April Blog

(May 31, 2022)

Greetings!

We are so sorry that this has gotten out so late. It has been a CRAZY month! After this post, we will have our FINAL blog post, which will actually be a VLOG. Please stay tuned for more information. For this month, students were able to write about anything they wanted to about music. Here are the student posts for the month of April.

Sofie – Anyone who wants to join a band should definitely do it if they have an interest in music. The 7/8th grade band, we will take anyone that would like to be part of our band. Next year, a portion of our band will be gone, the 8th graders. The new 7th graders next year, I highly recommend, and hope, will join band. Band is so much fun, and being able to play music and pieces with other people is awesome. Not just one or two others, but almost ten or so more people.  If you like music, join band, and you won’t regret it.

John – Well, I love rock music and I’ve always wanted to be in a rock band. But I really only like the older classic rock. I don’t really like the grunge rock that people listen to today. I like the slower side of classic rock. I don’t really like harder rock but some of the songs are good like Kickstart My Heart by Mötley Crüe and Thunderstruck by AC/DC. Those are good songs. But I like songs like Let it Be by The Beatles and For What’s it’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield. I really enjoy those songs. I got my taste for rock music from my parents because that’s what they listened to when they were kids and they taught me to love it too.

Kai – So, slap bass with smaller hands is very much harder. Like slap pop which is a technique, you have to reach your hand across the fretboard. But I am figuring it out. Also my fingers start to get sore after playing slap bass for a long time because well I’m slamming my hand against some strings. That’s my blog post for April!!!

Katey-Anne – Wow, April already! This year seems to be going by quickly. On April 6th, MOJO had a concert at the Majestic Theater in Conway. I ended up soloing once on the piano and once on the flute. I was worried about my flute solo since I don’t usually do improv on the flute, but it ended up being really good! So I was very proud of that. It was very nice to be on the stage again, I missed performing. I was also able to watch a couple of the high school combo bands as well as the Big Band and Vocal Jazz group. They were absolutely amazing! I’m even more excited to go to the Academy next year after seeing their performance.

Serena – Recently I haven’t been too busy, but I definitely am doing a lot of music stuff. Matilda is done, and I miss it, especially everyone in it, but it’s also a bit of a relief. I started voice lessons, which so far is really good! M.O.J.O. is still going, and that’s fun, and in school band we’re preparing for the upcoming concert. I also am going to start actual vibraphone lessons, which I’m really excited for. It’s so cool that we were actually able to find someone nearby. Other than that, I’m starting to prepare for camp, which I’m really looking forward to.

Delaney – Hello, Happy April! Recently the eighth graders have been starting the process of transitioning to high school and learning about our options for electives. I am interested in chorus and the theater program. We were told to write about whatever we want to in association to music. Well, I am a big fan of country music and I love the musicals Hamilton, In the Heights, and West Side Story. I love the movie adaptations and the actors (they are all so talented). The Grammy’s happened recently, and some very big names (and even some new ones) were there.

Kyden – I don’t have much to write but in May, I’m going to be playing in a recital in Conway. I’m playing 2 songs in it. The first one i’ll be playing is “River flows in you.” I have not picked out a second one, but I’m looking forward to playing in another recital.

Haley – What I’d like to do in regards to music is work on my flute skills. I’d love to be able to meet my goal, but it is what it is and I’ll do my best. I’d also love to work on my piano skills, I’m currently taking lessons every Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll play at least some form of music at the academy. I’ll try and practice before school is all done, hopefully I’ll work on some of my skills over summer break. Over the course of this school year, for GT I believe I have improved in the flute, I know it doesn’t seem like much, but I am now able to play pretty decently, and I hope to be able to work on my skills throughout the summer and into the following school year.

I do enjoy playing the flute. This year I learned how to play it. I want to learn how to play songs fluently, which will be a challenge, but I’m up for it. I really enjoyed the whole GT experience, throughout the years I was a part of it, and I hope to see how far it takes me!

Izzy – Well well well I’m going to explain a little bit about my guitar and the brand because I feel the need to! The guitar I have is Yamaha and it is a very well known brand for there pianos they have a well balanced sound and our very good high quality guitar I personally have the APX 600 performance electric acoustic and it is very good for playing regular acoustic and also electric acoustic it fits and works very well for me they have a very affordable price for young fellows like me 😃 so yeah that’s a bit about my guitar here’s a picture of my beautiful guitar!

