Holiday Gift Giving Guide/Newsletter 11.29.07

Hi all,

This edition of the 'weekly' orchestra newsletter contains information about local and national businesses that have holiday sale items, alongwith some recommendations from Ms. Silberman. Hope that you find this helpful.

1) Local businesses
2) Online merchants
3) Recommendations from Ms. Silberman
4) Concert attire reminder
5) Wreath/poinsettia pickup Friday and Saturday!

1) Local music retailers Weathers Music and Uptown Music have many holiday offerings. Weathers printed up flyers with sale prices onaccessories and there's an additional offer that if you bring in theflyer, there's an additional discount that will be added to your purchase. Students will get these flyers on Thursday and Friday of this week. Uptown Music in Keizer and Strobel Violins (violas, cellos andbasses too) sent emailable flyers - please email Ms. Silberman if you would like the pdf sent to you.

2) The following online merchants have holiday sales and some added purchase bonuses (Southwest Strings is sending a complimentary tuner (!) along with any instrument purchase - but, please talk with Ms. Silbermanbefore purchasing an instrument online!!!. From Shar: Get a Shar gift certificate valued from $25 to $300 when you purchase select instruments or bows before December 31st, 2007.

Here are links:
http://www.swstrings.com/Store/Shopping.jsp

http://sharmusic.com/

3) Ms. Silberman recommends the following:Stocking stuffer ideas:

Jade Rosin - for violin, viola, or cello
IntelliTouch TunerShar Metronome Tuner ($10.49 - Shar)
Cleaner, Polish and Cloth packets (available at most merchants)
DVD's:
Barrage, The World On Stage (world and contemporary music)
Great Violinist of the Bell Telephone Hour
Oistrakh / Menuhin / Rostropovich (classic string playing!!)
Matt Glaser-Swingin' Jazz Violin (Improv/Fiddling)
Zara Nelsova: Grande Dame of the Cello
Mark O'Connor: Contest Fiddling, Championship Style
Cherub Keychain Tone GeneratorGlasser Colored (very cool!!)
Round Fiberglass Violin/Viola/Cello Bow($49/$51/$70 - Southwest Strings)

And, if you need other ideas, like music or CD suggestions, please contact Ms. Silberman

4) Reminder - our concert is Wednesday night Dec. 12 and all students`*MUST* be in proper concert attire in order to perform. If there are any issues with attire, please contact Ms. Silberman soon!

5) Wreaths and poinsettias need to be picked up in the A wing THIS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30th, 8:00 - 9:30 p.m. or THIS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 9:00 - noon.

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Schubert's Unfinished

Advanced Symphony is going to read Schubert's 8th symphony, the Unfinished. It's so named because it consists of only 2 movements. Though it was written 6 years before Schubert died, he never completed the symphony. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, one of the country's premiere ensemble groups, has a recording out including the symphony. To listen to a feature audio about the recording which has some interesting info about the symphony and the group, link to:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2006/10/24/classical_tracks/

And click on "Listen to feature audio"

Enjoy!
~Ms. Silberman

Statesman Journal

Senior choir student Kylie Alldredge wrote an article about Ms. Silberman that's in the Statesman Journal - it features some really neat quotes from Gwen Gates.

Link:
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007711280349

Quickie...

Hello Titan Orchestra Parents and Students!

There are some neat concert-going opportunities coming up... one of them is today! Remember, all students must turn in 2 concert reviews by semester end.

1) Oregon Symphony in Salem - this Tuesday, November 20 at 8pm - navigate to www.oregonsymphony.org or www.artsmartsalem.org for more information, including student discount pricing. The concert is Haydn and Beethoven - of particular interest to cellists!!

To see the story, click here (cut and paste - or go to Statesman Journal's website and search for "Oregon Symphony":
Link: _http:/
/www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007711160301_ (http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007711160301)

2) Pacific University Music Department (in Forest Grove, OR) presents A Joint Concert with Chamber Ensembles & The Pacific University Orchestra - at 7:30pm Friday, November 30, 2007. Dr. Seliger, conductor of the orchestras, will be coming to Salem in early December to guest conduct a rehearsal of our Advanced Symphony. He has given us 10 free tickets for the concert (normally $5/7 ticket prices). Please email or see Ms. Silberman if you are interested in
tickets. This would be of particular interest for any Juniors or Seniors who might be interested in Pacific University.

3) Poinsettias and wreaths will be ready for pick-up next Friday night and Saturday morning. Please make plans for picking up and don't wait to be called. Thanks!

This is a great time of year to see a Nutcracker Ballet or other holiday inspired show. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Newsletter 11/15/07

Orchestra News - Nov. 15, 2007

1) Concert on the blog is good for reviews!
2) Our winter concert date reminder
3) Gift giving helpful suggestions coming soon
4) Music online or at Weathers
5) High School Student Concerto Competition finals this weekend
6) Diane Cline's website

1) On the blog (www.titanorchestras.blogspot.com) Ms. Silberman put a link to the London Philharmonic Orchestra - you can watch a whole concert right there, at your leisure. Period 5 violinist Krysti Beach took it upon herself to review the concert... and Ms. Silberman accepted
that as one of her reviews. (Good idea Krysti!!!)

2) Reminder - our winter holiday-themed concert is WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 7pm.

