Smart music deadline

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to remind everyone that all Past Due assignments must be submitted by Monday or they will become 0's in the gradebook. It is so important that we practice everyday we can. Those that practice always like playing their instrument better than those that do not.

Rock-a-thon info

The Rock-a-thon packet is located in the course documents section of the blog.
It is are most important fundraiser of the year. Please look over the information carefully and post or e-mail me questions if you have any. Just a reminder that all students need to raise $100 by Feb. The Rock-a-Thon is the easiest way to earn it, all money earned is profit.

6th Grade Concert Reminder

Hello all,

Don't forget that the 6th Grade Concert is next week on Nov. 4 at 7pm. The concert will only last about 20 minutes and will surely be a lot of fun.

Practice Journal and Smartmusic Update

Breckenridge Music Department

SmartMusic and Practice Journal Update 10/18/10

Dear Parent or Legal Guardian,

We will no longer be using practice journals as a form of assessment. Instead, the students will be using SmartMusic. Each week a performance assessment will be assigned through Smartmusic. These assignments will be due each week on Saturday. This allows the student to complete the assignment at school any day during the week before or after school, or at home with a SmartMusic subscription. Each student will be given enough time during class to perform the assessment once or twice. The students are expected to practice at home with or without SmartMusic to make passing the assessment faster and easier as well as improve their practice and performance skills.

Our reasons for switching to SmartMusic as a form of assessment are numerous. It was becoming evident that some of the students that were turning in practice journals were not actually practicing. The opposite was also true. Some of the students clearly were practicing and were simply not turning in their practice journals. Also, many students were not practicing in a way that improved their skills.

SmartMusic offers many resources that allow the student to learn in the following ways:

· Students practice with background accompaniment and get visual and audio feedback on each assignment, which makes practice more meaningful and productive by motivating students to continue practicing in order to improve their scores, similar to a video game, which makes practice more fun.

· We can provide more individualized attention for your child with SmartMusic’s assignment features, including notes of encouragement.

· Parents have access to their student’s progress 24/7.

Although a Smart Music home subscription is not a requirement, we want to highly encourage you to get a subscription. We believe your child will enjoy practicing more and improve faster.

· Place your order at www.smartmusic.com by clicking on the Order Now button. All you will need is a PC or a Macintosh with an Internet connection.

· An annual subscription is $36, plus a one-time cost for a microphone ($19.95 for Windows and $29.95 for Mac). The SmartMusic microphones are more sensitive and responsive, which makes the assessment and recording features work better.

The students are also encouraged to practice at home using SmartMusic or other means, in order to make passing the assignment faster and easier, as well as improve their practice and performance skills.

We hope this letter was informative and helped to clear up any confusion in regards to SmartMusic and practice journals. Please call the band office if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Joseph Radtke Instrumental Music Teacher (989) 567-4047 jradtke@edzone.net www.breckenridgeband.blogspot.com

Nathan Schulte Instrumental Music Student Teacher (517) 610-4434 10nsschu@alma.edu