Schmitt Music University

2

Plan Ahead 2

Group Piano & Rock Star Academy

2

Building Basics 3

Dictionary Disaster

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Special points of

interest:

Schmitt Music

University

Group Piano!!

Building Basics. The

Journey Continues

Dictionary Disaster

March On Down the Road This Summer!

Plan Ahead! Pre-Register Now!

2012

April

Strike Up the Band is going to take our act to the streets! We are looking for band members

who would be interested in participating in our Summer Marching Band program. This experi-

ence would include marching some Thursday evening summer parades and concluding with the

State Fair. This program is open to all band students. We are looking into having both a North,

West and Southeast marching bands. I am still in need of a Southeast location, so if you know of

one please let me know! If you would like to participate in both, go ahead! The music and

marching will be the same for both bands. A registration form is attached to this email. Mini-

mum amount required.

Honor Band Fast Approaching This year’s Honor Band Concert will take place on Saturday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m.. The loca-

tion of this event is at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church at 900 Stillwater Rd, Mahtomedi, MN,

55115.

Our guest conductor is Mrs. Kimberly Graff who is a native of La Crosse,

Wisconsin, She completed her undergraduate work in Secondary Music

Education at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, and earned her mas-

ters degree in Education - Professional Development from the University of

Wisconsin – Eau Claire.

Mrs. Graff began her teaching career at Amery Middle School and has been

in Rice Lake, Wisconsin since 1989. Her primary responsibilities at Rice Lake

Middle School include 7th & 8

th Grade Concert Bands, Marching Band and

numerous individual band lessons. In addition, she assists with the Begin-

ning Band and Jazz Ensemble. Under Mrs. Graff’s leadership, the Rice Lake Middle School

Bands have continued a strong tradition of excellence, performing publicly in concert, festival,

and convention settings. Mrs. Graff is an active Wisconsin School Music Association adjudicator

and past member of the Wisconsin Middle Level Honors Band staff. In addition, she is a past

conductor of the National Band Association-Wisconsin Chapter Junior All State Band as well as

regional Honors Bands.

This year’s concert will also be featuring three outstanding soloists that performed during our

Solo and Ensemble Contest: Alto Sax-Jonas Burand, 12th grade; Trumpet-Anthony Korpi, 9th

grade; Horn-Cecilia Petruconis, 5th grade.

It’s time to start thinking about the Fall! I know, you probably think that I am crazy! You might

as well make the Fall easier by pre-registering your child for Strike Up the Band or Orchestra

Continuo. By pre-registering, your child will be ready to start band/orchestra right away in Sep-

tember. You will not have that “One more thing to remember to do” when school starts. All it

takes to register is $10 per student! Billing for tuition does not begin until August! This would

also be a great time to check out the Trial Purchase program that we implemented last year

that is only available to our Strike Up the Band and our Orchestra Continuo students. Please

contact the Education Office at 763-398-5046 with any questions regarding the band or or-

chestra programs or our Trial Purchase program. Registration forms will be available beginning

April 1 from your director or online at www.schmittmusic.com.

Page 2

Solo and Ensemble Results

Rock Star Academy in Brooklyn Center will be offering a 4-week “Introduction to

the Rock Star Academy” 4-week session beginning the week of April 18 from 5:30-

7:30 p.m. Space is limited so register now! This is open to all beginning guitar, bass,

vocal, keyboard, and drum set players! Summer 4-day and 8-day camps will also be

available this summer so check those out on our website! Contact Kris Knutson for

more information or go to www.schmittmusic/rockstar to register!

Rock Star Academy Opens!

Congratulations to all of the students that participated in this year’s 1st Strike Up the Band Solo and Ensemble event

that was held on Wednesday, March 14 and Thursday, March 15! The ratings system was as follows: I*=Superior,

I=Excellent, II=Good, III=Fair. Students were able to select their own piece and were not judged on the level of

the piece but on Tone Quality, Intonation, Rhythm, Technique, Interpretation/Musicianship, and Other Perform-

ance Factors which included appropriate appearance, choice of literature, general conduct, mannerisms, poise and

posture.

