Hello orchestra families and happy new year! I hope everyone had a great holiday and the first three weeks back to school have gone well. We have entered the busiest time of year for the orchestra at Murchison! There are many events between now and spring break. I have just finished updating the website and the calendar for the spring semester. Please feel free to check them as there are several new dates for each of the various ensembles. If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to me. See below for more specifics about the spring!
Past events: January 19 - Solo and Ensemble music chosen in class January 25 - Austin Symphony quartet performance January 29 - Austin Symphony performance at Anderson HS Upcoming Dates (please review): February 1 - 2 - Solo and Ensemble check-in during class February TBD - Orchestra social February 14 - Pre-UIL (Symphonic and Philharmonic ONLY) February 20 - 23 - Solo and Ensemble class performance February 29 - UIL (Philharmonic and Symphonic ONLY) March 7 - Orchestra Solo Recital in Library at 6:30pm (Select students ONLY) April 8 - Guitar Evaluation (7th period guitar) April 27 - Austin ISD Solo and Ensemble Competition (Select Students ONLY) May 11 - ACMC Murchison Quartet performance May 14 - Guitar End of Year Concert in library May 16 - Orchestra End of Year Concert at Anderson HS May 17 - Six Flags Trip Austin Symphony Collaboration As many of you know, over the past week our students have attended two special events! On January 25, students attended a concert of a quartet from the Austin Symphony. This past Monday, students traveled to Anderson HS to see the full Austin Symphony perform. Throughout the rest of the semester, students in the symphonic orchestra will have the opportunity to collaborate with a musician from the symphony in the creation of their own piece of music that we will perform at our final concert of the year. Also, I know that many of you received an email about attendance on Monday. There was an issue with the attendance on the day of the event and I am working on correcting the errors. UIL This semester our primary focus is preparing for UIL in our upper level classes. Symphonic families, you will be receiving an email from me with a list of rehearsals and important dates for this 9 weeks. Please mark your calendars and let me know if you have any conflicts. Solo & Ensemble We are also preparing solos and small ensembles in class. Students need to prepare their solo music on their own time. There is limited time to prepare during class (the only class time will be February 1 - 2). Students will have to perform their solo or ensemble for the entire class during the week of February 20 - 23. If your child does well, they will be invited to perform on the Murchison solo recital on March 7 and asked to participate in the Austin ISD Solo and Ensemble Competition on April 27. If your student needs help with their music, I am available before school or that can come in during advisory. Homework and Grades, 3rd 9 Weeks! Please remind your child not to wait until the last minute to complete/make-up their pass-offs. Please check your child’s class page for updated homework assignments for the week. Students can retake a test as many times as they want. All work/make-ups will be due no later than March 6th for these 9 weeks. Parents, please encourage your child to have a set time to practice during the week. Students should be practicing at home 4 - 5 days a week for 20 - 30 minutes. Encourage them to play for you what they are working on in class or in lessons, if they are taking them. Orchestra Updates 11/27/23
Fundraiser! Our fall fundraiser wrapped up over the fall break and we ended up raising $16,500! That is awesome work from everyone that participated and helped to raise funds. While we didn’t reach our ultimate goal, this is the most money the program has raised in a very long time and will help fund so many wonderful things in the future! Instrument Reminders Please remind your child that they need to bring their instruments to school this week. I know some kiddos will forget after the break. A big reminder to all guitar students, don’t forget to bring your instruments on Tuesday! We took our instruments home for the first time before the break and we don’t want to forget. A reminder to everyone that if an instrument is left at home, that is 20 points off of your child’s daily grade. We do not always have enough instruments to cover a missing instrument in all of our classes. Group Photos We are very excited that we will be having group/individual photos taken of our groups this year. B-Day group/students photos will be taken on December 14th and A-Day group/students photos will be taken on December 18th. More information will be sent home by the end of the week. If you have any questions, please feel free to send Mr. Clinton an email. Upcoming Dates (please review): December 8th - Domain Performance (Symphonic ONLY) Permission slips are being sent out this week and are due by FRIDAY December 9th - Murchison Quartet Performance Students involved with this performance should already have concert information December 12th - Elementary Tour (Symphonic ONLY) Information and permission slips will be sent home next week for this event December 14th - B-Day Group/Individual Photos December 14th at 6:30pm - Guitar Winter Concert - Murchison Library DECEMBER 15th - LAST DAY TO TURN IN/MAKE-UP MISSING WORK! December 18th - A-Day Group/Individual Photos December 18th - Pass-Off Party during 8th period Students who have completed ALL pass-offs for this semester will be invited December 19th - 5th Grade Showcase (Symphonic ONLY) During School Hours December 19th at 6:30pm - Orchestra Winter Concert - AISD PAC Please keep an eye out for fliers and emails about upcoming events. We have a lot going on in the next three weeks. Homework and Website, 2nd 9 Weeks! Please remind your child not to wait until the last minute to complete/make-up their pass-offs. Please check your child’s class page for updated homework assignments for the week. All work/make-ups will be due no later than December 15th for these 9 weeks. Parents, please encourage your child to have a set time to practice during the week. Students should be practicing at home 4 - 5 days a week for 20 - 30 minutes. Encourage them to play for you what they are working on in class or in lessons, if they are taking them. Orchestra Updates 11/14/23