3rd Blog of the Year!

(April 22, 2022)

Hello Folks!

I can’t believe that we have been blogging for 3 months. Here is our next set of blogs for the month of March. I hope you enjoy what our gifted music students have to share with you.

Sofie – Being a musician at any point in life is never easy. You are practicing twice a week, need to keep up with your school work, and if you’re in sports, then you need to have an open schedule. I do chorus and volleyball, along with band and GT music. Having an open schedule doing music or band would be ideal, so you can always have time to practice at home. My goal in GT for the end of the year is to be on the 6th chapter in the piano book, and I am currently on the 3rd chapter.

John – I’m doing pretty well on my goal of getting through the red book. But I get stuck on some songs because I can’t hit the high notes very well. I’m used to the trombone where you can loosen my lips up. With trumpet, you need to stay tight with your lips.

Kai – My goal is going pretty well if you ask me; I have my March goal done. The advanced slap bass is a lot harder than the other technique. Also, slap bass hurts a lot more than normal bass and I have to take breaks in between, but it’s fine. But that’s my March blog post.

Katey-Anne – I have been practicing very diligently towards my goal. I am sure I will reach it by the end of this year. I also have a concert coming up with MOJO (Molly Ockett Jazz Orchestra) that I am very excited about. I will be doing an improv solo on all of our songs, two on piano and one on flute. The 8th graders here at MOS have recently had a visit from the staff at Fryeburg Academy, and have started to look at electives we are interested in. I’m hoping to be able to be a part of a combo next year since I don’t believe I will be able to fit band or chorus into my schedule. That’s what’s up with me and my music “career” right now.

Serena – I’ve been pretty busy with lots of music things recently. It’s the last week of Matilda shows, which will be bittersweet. Unfortunately, I missed some performances because I got sick, but I’m better now, and very happy to be back! I also have a M.O.J.O. concert soon, which I’m really looking forward to, but am also a little nervous for. In addition, we recently started normal band again after having to stop due to COVID, and that’s been really fun! I’m continuing to work on my goal of getting better at drums, which is going pretty well! I sometimes also use G.T. time to take advantage of the percussion instruments at school and practice for other things, which is very helpful. Overall, a lot of music things are happening all at once this week; it’s a little bit stressful and tiring, (Matilda’s kind of exhausting) but really fun!

Delaney – Hello, it’s Delaney. This month I have been working on how to write intervals and how they fall on a staff. I jumped right ahead and started learning the chords and adding some notes to “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” By Elton John. I am very excited and feel confident in some of my ideas. My plan is to harmonize with the melody and work onsomething out of my comfort range (I’m a soprano).

Oren – In KAJEMO, we are working on two new songs, “Sweet Emotion” and “Come on Feel the Noize.” I am almost done with all the music packets, I only have to finish 21 and do the final project. I enjoy recording and playing music on the keyboard I have at my house. There is MOJO tomorrow and I can’t wait for it!

Haley – I am coming along slowly, I still have to memorize the notes and to not get light headed while I play the flute. I’m working on highs and lows. High notes are easier for me, but it’s fun to challenge myself by trying to play a low note. I’m not quite at #30 yet, it is still challenging for me to move fluently from note to note. I’m trying to play the flute sometimes at home, and I’m trying to memorize the notes, (some of them anyways.)

Izzy – This month, my goal is going well. I haven’t started lessons back up but maybe next year or some time soon I hope. I can’t believe I’ve come this far from the day I went and didn’t know how to hold a pick and now I know how to do power chords. I know how to read music. I know so much more now. I’m super excited to see what’s coming! And I hope I can get better. I’m also working on vocals.

February 2022 Blog Post

(March 8, 2022)

Good Morning Everyone!

Here is our latest blog post of what the students’ goals are and how they are doing on it. Enjoy!

Sofie – Music takes up a lot in a person’s life, especially if you work hard at it and are good. I currently play the clarinet and learn more piano during G.T. period and at home. By the end of the school year, I hope to be on the 6th chapter of the piano book by the end of the school year and to be able to play the clarinet better. To be honest, I have not been practicing my clarinet as much as I should have been, but that is because I need to get my clarinet tuned before I can use it. Being a musician, or part way there, is stressful, and is definitely not something that everyone would enjoy.