We congratulate the following students who all did an amazing job!

Alex Stephenson, Garrett Verhoeven, Hans Verhoeven, Grace Killeen, Malia Davidson, Alex Ulate, Jackie Lofstad,

Julianna Miller, Trevor Pankratz, Nathan Rothermel, Kelsey Rothermel, Daniel Rothermel, Maria Lamps, Christo-

pher Lamps, Carolyn Bania, Lorissa Ziemer, Chad Ziemer, Cecilia Petruconis, Emily Doerner, Josh Eidsor, Jonas Bu-

rand, Philip Gustafson, Anthony Korpi and Harrison Edwards.

New Things to See At www.schmittmusic.com! Oh my goodness, I am so excited to tell you that EDUCATION has made it to the

front page of our Schmitt Music website! Seriously, it is so easy now to find the Strike

Up the Band and Orchestra Continuo websites—not to mention any of the other of

our terrific Music Education Programs that a caveman could do it!

On the main page of the website click on the EDUCATION button. You will then be

transformed into the world of “Schmitt Music University”! All of the Music Education

programs offered are then just a click away on the left hand side of the page!

So here is what I need from you - anytime you take pictures at your schools concerts,

email them to me and I will put them on the site, including our Strike Up the Band Facebook site so that we can

share with everyone how alive our Music Education program is at Schmitt Music.

Yes, our focus at Schmitt Music is to sell instruments, music, etc. But my job is to get people excited about music and

to realize that music is a gift that lasts a lifetime and that learning an instrument can be done at any age. You have

all heard about the studies that those who play an instrument test higher in academics, are the ones that receive the

scholarships and have helped in many health related studies. Read quotes found throughout the Schmitt Music Uni-

versity page!

Basically, I want to thank all of you for helping to make EDUCATION a big button on the front page of our web-

site. Why am I thanking you? Because you get it. You already know that music is important in the lives of our stu-

dents by participating in Strike Up the Band and Orchestra Continuo. Thank you. K2

Small-Star’s Classes Now Available in

Brooklyn Center, Edina & Burnsville!

Page 3

Building Basics. The Journey Begins It’s All Related. Technical and scientific descriptions of intonation are complicated. In a nutshell, poor intonation means

that one instrument sounds too high or too low in relation to a second instrument.

In order to fix an inconsistency in conflicting sounds, players can easily adjust an instrument by lengthening or shortening

it. For example, string players move the pegs and strings, and wind players move tuning slides, mouthpieces, or barrels.

The result is that the musician can make the pitch of the instrument go higher or lower. Additionally, all wind players

make their own intonation match another sound by adjusting their embouchure (mouth position) as they blow.

Are You Still Confused? “Tone” and “intonation” are easily confused. Musicians with good tone will likely play “in tune”

with other people, thus having good intonation. Players can achieve good intonation by “tuning up” with an electronic

tuner. Instrument method books and music teachers can show your child how to do this. Musicians can also build good

intonation by learning to listen and blend with their fellow musicians.

Tuning Point Equals Turning Point. Encourage your child to tune his or her instrument regularly. This will make a huge

difference in his or her ability to play with good tone quality and in tune with other people. Learning how to tune an in-

strument marks a major turning point in your child’s musical development. With good sound and good intonation, your

child will be on the way to creating great music and will also have a lot more fun playing!

Musicians should strive to play with good tone and, by extension, good intonation. However, they must practice and

learn these concepts in the music rehearsal and at home. Reminding your child about these critical concepts and emphasiz-

ing their importance sends an important message about music—you care about your child’s success and you want him or

her to improve! - Kris Knutson, Director of Education

Dictionary Disaster Somehow all of the words in the dictionary got mixed up! The librarian has started to correct it, but he needs

your help with these last few words. Read each word and its two possible meanings. Here are the answers for

you this month! How did you do?