FUNDRAISER! We have raised over $12,000 of our $20,000 goal! We are getting closer and closer to reaching our goal, please be sending out emails, we can absolutely reach our goal if everyone tries to help out. If you prefer to just donate directly to the campaign, please use the following link:https://verticalraise.com/fundraiser/murchison-middle-school-orchestra-fundraiser/c/871993/. Guitars going home on Thursday Great news for guitar students, we finally have our new guitars! I’ve spent the last several days going through the instruments and making sure people have cases, footstools, and a functional instrument. Students are being assigned a guitar number today in class and that is the instrument that they will then be able to take home. If your child has a personal nylon string classical guitar at home, they should be bringing them to school to play on. We will barely have enough guitars for every student to take home. If someone leaves their instrument at home, we may not have an instrument for them to use at school. We will be returning to our daily grade policy for instruments after Thanksgiving break. If a student leaves their instrument at home, they will lose 20 points off of their daily grade. Now that students have an instrument, a reminder that they are expected to practice 20-30 minutes 4-5 days a week. If your child can not practice at home, then they can come during morning practice at 7:45am or during advisory. Upcoming Dates: Winter Concerts December 14th at 6:30pm - Guitar Winter Concert - Murchison Library December 19th at 6:30pm - Orchestra Winter Concert - AISD PAC Orchestra families, if you have not had a chance to fill out the concert survey, please use the following link to complete it: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3VOEYJ8A6f03vhCRSzyyc6nyG_AbPxBagUD-TPOaWi_ZIbw/viewform?usp=sf_link Private Lessons and Scholarships If you have not been put in touch with a private teacher at this time, please contact Mr. Clinton for more information. Homework and Website, 2nd 9 Weeks! Please remind your child not to wait until the last minute to complete/make-up their pass-offs. Please check your child’s class page for updated homework assignments for the week. Progress reports will be coming out next week. Parents, please encourage your child to have a set time to practice during the week. Students should be practicing at home 4 - 5 days a week for 20 - 30 minutes. Encourage them to play for you what they are working on in class or in lessons, if they are taking them. Fundraiser
Our orchestra fundraiser is beginning next week! We are partnering with Vertical Raise to help raise funds for our scholarship fund, to reduce the cost of our Six Flags end of year trip, and to help bring in clinicians. We are holding an optional informational parent meeting on Tuesdasy, October 26th in the Murchison Orchestra room. You can also attend using this Zoom link. More information will be sent home with students in the coming days. String Fest (Beginner Orchestra Students ONLY) The annual String Fest is next week. This event is for all beginning orchestra students and will take place during school hours on Thursday, November 2nd. If you have not sent in your permission slip yet, please do so as soon as possible. Austin Symphony We are excited to be partnering with the Austin Symphony again this year for their Connecting with Music Program. In the Spring semester, we will have a string quartet from the ASO come to perform for our students at Murchison. We will also have a musician from the orchestra come to talk with our students about the performance. Several students should have already come home with a permission slip to participate in this event. In a addition to this exciting performance at our school, we have also been invited to listen to a concert of the full Austin Symphony Orchestra at Anderson HS in the spring. Please be looking for additional informational emails in the coming weeks about these events. Private Lessons and Scholarships Several families have been placed in contact with their private teacher at this point. If you have not been contact, please reach out to Mr. Clinton (if you have already, please resend your message). Also, both of our in person violin/viola teachers are full at the moment. Mr. C is looking to find another in person to fill the demand and will reach out to families as soon as there is more information. Homework and Website, 2nd 9 Weeks! Please remind your child not to wait until the last minute to complete/make-up their pass-offs. Please check your child’s class page for updated homework assignments for the week. Parents, please encourage your child to have a set time to practice during the week. Students should be practicing at home 4 - 5 days a week for 20 - 30 minutes. Encourage them to play for you what they are working on in class or in lessons, if they are taking them. Concert Congratulations!
