Good luck to all the students and staff who are involved in the Wizard of Oz show at MHS. Lisa and I will be attending on opening night and wish you all well. We hope you have a great show.
For those who don't know, the Wizard of Oz is showing this Feb. 29-Mar. 2, and also Mar. 7 & 8.
Good luck to you all and break a reed, I mean leg. :)
Cappy
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Best Buy Teach Grant Awarded to PVMS
The PVMS Band Program has been awarded a $2,000 Grant from Best Buy Teach. More information will be released soon regarding how it will impact the PVMS Bands.
But for now, the program will enable students to "check out" (like checking out a book from the library) an MP3 player loaded with music for them to listen to at home or wherever. This gives us the ability to load music specific to certain instruments. We will also be able to load jazz music, concert music, marching band music, and so on.
We are currently researching our possibilities and will contact the students and parents regarding the program and how it will work.
Congrats to the PVMS Band Program for this great opportunity.
Cappy
But for now, the program will enable students to "check out" (like checking out a book from the library) an MP3 player loaded with music for them to listen to at home or wherever. This gives us the ability to load music specific to certain instruments. We will also be able to load jazz music, concert music, marching band music, and so on.
We are currently researching our possibilities and will contact the students and parents regarding the program and how it will work.
Congrats to the PVMS Band Program for this great opportunity.
Cappy
Friday, February 15, 2008
Why is it an "overload?"
Why has signing up for band, or choir, or orchestra, or art, become an "overload?" The American Heritage Dictionary defines an overload as "An excessive load." So to me, an excessive load means that I am taking more that what is allowed by the school. Let's take a look at this and see how this is possible.
Okay, from the beginning we know that there are 7 class periods in the day, plus 30 minutes for lunch. So we can fill our day with 7 1/2 "classes." I say "classes" because lunch is scheduled into your day even though it is not a class. There are now several classes, 5 total, that are required of Freshman as they enter high school, and they are:
Those two electives can come from a number of places. So if you fill those two spots, then you have a FULL class load. NOT and overload. Let's say you fill your classes with Foreign Language and Band, if you do that then you are filling your time with academic courses and will become a better student, a better person, and will have more credits as you near graduation.
Is Marching Band part of Band? NO. Marching Band is a voluntary organization which rehearses outside of the school day. Students earn 1/2 credit on their High School transcripts for participating in Marching Band, but it is not part of their scheduled courses.
Why do they call it an overload if it's not actually an overload? There may be several reasons for this, so here are just a few possibilities.
The first one is that due to budget cuts over the years, the number of staff we have has been reduced. Fewer staff means fewer offerings of a particular subject and also means larger class sizes.
Another one is that because of the budget cuts, it costs less to house 135 students in one class, study hall, and have teachers babysit them than it does to be paying the teachers to teach all of those students. With the average class size approaching 30, that would mean that there would need to be 5 teachers for that one class of study hall. There are actually about 3 or less teachers supervising those study halls, so the district is saving money.
There are many more I'm sure of it, but the main reason why we want that overload term changed to a full load, is because we want to educate our students. We want them to grow and be the best that they can so they are smarter and better when they leave. And if you fill your day with a study hall, and let's be honest students don't use it anyway, then why not fill your day with academic courses that will teach you something.
That's just my two cents on this and I hope you all take a look at what you feel is best for your child, your student.
Cappy
Okay, from the beginning we know that there are 7 class periods in the day, plus 30 minutes for lunch. So we can fill our day with 7 1/2 "classes." I say "classes" because lunch is scheduled into your day even though it is not a class. There are now several classes, 5 total, that are required of Freshman as they enter high school, and they are:
- English
- Math
- Science
- Social Studies
- PE/Health
Those two electives can come from a number of places. So if you fill those two spots, then you have a FULL class load. NOT and overload. Let's say you fill your classes with Foreign Language and Band, if you do that then you are filling your time with academic courses and will become a better student, a better person, and will have more credits as you near graduation.
Is Marching Band part of Band? NO. Marching Band is a voluntary organization which rehearses outside of the school day. Students earn 1/2 credit on their High School transcripts for participating in Marching Band, but it is not part of their scheduled courses.
Why do they call it an overload if it's not actually an overload? There may be several reasons for this, so here are just a few possibilities.
The first one is that due to budget cuts over the years, the number of staff we have has been reduced. Fewer staff means fewer offerings of a particular subject and also means larger class sizes.
Another one is that because of the budget cuts, it costs less to house 135 students in one class, study hall, and have teachers babysit them than it does to be paying the teachers to teach all of those students. With the average class size approaching 30, that would mean that there would need to be 5 teachers for that one class of study hall. There are actually about 3 or less teachers supervising those study halls, so the district is saving money.
There are many more I'm sure of it, but the main reason why we want that overload term changed to a full load, is because we want to educate our students. We want them to grow and be the best that they can so they are smarter and better when they leave. And if you fill your day with a study hall, and let's be honest students don't use it anyway, then why not fill your day with academic courses that will teach you something.
That's just my two cents on this and I hope you all take a look at what you feel is best for your child, your student.