Arabesque A spicy pasta sauce OR A ballet position

Pantaloon A percussion instrument OR A type of men’s pants from the 17th century

Crotales Very small cymbals OR A Mexican food dish

Tsetse To play very softly OR A poisonous African fly

Poco A word meaning “little” in OR A springy stick on which you can bounce

Italian

Arpeggio A large group of islands OR The notes of a chord played one right after another

Embouchure The shape of a person’s mouth OR A sudden attack from a hidden location

when playing a wind instrument

Succotash A stew with corn, lima beans OR To play an instrument by inhaling instead of exhaling

and tomatoes

Habanera A Spanish dance made famous OR A type of spicy pepper

in Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen

Tutti To play all together OR A ballerina’s costume

Pizzacato A baked Italian pie OR To play by plucking strings

Sackbut A very large bag of flour OR An early English version of the trombone

Hot Items!

2400 Freeway Boulevard

Brooklyn Center, MN 55430-1799

Phone: (763)398-5046

Fax: (763)566-4763

E-mail: kris.knutson@schmittmusic.com

E-mail: SMU@schmittmusic.com

Strike Up the Band and

Orchestra Continuo

SCHMITT MUSIC

We’re on the web!

www.Schmittmusic.com

Schmitt Music began the Strike Up the Band program in 1965 to bring music to

metro area children in private and parochial schools where a full-time band

director was not feasible. In 1992 the program expanded to help home school

families allow their children to participate in group music.

Thank you for choosing to enroll your child and giving them the experience of

learning to play a band or orchestra instrument. With the weekly group

lessons, weekly band/orchestra rehearsals and concert performances, you are

enabling your child with the group music experience important to every child’s

complete education!

Check Out the Honors Band Concert!

Even if you are not playing in the

Concert, come and listen for when it

is your turn!

Korg TM-40 Metronome

Tuner

The Digital Tuner That Lets

You Practice Pitch and Rhythm

at the Same Time!

When Korg introduced a digital

metronome tuner to the world,

the extremely high accuracy

and superb features made it a favorite among musicians from

every genre. The new Korg TM-40 is a digital metronome that

combines the accuracy and advanced features of Korgs world-

famous music products into a single, compact and easy-to-use

unit.

" The TM-40 is my favorite metronome. So many metronomes

today are combined with too many features. Sometimes simply

turning them on can be complicated! The TM-40 is perfect in

its layout. On one side is the metronome, and the other side is

Korgs very accurate tuner. This unit is very easy to use and it

makes me want to practice more!" - Lee Ritenour

Revolutionary Features:

A great lesson and practice tool, the TM-40 offers both tuner

and metronome functions that can be used simultaneously or

independently. A large LCD-type needle delivers both the accu-

racy of an LCD and excellent visibility of a needle indicator.

The metronome tuner also has LED indicators that show pitch

deviation or blink to indicate the tempo, making the TM-40 a

great visual tool.

Cost: $40.00

Any item can be ordered from your

band director! Help with intonation!

CA-1 Chromatic Tuner

The proven choice for any instru-

mentalist, our affordable CA-1

Chromatic Tuner is packed with

features missing from other low-

cost chromatic tuners. Pure Major

and Minor Third indicators benefit

any ensemble player. Auto Power Off preserves battery life.

Product Highlights:

Compact Chromatic Tuner, ideal for brass band or orchestra.

Wide range of pitch detection covers C1-C8.

High-precision LCD needle-type meter for stable tuning.

Sound Out produces a reference tone from the internal

speaker.

Calibration Function supports a variety of concert pitches.

Auto Power Off function conserves battery life.

Memory Backup function.

Approximately 100 hours of continuous use.

Ultra-compact, LCD Needle-Style Chromatic Tuner

High accuracy and superb functionality have made Korg tuners the

worldwide favorite. And now, the new CA-1 joins the best-selling

CA series of band tuners. With even more features, like a pitch ref-

erence tone and marks for pure major thirds and minor thirds, the

CA-1 Chromatic Tuner packs basic functionality and convenient

tuning functions into an ultra-compact body.

Cost: $19.99