Congrats to all the students that performed at the Orchestra Fall Concert. You all did a great job. I heard lots of compliments from parents and from a few teachers that were at the concert. Please check out our calendar for more upcoming events. Fundraiser Please be on the lookout for an informational email and flier over the next few days about our fundraiser this fall. We will start our direct ask fundraiser on October 30. More information will be sent soon. String Fest (Beginner Orchestra Students ONLY) The annual String Fest is just under three weeks away. This event is for all beginning orchestra students and will take place during school hours. A flier and permission slip is being sent home with students this week. An email with this information will also be sent to beginner families. Private Lessons and Scholarships Several families have been placed in contact with their private teacher at this point. If you have not been contact, please reach out to Mr. Clinton (if you have already, please resend your message). Also, both of our in person violin/viola teachers are full at the moment. Mr. C is looking to find another in person to fill the demand and will reach out to families as soon as there is more information. Homework and Website, 2nd 9 Weeks! We are starting the second 9 weeks this week. Please remind your child not to wait until the last minute to complete/make-up their pass-offs. Please check your child’s class page for updated homework assignments for the week. Parents, please encourage your child to have a set time to practice during the week. Students should be practicing at home 4 - 5 days a week for 20 - 30 minutes. Encourage them to play for you what they are working on in class or in lessons, if they are taking them. It is concert week for Orchestra students! Please see reminders again for this week:
Advisory Rehearsals (Symphonic Students ONLY) Many of you may know that 8th grade students have been preparing for the PSAT this coming Wednesday. Unfortunately it is happening during the Symphonic orchestra’s final class before our concert. To make up this loss of rehearsal time, I am adding advisory rehearsals on Tuesday and Thursday this week to help prepare for the Fall concert. Please remind your child to bring their instrument on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week so we can make up the lost time. FALL CONCERT - Thursday, October 12th at 6:00pm at Anderson HS (Call time - 5:00pm) Please refer to the previous email that was sent last week for a map with directions to Anderson. CELLO and BASS students MUST BRING THEIR HOME INSTRUMENTS TO ANDERSON HS for the concert, Mr. Clinton will not bring your cello and bass. (Please note, guitar students are not performing in this concert but are more than welcome to attend.) There will be one more reminder email sent to orchestra families about the concert later this week. Fall Concert Dress Rehearsal (BEGINNER ORCHESTRA ONLY) Tuesday, October, 10 4:00pm - 5:30pm in the Murchison Orchestra Room. This rehearsal is to give the beginner orchestra students a chance to rehearse as a full orchestra before our concert. Instruments If your child plays cello or bass, your home instruments are packed and ready to go. Please email me directly to set up a time to pick up the instrument. We have started playing this week in the beginner class and students will need to start practicing at home. If you have emailed me already, please resend your message. I am trying to reply to instrument requests first this week. Private Lessons and Scholarships Thank you to all of you who have asked to be put in touch with a private teacher or applied for our new scholarship program. Several of you who have asked for a teacher should have a teacher reaching out to you or will be sent a teacher’s contact information. For those students who applied for a scholarship, you will be receiving an email this week. Region Auditions Great job to all the students that auditioned for Region Orchestra this year. We had 10 students try and we had one student make it into the orchestra this year! Good job to everyone for your hard work. Mr. Clinton will have the exact rankings for students to see on Tuesday. Calendar A Google calendar has been added to our website to make it easier to see upcoming dates. You should also be able to subscribe to the calendar. The link to our google pages list of dates is still available as well if you would like to print them out. Homework and Website, 1 week left for the 1st 9 weeks! We only have 1 week left