Cappy
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Who says more Marching Band is Bad?
Hello to all-
I know that I already am beating a dead horse, but it's for the horse's own good. As many of you know, I teach a summer marching program that's a little more intense than our Mukwonago High School Marching Band. We travel and do about 3-4 shows in a weekend for fans across the midwest. We will even be performing with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps this summer.
Anywho- For those of you that think this may be fun, you should definitely come and check it out. We are currently looking to beef up our hornline. Specifically, we are looking for more brass and high woodwinds (clarinets and flutes) to fill out our sound.
What's that? You say that you would rather spin a flag? Then we've got spots to fill in our colorguard as well. This oppurtunity is something that will make each of you a better musician and also help to make our MHS marching band much better in the long run.
If you have any questions, you can definitely come and talk to me about it. I love talking about this organization. If you want to do a little research on your own, you can check out our website at www.lighthousebrigade.org
I hope to see a bunch of you at our next rehearsal.
Kookie
I know that I already am beating a dead horse, but it's for the horse's own good. As many of you know, I teach a summer marching program that's a little more intense than our Mukwonago High School Marching Band. We travel and do about 3-4 shows in a weekend for fans across the midwest. We will even be performing with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps this summer.
Anywho- For those of you that think this may be fun, you should definitely come and check it out. We are currently looking to beef up our hornline. Specifically, we are looking for more brass and high woodwinds (clarinets and flutes) to fill out our sound.
What's that? You say that you would rather spin a flag? Then we've got spots to fill in our colorguard as well. This oppurtunity is something that will make each of you a better musician and also help to make our MHS marching band much better in the long run.
If you have any questions, you can definitely come and talk to me about it. I love talking about this organization. If you want to do a little research on your own, you can check out our website at www.lighthousebrigade.org
I hope to see a bunch of you at our next rehearsal.
Kookie
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Who invented FTP?
FTP is the devil. So I ended up calling Yahoo!, which is who we use for the MukwonagoBands.com web site, and they couldn't fix the problem either. Everything on their end is working just fine. The very nice customer service rep. even uploaded a picture to our site briefly and he had no problems.
This whole thing of FTP is just foreign to me. I mean, why can't it be as simple as saying I have this file, I want it published to the internet, go! I mean come on! :)
Anyway, I was told I should just us Filezilla to upload my files, so that's what I am doing now. But it's another step that I have to take in order to get my files published. I know that it doesn't mean much, but it's just a bother.
Oh well, tomorrow will be a brighter day. Oh wait, I mean another snowy day. :)
Happy Trails!
This whole thing of FTP is just foreign to me. I mean, why can't it be as simple as saying I have this file, I want it published to the internet, go! I mean come on! :)
Anyway, I was told I should just us Filezilla to upload my files, so that's what I am doing now. But it's another step that I have to take in order to get my files published. I know that it doesn't mean much, but it's just a bother.
Oh well, tomorrow will be a brighter day. Oh wait, I mean another snowy day. :)
Happy Trails!
First Post
Okay, I'm finally getting on the blogging bandwagon, no pun intended. This is my first post and hopefully it will lead to more.
I am currently working on fixing up the website, Mukwonagobands.com, but I'm having difficulty with my FTP. I use Dreamweaver by Adobe, they bought Macrobmedia a few years back, and every time I attempt to upload new files, it tells me there is a problem with my FTP, or I may have a permissions problem. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Marching band dates will be released soon. The process starts by figuring out when the teachers and staff are most available in the summer. From there, we determine how we want to structure the camps, 5 day-5 day, 3 day-4 day-3 day, and so on. Based on history, we have determined that two 5 day camps are no longer viable in our district, so we explore other options until we find one that "works."
After the format is decided on, we then figure dates. Those dates are then put onto a "Facility Use Form" that is required by the district and sent up for approval or denial. It is then a waiting game to find out if what we have planned is approved. Once approved we then make the announcement to everyone as to the schedule. If denied, then we go back to the drawing board.
We are currently waiting for approval and once we hear that it is approved, we will anounce the dates for Marching Band 2008.
I am currently working on fixing up the website, Mukwonagobands.com, but I'm having difficulty with my FTP. I use Dreamweaver by Adobe, they bought Macrobmedia a few years back, and every time I attempt to upload new files, it tells me there is a problem with my FTP, or I may have a permissions problem. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Marching band dates will be released soon. The process starts by figuring out when the teachers and staff are most available in the summer. From there, we determine how we want to structure the camps, 5 day-5 day, 3 day-4 day-3 day, and so on. Based on history, we have determined that two 5 day camps are no longer viable in our district, so we explore other options until we find one that "works."
After the format is decided on, we then figure dates. Those dates are then put onto a "Facility Use Form" that is required by the district and sent up for approval or denial. It is then a waiting game to find out if what we have planned is approved. Once approved we then make the announcement to everyone as to the schedule. If denied, then we go back to the drawing board.
We are currently waiting for approval and once we hear that it is approved, we will anounce the dates for Marching Band 2008.
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