Winter Concert Updates!

We have been working hard, preparing for our Winter Concert! The kids are almost "concert ready!" I'm looking forward to December 2nd! They are going to "WOW" you!

The concert will feature our FUSION Program, consisting of 4 Bands! In addition, we are priveledged to share the stage with our new vocal group, The Decibelles!

Things to remember for the concert:

1. Concert attire has been all black. I am going to open it up a little by allowing the band members wear a solid colored button-up shirt, along with a tie. Black pants/black shoes are required. No sneakers please!

2. Please drop off your child by 6:15pm on December 2nd. The Concert will begin promptly at 7pm. Show length will be approximately one-hour.

3. Please come and support our Fine Arts Program! Invite your family and friends!!!

Thanks!!!

Mr. Michek & Ms. Kendrick

Guitar One 2nd Quarter Updates

Guitar One has been working on several areas this quarter. here is a look at "what" we have been doing...

- E Blues scale - ascending and descending
- A minor Pentatonic Scale
- Down/up picking style
- Moveable scale patterns
- Chords
- Traditional, Barr, and power chords
- Bass line reading.
- Straight duple patterns v.s. Swing, shuffle patterns
- Tablature Reading
- Independent performance and advancement

Fusion Three, 8th Period

Here's your next song!

Come Together

This video is for Fusion 2 (7th Period)

Fusion One: Week Two Assignments

Fusion One, your assignments this week is to complete the "charting" of Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Please watch the video, and have your chart near by to make notes. Remember to pause in between, so that you can write down the bars accurately!!!

Keep watching the video!!!

Guitar One Students Week Two Review

Greetings Guitar One Students!

Here is a "review" of the material that we have been covering in class:

1) The Music Staff:

• 5 Lines, 4 Spaces
• Open Notes - E (1st String), B (2nd String), G (3rd String).
• Fingered notes - F (1st String, 1st Fret), G (1st String, 3rd Finger)
• EZ Chords - C (3 string strum), G7 (4 string strum), G (4 String Strum), D7 (4 string Strum).
• Rhythm - Whole note (4 counts), Half note (2 counts), Quarter note (1 count).
• Rests - Whole Rest (4 counts), Half Rest (2 Counts), Quarter Rest (1 Count)

2) Tablature:

• 6 Lines; each line represents a string on the guitar.
• #'s noted on a string tell us which fret to play on, and which string to play.

3) Posture:

• Sit up straight, feet flat on the floor.
• Hold guitar so that you only see the top of the body.
• Picking individual strings: pluck a string, then rest pick on the string below.

4) Parts of the Guitar:

• Head
• Neck
• Body
• Bridge
• Nut
• Tone Hole

That's it for now! Please review the notes above! They will help you gain a better grasp on the musical concepts that we are working on in class!!!

Links To Songs

It is just as important to watch and listen to the songs that we learn in class! Here is a link to each song that all fusion groups are currently working on:

Boulevard of Broken Dreams, by Greenday


Black Magic Woman, by Santana


I Saw Her Standing There, by The Beatles


Summer of '69, by Bryan Adams

Welcome to the 2010-2011 School year!

Welcome Davis Academy Students and Families! This year, the Music Department has four performing Fusion groups, and a Beginner Guitar Class... Stay tuned for new postings, instructional content, and much more!

Welcome Back from Spring Break!!!

Welcome back to all Davis Academy Students! I'm looking forward to seeing everybody. I hope that your "break" was fun and exciting.

Well, we are focusing on one thing over the next two weeks:

PREPARING FOR OUR CONCERT ON APRIL 22, 2010!

We are almost ready to show off our talents. This concert will be a great way to showcase everything that the students have learned this year.

Dress code for the Spring Concert is black shirt/black pants/black shoes.

A collared, black shirt is preferable. However, a black cotton T-Shirt is OK, providing it does not have any writing or graphics on it.

Black pants, no jeans please...

Black dress shoes, or black tennis shoes, if they do not have any bright colored graphics on them as well.

Please feel free to email me at: rmichek@davisacademy.org if you have any questions regarding dress code for the concert. Start time is 7pm. Please arrive by 6:30pm.

Thank you!!!

February 16th, 2010

Good morning Davis Academy Families. This week is a VERY short week! We have a very special guest coming this week!

Liberty DeVitto, long-time Drummer for Billy Joel will be holding a clinic for our Music Students on Thursday morning at 10am. Mr Devitto spent 30 years as Billy Joel's Drummer! We are excited to have him, and look forward to hearing him play!

Here is what we will be covering in Music this week!

Guitar One:

• Working on new notes in first position.
• Chords
• Pentatonic scales
• 12-Bar Blues
• Tablature

Guitar Two:

• Working on songs for Spring Concert
• Barr Chords
• Improvisation
• Solo to Stairway To Heaven

Percussion:

• Continue working on sight-reading.
• Work on Body Percussion Ensemble Piece.
• Work on Spring Concert Music.

FUSION:

• Continue working on Spring Concert Music
• Sight-Reading

This Friday, (February 19th) I will be out of school. Work will be waiting for my Students!!!

Have A Great Week!

Mr. Michek

February 1st...Music This Week...

Good morning Davis Academy Families! This week, the Music Department will cover the following:

Guitar One:

• Finger-style Picking. (P-I-M-A)
• Work on Beatles Music
• Learning about ties
• Chord Study

Guitar Two:

• Finger-Style Picking
• Barr Chords Major/Minor
• Working on "Performance" music

Percussion:

• Sight-Reading! Sight-Reading! - Sight-Reading!
• Continue working on new ensemble piece, "Three Amigos."

FUSION:

• Continue working on various performance pieces.
• Starting new pieces this week!

Have a great week!!!

Week of January 11, 2010

This week my classes will be working on the following:

Guitar One: Students are learning new notes on the guitar. We have begun a Beatles Project! Well, to be exact, I have divided the class into four small trios. They have been given a Beatles song to work on together. We will turn all four songs into a Medley for the Spring Concert in April 2010!

Guitar Two: I have already quized my G2 students this quarter. During the course of this quarter, I will (and have) hand out music for them to site read. They were given music yesterday, and everybody stepped up! I have seen a lot of improvement with this class, and will continue to motivate them to excel. We are using the book ROCK SHOP as our main source or reading this quarter.

Percussion: This week in Percussion, we are working on drum set patterns. We started with Jazz patterns last week, and have moved into rock patterns. In addition, we have been watching YOUTUBE clips of some amazing drummers (at my discretion) such as Mike Mangini, A.K.A. the world's fastest drummer, Buddy Rich, and others. Using tecnology in the classroom is something that one wouldn't expect in Music, but, it is providing quality education for my students.

FUSION: We are working on new songs everyday. We already have a song prepared for April! So, we are going to see how many songs we can learn between now and April, and choose what we will play for the concert. We now have a full-time singer in our group, Nicole Webb!!!

Welcome Back Students!

I hope that everybody had a wonderful Winter Break! I can't believe that 2010 is here!

We are going to spend the beginning of the week, reviewing our studies prior to break.

Guitar One: Chord Review, Note Review, Rhythm review, Tablature review.

Guitar Two: Tab Studies, improvisation studies, Barr Chords, Power Chords.

Percussion Class: We are going to get back into Jazz drumming starting today. We will break up our week with Jazz Drumming and Mallet Percussion.

FUSION: Review our new songs, begin Music Theory Studies, begin individual studies.

Grading for this quarter is over. Report cards are coming out!!!

Have a great week!