’m hoping you will see a little more of this group!  Right off the bat we will be playing the Star Spangled Banner at the Friendly Festival parade.

Beginning band is making a move into the school day vs. being held after school, which is exciting news for all of us!  The time has not been set in stone yet, but rest assured it will be by the time the students hit the door on the first day of school!  Notes will be sent home with the 5^th grade students containing all the information needed that first week of school!

Several groups will be going over to Gordon for the Willow Tree Festival on Sunday, September 9^th.  I’m planning on the elementary fun camp swing choir kids performing their “Disney Spectacular” show (we will hold several refresher rehearsals once school is in session), as well as the high school swing choir performing new material we will begin working on right away!  We will be performing from 3:25-4:00 pm.  As the details get all worked out I will be in contact with the students who will be performing!

Another exciting addition to the music department is the addition of the preschool.  If you have a student enrolled in the preschool at the school I am so excited that they will be spending a part of their day with me in the music room!  We will be dancing, singing and playing instruments on a regular basis!  I can’t wait to get started working with these kiddos!

District Music Contest will be held in Alliance, Wednesday, April 18th. If you would like to come and enjoy a day of music or just stop in and listen to a select group, we would love to see you there! The schedule is as follows:

• 8:00 am Clarinet Trio
• 8:06 am Flute Duet
• 8:24 am Brittany solo
• 9:06 am Jen solo
• 9:12 am Katie solo
• 9:24 am Mixed chorus ensemble
• 9:30 am Jordan solo
• 9:36 am Mixed Brass quartet
• 9:42 am Low Brass trio
• 9:48 am Mixed instrument ensemble
• 10:20 am  Swing Choir
• 3:17 pm Band performs

Note to Parents: Your music student has been provided information regarding leave times, lunch, dress, and performances. (Click “information” to view.)

The final 9 weeks!  Where has the time gone?

For parents of 4^th, 5^th, 6^th , 7^th or 8^th graders; you should still be hearing instruments being practiced.  The 4^th graders are expected to practice 30 minutes a week on their recorders; the 5^th-8^th graders are to be practicing 60 minutes a week on their instrument.  Please remember that beginning band meets on Mondays and Tuesdays from 4:15-4:45.  This rehearsal is open to any band students, it counts as 6^th-8^th graders practice times if they choose to come!

A BIG thank you to everyone who supported our Deli International fund raiser.  You should be enjoying your products by now!  Look for us to be selling again in February of 2013!

District Music Contest will be held in Alliance on Wednesday, April 18^th.  This will involve the Swing Choir, Concert Choir and Concert Band.  The concert band will consist of 7^th-9^th grade students.  6^th grade band students will not be attending.  I have not received a schedule and will do my best to communicate that with you once I have it.

We will be holding Swing Choir auditions on May 22^nd at 6:30 pm.  This audition will be open to 8^th-11^th grade students.  There will be swing choir camps on May 1^st, 8^th & 15^th from 7:15-7:50 am, where students will learn a dance combination and a section of a song.  A panel audition will be held on May 22^nd beginning at 6:30pm.  Further details will be provided at a later date.