John – My goal this year for GT music is to learn the whole trumpet red book by the end of the school year. So far I have made it about halfway through the red book. I’m progressing pretty well and I think I can learn another quarter in march. It’s been hard learning the trumpet since it’s so different from the trombone!

Kai – My goal is going according to plan, I have the simple slap bass done and down. Also I found out that slap bass is harder on strings than others like E is easier than A, D, and G. Also, I think I will be able to finish all of my goal(s) by the end of the year.

Katey-Anne – Hi, it’s Katey-Anne. My goal in GT music this year is to learn to play a simple song and two scales on the violin. It’s coming along quite well as I’ve learned the four simple notes plus 4 new ones. I’m still only plucking the strings and haven’t yet learned to play with the bow, but I’m sure I will get to that point soon. I’ve been wanting to play the violin for three years now, so I’m very excited for the rest of GT music this year.

Serena – In G.T., I’m working on learning drums. I was doing it song by song in the Red Book, but that got a bit boring, so I’m starting more with the drumset. I’m using some of my lesson time with Mr. Bryan and my G.T. time; so far, it’s going pretty well! Outside of school, I have rehearsals for the musical Matilda. It’s my first time doing something with M&D, and it is intense! It’s really fun though, and I’m really excited for the shows. I have M.O.J.O. practice, and I’m looking forward to (hopefully) having some sort of concert, but other than that, I’m not doing too much.

Delaney – In the last two months since starting GT, I have learned a lot. I have learned more about harmonic intervals and can more easily recognize and play them. In the next month or so, I would like to learn how to write and build harmonies. In the end, I would like to be able to write harmonies and harmonize with a song of my choice and to be able to recognize and use my skills.

Oren – Hi, I’m Oren. I like to play and listen to rock music. I also like to play the electric guitar and the piano. I really like playing in MOJO and KAJEMO every Wednesday.

Kyden – My goal is to finish book 2 of piano for adults by the end of the year. Right now, I’m almost in the next area of the book. I still have a lot more to go through before I finish it. I’m getting a little behind because of basketball, but my basketball ended so I’ll be able to get to play more. I hope to finish the book by the end of the year maybe before the end now that basketball is over.

Haley – My February goal is to be able to learn the notes on the flute. I am currently working to get better at learning the notes, but I did learn some notes, and I am still learning more as I become more fluent in the flute. I haven’t brought it home yet, but I will today because I need to practice and become better and more fluent for my March blog post and my March goal. I believe that I will achieve this goal because I am going to take my flute home, but I did pass my February goal because I learned some notes. There are many more notes to come, but the ones I did learn, I’ve basically memorized.

Izzy – My goal went well and I think I’m doing pretty good on it but I hope to get on vocals and work harder to practice everyday and hopefully maybe get to the 3rd. I’m almost there, I just need to get through these couple.

Our Very 1st Blog!

(February 1, 2022)

Hello and welcome to our very 1st blog entry! Every month, students are asked to submit a blog entry to keep us all updated on what is happening to them musically. For their first blog, they have been asked to introduce themselves to you. Here are their introductory posts for the month of January. Please enjoy!

Sofie – My name is Sofie, and I am in 7th grade. I go to Molly Ockett Middle School, and have been playing the clarinet since the 5th grade. I am starting to learn the piano in G&T music, and hope to be fluent or close to fluent by the end of 7th grade or the beginning of 8th grade. I do chorus as well, but I am much more interested in playing instruments than using my voice as an instrument itself. I hope (and looking forward) to going to highschool in 2 or so years, even though that mean leaving Molly Ockett. I am excited to have a new music teacher, because every teacher teaches their own way, and I would like to see how Mr. Sakash (I think thats his name?) teaches. I would also like to be fluent in the clarinet in places I’m not, such as high notes and some slurs, and learning more piano. 

For my future career, I want to be in a band possibly, after high school and then into college. I don’t know where I want to go for college yet, but I do know that if i don’t do music as my career, then I would like to focus more on Astronomy and seeing if in the future people come up with easier or quicker ways to travel to space. I know it takes about 10 months or more to get to Mars and I want to try and figure out a quicker way into and out of space.

