Early Bird Jazz Band - 2010-2011 Sign-up General Information

Early Bird Jazz Band 2010-2011

Rob Birdwell, Music Director

http://earlybirdjazz.birdwellmusic.com/

General Information for the 2010-2011 Early Bird Jazz Band Season

Early Bird Jazz Band is a before-school music enrichment program open to students who meet the basic Musicianship Requirements (see below).  Rob Birdwell is the music director for the class - this year will mark his 8th season leading and directing this music program.  For more about Rob, visit BirdwellMusic.com.

Start Date:  Wednesday, September 15, 2010, 7:45am, Linus Pauling Middle School Band Room


Monthly Student Tuition:  $30 per month


Musicianship Requirements: One year (or equivalent) playing their primary instrument; some ability to read music; some experience playing in an organized group (band, orchestra, choir, rock band, private or self-study, etc.).

When and Where We Meet: Wednesday and Friday mornings, 7:45am to 8:45am - Linus Pauling Middle School Band Room.

Who Can Join?
Interested musicians should meet the basic Musicianship Requirements (see above).  Home-schooled students and students from other area middle schools are also welcome to play in the band.
Primary Instrumentation:

• Trumpet, Clarinet, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax, Trombone/Baritone/Euphonium/Tuba
• Guitar, Bass*, Piano*, Drums*

Students playing or doubling on other instruments can and are encouraged to play them in the Early Bird Jazz Band - including: Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Violin, Viola, Cello, French Horn, Mallets. However there will be times when the student needs to transpose an existing part for their instrument.

When we have multiple Pianists, Bassists, and/or Drummers parents will need to ensure their student has their own instrument to play in class as well as their own amp/cables, etc..  (There is only one drum set and one piano in the band room.  The bass amp can handle two players at once.)

Performances:  We will play at least two concerts during the year for parents, family and friends (Winter and Spring).  Additionally, we will play at the NAMS Jazz Festival (scheduled for Saturday January 29, 2011) and the LPMS 8th Grade Celebration (June 2011).  We will also perform a couple “Cafeteria Jams” during the year (at our regular morning time) for students, staff and family.
Scholarships:  For those who qualify, a limited number of reduced tuition or tuition scholarships are available.  Sibling discounts are also available.

For more information, contact Rob Birdwell

Benefits of Music and Music Education

This PDF document is pretty much what every student, teacher and/or parent actively involved in music/arts programs already knows - but it's worth a second glance:

http://www.menc.org/documents/temp/benefits_of_music.pdf

And if such an important and valuable thing, why then would cuts in music and arts programs from our schools even be considered?

It seems to me that it's not merely a lack of resources or dwindling budgets, but a question of values.

Rob Birdwell

Spring Concert May 5 2010 at Linus Pauling 7:30pm

Hope you can all make our concert this Wednesday - here's a sneak peak at our set list...always subject to change!

• Percussion Prelude
• All Blues
• Mission Impossible 
• Jump, Jive and Wail
• St. James Infirmary
• Well You Needn't
• Freeway Ska

I'm hoping to get a good recording - treats and mingling after.  Should be all done before 8:30pm!

Rob

NAMS Jazz Festival 2010 - Audio

Here are the performance audio tracks recorded at the North Albany Middle School Jazz Festival (4th annual - 2010!)

Call And Response
Summertime
Watermelon Man
Caravan
Rock Around The Clock
Bag's Groove

Congratulations to all on your hard work in learning the music and putting together an exciting and spirited performance!  We will likely reprise some of these tunes again, but it's good to have these recordings to listen back to.  Thanks to parents and families for all your support!

Rob Birdwell

NAMS Jazz Festival 2010 - Photos

Terry Poe Photography took photos of our performance - you can view and order your own photos from this link:

http://www.poephoto.com

The photos are excellent - have a look!

The instructions on the handout were to click the "clients" page then the "Jazz Festival" link - you'll be prompted to enter a code to access the photos.  It is: jazzfest2010

Freeway Ska - New Tune for Early Bird Jazz Band

Here's a link to a slightly produced version of the score to Freeway Ska:

Freeway Ska (MP3)

If possible, download the audio file and copy it to your MP3 device and play along at home with your own part.  You might find that the tempo on this recording is challenging to play with at first - that's okay.  Simply take a bit of time to to practice your part slowly at first so you can work up to playing along with the recording.  It might take some time but you'll get it.  We don't necessarily need to play it this fast, but the tempo is about what I'd like to aim for.

Recall that "G.P." means Grand Pause, D.S. al Coda means Dal Segno: in other words, go to "the sign" at letter "B" until you hit the "coda" sign, then jump to the "coda".  These are short-hand musical terms that actually help to save ink and paper!

Finally, keep in mind that the written note is nothing without a real musician (you!) to breathe/pluck/drum life into it.  So strive to understand the original intent of the written notes (articulations, dynamics, phrasing, etc.), but don't forget to add your own sense of musicianship and expressiveness to the mix - that's called making music!

Have fun and enjoy playing your instrument(s)!

Rob

Bass Basics

The following are some (of many) online resources for beginning bass players.
 
Reading Music (Bass Clef) Primer:
http://www.cyberfretbass.com/reading/primer/standard/index.php

YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SKtjWBPGXk

Quiz yourself on the notes:
http://www.studybass.com/tools/bass-clef-notes/

"Walking" bass lines (a bit more advanced, but very useful!)
http://www.adamnitti.com/bass_player_10.shtml

And finally, here's my own mini-primer (the Finale to Noteflight rendition):
http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/6516e7c4e142f42beba448acb94dda36ee419b53