THE COUGAR BLUES

Cougar Family we have officially kicked off our Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration.  We are learning more about hispanic culture in particular music styles such as: Merengue, Mariachi, and of course Salsa to name a few.  Students have learned about the lives of Celia Cruz vocalist, Gloria Estefan vocalist, and Marc Anthony Vocalist. We celebrate our diversity at York Chester and the contributions of Latino Americans. 

Coming up this week each grade level will have assignments that, as usual, should be placed in their SWOOSH notebooks.  Take note of what you child's band is working on and make sure they work on it at home nightly.

6th Grade Beginning Band
Fantastic start to the year beginners! Parents, now we need your help.  Your student needs to have the book and supplies for their instrument.  See Supply List.  

Thanks in advance parents.  Beginners are working on their first note which in their book Measures of Success is listed as 1.1.  They should practice each night and use good posture and work to achieve a good tone on their instrument. We have a band Youtube page, Cougar Band Youtube page, that you as parents and your student can use that demonstrate proper instrument care, hand position, etc. Students will have 2 worksheets per week to finish that deal with, musical literacy.

7th Grade Intermediate Band
I am excited about this new 7th grade band.  Parents make sure your student is practicing every night and placing the time of practice in their Practice Chart.  We had our Practice Chart check and apparently several parents have not seen the chart.  It is located in the Band Handbook.  Students assignments this week include the Ab & F Major Scales on page 43 in the Foundations book or page 50 in the Measures of Success book. Students are also working on Twinkle Little Star of Rhythms, where they play a version of the nursery rhyme that has changes in the rhythms.  There are also 2 worksheets per week that all the students are responsible for finishing.

8th Grade Advanced Band
We always have a great group of top musicians at York Chester, and this year is no different. Chris T has been knocking out our rhythm challenges and we have more to come. 8th Grade is getting ready for some scale assessments this week, Eb Major, Ab Major, and Bb Chromatic.  These are along with the Twinkle Little Star of Rhythms B and C lines. Students should be practicing each night and placing the amount of time they practice in their Practice Chart, which can be found in their Band Handbook. I will check Practice Charts occasionally, dates on the Practice Chart. This past week was a check week and I noticed some parents had not seen the charts.  Please make sure your student uses them nightly.  

We are starting Jazz Band practices this week, Monday and Wednesday, and Pep Band Practices, Tuesday.  Pep band is open to all students.  All of these rehearsals will take place 3:15-4:30 after school and students will need a ride waiting after practice in order to participate, unless they walk home.

Parents thank you for keeping your students motivated and practicing. As an educator we depend on you to help make the connection between what we do at school and the reinforcement that takes place at home. We appreciate all you do. GO COUGARS!