John – My name is John and I play the trombone, bass guitar, and the trumpet. I love rock music and my favorite song is probably, “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crüe. I’m currently in a school rock band called Kajemo. I’m in my school’s 7th-8th grade band. Currently, Kajemo is learning the songs, “Sweet Emotion” by Aerosmith and “Come On Feel the Noize” by Quiet Riot.

Kai – For my musical career, I want it to be a side thing, like a hobby, maybe playing gigs every week and playing in a band, but I don’t want to be a full time musician. Where I am right now, I’m enjoying music and I’m going to keep going at it, getting better and better. I never want to change my instrument because it’s that one that called to me, not normal guitar, not drums, not piano…it was bass.

Katey-Anne – Hello again! My name is Katey-Anne. My two favorite types of music are pop and classical. I am currently taking private piano lessons, have been playing flute for three years, and now through the GT Music program, I am beginning to learn to play the violin. I am a part of MOJO, which is the Molly Ockett Jazz Orchestra directed by Mike Sakash. I am in 8th grade, and next year at the academy I am hoping to take part in either traditional band or Big band, as well as participate in the school Musical.

Serena – I’m Serena and I’m in the 7th grade. I play mallet percussion; that’s the term for instruments that seem to make people go “Wait, what do you play?” like the vibraphone, bells, xylophone, and marimba. Mallet instruments are all very similar as they all have bars set up in the same way as a piano keyboard, which you use mallets to hit, but are made out of different materials, which makes them sound different. So once you know how to play one, you can more or less play everything else. I play the vibraphone more than anything because it sounds awesome, is super fun, and because Molly Ockett doesn’t have a marimba. I’m in M.O.J.O (Molly Ockett Jazz Orchestra) and normal school band. I also like to sing. I go to a really fun music camp where I was in chorus and the musical, and got to play the coolest marimba. I recently started rehearsals for Matilda the musical with M&D, it’s really fun so far! I used to play the piano, but I didn’t really like it because I thought it was boring. My mom made me stick with it for a while though and I’m glad she did because it made the transition into mallet stuff a lot easier. I want to get better at jazz and improvising, and non-mallet percussion. I also want to know more about music theory because it’s fun, (when it makes sense!) I’m really excited for the high school music program. I got the opportunity to play a few songs with the high school band for the candle light concert, and it was awesome!!! In short, I really like music!

Delaney – My name is Delaney, I am in eighth grade, and I am a singer. I enjoy going to chorus in the mornings with my friends and doing voice lessons with Mrs. Zahn. I have a little history with the piano and in GT music this semester I would like to focus on learning intervals and harmonic intervals, harmonizing, and learning to build and write harmonies. I love music but I don’t think it is something I want to do for my life. I can see myself singing with my kids and teaching them about music, but I want to expand my knowledge in animal science. Next year, I am going to try and get involved as much as I can with the different singing groups and music classes at the academy.

Kyden – I’m Kyden and I am really into Calm music, a little bit of rap and that’s pretty much it. One of my favorite music songs is, “All of Me” by John Legend. It was the first song I ever learned on piano. I also like a theme song called Blue Bird in naruto shippuden. In music I think I’m getting better. I’ve already  performed at one recital in Conway. In Band, I’m interested in playing lots of different songs now that I have a singer in my band. Right now, we’re learning, “I Hope” by Gabby Barrett.

Haley – Right now I am interested in the flute. I am working on making the correct sound every time and working on learning the notes. Right now in my music career, I am working on learning some new things, for example, the flute and the piano. Getting more fluent at some things, and trying to pick up quickly. I think my music career is going pretty good right now as I am becoming more fluent on the flute (trying to) and I am working on getting that sound every time. I hope to learn a song or two soon and start remembering the notes so I don’t have to stop in between. My favorite type of music right now is probably classical, I think it’s very pretty and I enjoy playing some little pieces on the piano, I hope to do the same for the flute.

Izzy – Right now I am working more on music that I listen to less than in the book. I’m on book two and I’m almost done. I might go back to work on finger style, but since we stopped doing lessons, I worked more on individual songs. Sometimes I work on the books, but right now I’m working on a song and I’m doing vocals too but that’s what I’m working on right now. It might change sooner or later, but I might start lessons back up some time soon. That’s it for now.

Oren – I like rock music, preferably classic rock. One of my favorite rock artists is Van Halen. I also like Randy Rhoads and Ozzy Osbourne. I like other bands like Queen, Aerosmith, Boston, and Guns n’ Roses.