in this 9 weeks. Students can make-up Pass-Offs until October 13. After this date, I will not be accepting any make-up and the grade in the gradebook will stand. Students are allowed to come in for Morning Practice from 7:45 - 8:15, during advisory, or after school from Monday - Wednesday at 4:00pm to make up grades, or just practice. Please encourage your child to be checking their grades! A reminder that all assignments are posted on your child’s class page on the website. Parents, please encourage your child to have a set time to practice during the week. Students should be practicing at home 4 - 5 days a week for 20 - 30 minutes. Encourage them to play for you what they are working on in class or in lessons, if they are taking them. Fall Concert - Thursday, October 12th at 6:00pm at Anderson HS (Call time - 5:00pm) Orchestra families, our first concert is next week! A separate email with specific information about the concert is being sent to families. A flier has also been sent home with students this week. Please note that beginner students are wearing nice dress clothes for this performance as we were unable to get our shirts printed before the first concert. CELLO and BASS students MUST BRING THEIR HOME INSTRUMENTS TO ANDERSON HS for the concert, Mr. Clinton will not bring your cello and bass. (Please note, guitar students are not performing in this concert but are more than welcome to attend.) Fall Concert Dress Rehearsal (BEGINNER ORCHESTRA ONLY) Tuesday, October, 10 4:00pm - 5:30pm in the Murchison Orchestra Room. This rehearsal is to give the beginner orchestra students a chance to rehearse as a full orchestra before our concert. Instruments If your child plays cello or bass, your home instruments are packed and ready to go. Please email me directly to set up a time to pick up the instrument. We have started playing this week in the beginner class and students will need to start practicing at home. If you have emailed me already, please resend your message. I am trying to reply to instrument requests first this week. Private Lessons and Scholarships Thank you to all of you who have asked to be put in touch with a private teacher or applied for our new scholarship program. Several of you who have asked for a teacher should have a teacher reaching out to you or will be sent a teacher’s contact information. For those students who applied for a scholarship, you will be receiving an email this week. Region Auditions - Saturday, October 7th If your child is auditioning for Region Orchestra, auditions are this Saturday. An informational email and flier were sent home last week. If your child is auditioning and you did not receive this email, please message Mr. Clinton. Class performances for those auditioning are this week! Calendar A Google calendar has been added to our website to make it easier to see upcoming dates. You should also be able to subscribe to the calendar. The link to our google pages list of dates is still available as well if you would like to print them out. Homework and Website, 2 weeks left of 9 weeks! We only have 2 weeks left in this 9 weeks. Students can make-up Pass-Offs until October 13. After this date, I will not be accepting any make-up and the grade in the gradebook will stand. Students are allowed to come in for Morning Practice from 7:45 - 8:15, during advisory, or after school from Monday - Wednesday at 4:00pm to make up grades, or just practice. Please encourage your child to be checking their grades! A reminder that all assignments are posted on your child’s class page on the website. Parents, please encourage your child to have a set time to practice during the week. Students should be practicing at home 4 - 5 days a week for 20 - 30 minutes. Encourage them to play for you what they are working on in class or in lessons, if they are taking them. Hello orchestra families,
