Monocacy Middle School :: Mustang Band Home Page

Mustang Band :: Home Page

Baltimore Symphony Rehearsal

The orchestra students, and 8th grade band students had a terrific field trip to the Baltimore Symphony in November. Even before we sat down, Jonathan Carney, the Concertmaster (first violinist) popped up out of his chair where he was warming up, sat on the edge of the stage and started answering questions from our students! A highlight was his description of his 320 year old Stradivari violin. We could have left after that and it would have been a great trip. I am very proud of how attentive, interested, and well behaved our students were.

CCP Orchestra

Since so many orchestra students were unable to take orchestra this year, we have found room to include a weekly orchestra class for those musicians. CCP Orchestra will take place every Tuesday once CCP begins. Kids in this class will be included in the Winter and Spring concert! Drop me an email if you would like me to include your child in the CCP Orchestra. charles.berry@fcps.org

Jazz Band

Monocacy will have a Jazz Band this year. It will meet weekly after school on a day yet to be determined. Information will be available to students in November.

Parent Band?

Dust off that old instrument and play on the concert with your kid(s). Any interest in forming a parent band? We would meet a few times in the evening before the concert. No worries - middle school level music. Let me know if you are interested. - charles.berry@fcps.org

What Research Says

Here is a new video about the importance of music in a student's life.

Schools with the highest graduation rates offer the most arts classes. This brand new study shows that graduation rates, and student participation in the arts are linked.

Music and visual arts involvement allows kids to achieve at higher levels in many areas. This short artical is chock full of statistics about grades, standardized tests, dropping out in high school, behavior, and tv watching.

Click on the links below to see some of the previous information posted here.

Check out these new TV ad's by Disney that promote having kids involved in the arts . Americans For The Arts is a group that advocates for the arts. Parents overwhelmingly understand the importance of the arts, but most children in American schools do not receive enough "arts nutrition". The website wll explain more about this.

View this short PowerPoint presentation to see some of the latest research about music and learning, and music and life. A list of ten eye opening findings about music and kids. Top Ten List.

"Can Music Make Us More Intelligent?" shows how music makes us smarter. This article appeared in the Septemper 20,2006 Washington Post: Music Benefits kids' Brains

SmartMusic

SmartMusic is a computer program that has hundreds of solos for your son or daughter to play along with, as well as several of the pieces we will learn in class year. Also on Smartmusic is a high quality tuner, and a metronome. Both of those alone make the $30.00 price well worth it. Most of the playing tests your child will have in band will be on SmartMusic. If he or she has it at home, they can be downloaded from this website SmartMusic, practiced, performed, and the grade can be sent back to Mr. Berry. SmartMusic has recently been upgraded to allow percussionists to benefit from this incredible computer program. See this letter for more information SmartMusic letter

Sincerely,

Charles Berry
Director of Bands