It was great seeing everyone at our social this past weekend. Thank you to all of the parents who helped to organize the event. I hope you all had fun and got a chance to meet some new people in the orchestra program this year. Please see below for some updates for the week: Instruments If your child plays the cello or the bass, their instruments are ready for pick-up. Please email me directly to set up a time to come and pick up your child’s home instrument. Several students still do not have an instrument at home and we have begun playing instruments for homework. Guitar students, the school has purchased new guitars. We are just waiting for the instruments to be shipped. It will be a few more weeks until we can take school instruments home. Students can come in the morning or during advisory to practice with a school guitar to prepare for their pass-offs. Homework/Grades A reminder that ALL students should be practicing their instruments at home. Parents, please encourage your child to play for you what we are doing in class. Each class has specific homework. You can find your child’s homework in the class tab on the top of the page along with our current Pass-Off. Students can also come in to practice during Morning Practice from 7:45 - 8:15 Monday - Thursday. Progress reports will be coming out this week. If your child’s grade is low, please remind them that they can re-do pass-offs until the end of each 9 weeks. We only have THREE weeks left in this 9 weeks. Students can make up grades in Morning Practice, after school on Monday - Wednesday, or during Advisory. Please remind you child that it is THEIR responsibility to make up any low grades. Upcoming Dates September 28 - 29 All-City (Select Students Only) - Information email sent to specific families October 7 - Region Auditions (Select Students Only) - Information email sent to auditioning families October 10 - Orchestra Fall Concert Dress Rehearsal - 4:00pm - 5:30pm in the Murchison orchestra room October 12 - FALL CONCERT 6:00pm - Anderson HS Theater - Please look out for email with more detailed information Hello everyone,
It has been a crazy start to this school year but I am finally getting caught up and have had time to update our website. Please see below for a few updates. Orchestra and Guitar Social-- Saturday, September 23 Please join us for food, games, and outdoor fun with Orchestra and Guitar families and students! Pizza and drinks will be provided, and families are encouraged to bring sides or desserts to share with everyone. We won’t have an official sign up for our potluck, bring anything you would like to share, but please RSVP using the link below so we know how many pizza and drinks to provide. What: Fall Picnic for Orchestra and Guitar students and their families When: Saturday, September 23, 10:00 AM- 2:00 PM (come and go as you are able) Where: Northwest District Park Area C, 7000 Ardath St, Austin, TX, 78757 Please RSVP by Wednesday, September 20th Link to RSVP: Murchison Orchestra and Guitar Picnic Please reach out to Mr. Clinton ([email protected]) or Jessica Dvorscak (j[email protected]) with questions. Instrument If your child plays the cello or the bass, their instruments are ready for pick-up. Please email me directly to set up a time to come and pick up your child’s home instrument. Homework We have officially started homework in orchestra, Yay! Everyone has been given a homework log and is given things to practice at the end of each class. Students are also given their pass-offs (tests) at the start of the week. I have updated each class page with what their homework assignment is and what their pass-off will be for the week. To find your child’s class page, click the classes tab at the top of the page and select your child’s class period. If a student gets a failing grade, or does not pas-off, they will have the opportunity to retake the test during each class. They can also come during Morning Practice on Monday - Thursday from 7:45 - 8:15 or after school on Monday - Wednesday until 4:45. Students should practice 4 - 5 days a week for 20 - 30 minutes. Parents, please encourage your child to play for you at home. Try to set a regular time for practice. If you child needs help with music, please have them come to morning practice Monday - Thursday mornings from 7:45 - 8:15. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me. Our fall picnic is just one week away, and we are looking forward to seeing everyone! Please join us for food, games, and outdoor fun! Pizza and drinks will be provided, and families are encouraged to bring sides and desserts to share with everyone. We won’t have an official sign up for our potluck, bring anything you would like to share, but please RSVP using the link below so we know how many pizza and drinks to provide.
What: Fall Picnic for Orchestra and Guitar students and their families When: Saturday, September 17, 10:00 AM- 2:00 PM (come and go as you are able) Where: Northwest District Park Area C, 7000 Ardath St, Austin, TX, 78757 Please RSVP by Thursday, September 15th Link to RSVP: https://forms.gle/B9DGWKkwec1aN5u78 Please reach out to Mr. Clinton ([email protected]) or Shirley Perrin ([email protected]) with questions. |