3) Holiday time is gift giving time and Ms. Silberman has requested information from local music stores regarding their pricing for everything from musical stocking stuffers to big items like cases, bows, and instruments. As soon as information is received, Ms. Silberman will send
it out to this list.

4) To purchase downloadable/printable holiday music, you can search online music merchants like www.virtualsheetmusic.com - a good idea is to google search "christmas music download violin" or "holiday music download string quartet", etc. to find merchants who sell music that you can print out on your own printer. If the merchant requests that you download a program called "Sibelius Scorch" do so - it's a great add on that allows you to see and hear music before you download it. Also, Ms. Silberman can report that Weathers has a nice selection of holiday music for sale - but most of it's relatively easy to play... but, then again, a carol is a carol... the player can do all sorts of things to the tune to make it more interesting. Try even search for free
music... there's a lot out there!

5) This Sunday at 3pm is the Salem Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition finals (good idea for a review!) featuring local high school artists. Check out www.artsmartsalem.org (the folks who put together that neat arts calendar) for more info.

6) Ms. Cline, strings teacher at Harritt and Chapman Hill, has a great website resource for her students - you might want to check in every now and then:

http://dianecline.googlepages.com/s-kelementaryorchestras

Nutcracker links for Period 7

Oops... I thought I had these up already. Here they are:

http://www.thanksmuch.com/christmas/nutcracker-mp3.html

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,881003,00.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/tchaikovsky/audio/tchaikovsky_index.shtml

And, here you can hear a whole radio program about the Nutcracker:
http://www.classicsforkids.com/shows/showview.asp?ID=17

Enjoy!
~Ms. Silberman

Ding Dong Merrily for Periods 5 and 6

Hiya-

Here's "Ding Dong" links for Periods 5 and 6... :)

http://65.23.157.59/mp3/64621.mp3 (ok, there's some loud lady announcing it, but after that, you'll hear the arrangement that we're playing... )

Here's a vocal version, in case you're interested in learning the tune better...
http://groups.imeem.com/-SUBzIQB/music/V4EKAgAx/vocalessence_ensemble_singers_and_instrumentalists_ding_don/
~Ms. Silberman

Corelli factoid

Christmas Concerto (Corelli)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Concerto grosso in G minor, op.6 no. 8, by Arcangelo Corelli, known commonly as his Christmas Concerto, was commissioned by cardinal Pietro Ottoboni and published posthumously in 1714 as part of his Twelve concerti grossi, op.6. The concerto bears the inscription Fatto per la notte di Natale or "made for the night of Christmas". It was composed around 1690, since there is a record of Corelli having that year performed a Christmas concerto for the enjoyment of his then-new patron. The concerto is scored for an ensemble consisting of two concertino violins and cello, ripieno strings and continuo. The work is structured as a concerto da chiesa, in this case expanded from a typical four movement structure to five or six.

Movements:
Vivace-Grave. Arcate, sostenuto e come stà
Allegro
Adagio-Allegro-Adagio
Vivace
Allegro
Largo. Pastorale ad libitum

Each relatively short movement provides multiple tempi and a range of major and minor suspensions. The concerto is generally no longer than fifteen minutes, ending with Corelli's famous Pastorale ad libitum, a peaceful 12/8 finale in the Christmas pastorale form.
The third movement of this piece appeared on the soundtrack of the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

London Philharmonic Orchestra Online (Mahler/Berg)

Wow - check this out!!!

http://www.medici-arts.tv/lpo.html

Newsletter 11/9/07

1) Concert going options this weekend
2) Instrument exhibition in Portland
3) All-City
4) Thank you to parents
5) All-State
6) Practice logs *ARE* due Tuesday/Wednesday

1) This weekend there are 2 really great concert-going opportunities - the Portland Youth Philharmonic has their concert Saturday Nov. 10 and the Salem Pops has their Friday Nov. 9. For ticket prices and moreinformation http://www.salempopsorchestra.org/ and http://www.portlandyouthphil.org/. Remember to show your West Salem student ID at Salem area concerts to receive student pricing.

2) The 9th annual Cremona exhibit, an exhibit of beautifully handcrafted violins, violas and cellos from Cremona, Italy, will be coming to Portland this next weekend. David Kerr Violin Shop(www.kerrviolins.com/event.html) is hosting this incredible exhibit. There is an opening afternoon reception - for more information, please navigate to the website. This is a traveling exhibit - the instruments are available for viewing (playing) and acquisition (they're mostly advanced-professional quality instruments) - that I used to go to annually in Los Angeles. Even if you're not in the market for a many thousand dollar instrument, it's wonderful to visit the shop and see/play these instruments.

3) Salem's All-City orchestra applications are due Tuesday Nov. 13 - the application needs student and parent signature and must be accompanied by a $7 check made out to Salem-Keizer Public Schools. If you don't know whether or not your child has the application materials, please feel free to contact me (silberman_daryl@salkeiz.k12.or.us). This year's All-City conductor is internationally respected music educator professor Louis Bergonzi - and dynamic conductor and fantastically interesting educator.

4) Thank you to all the parents who have come to parent conferences and who attended the Parent Meeting this past Tuesday.

5)Congratulations to the students accepted to the 2008 Oregon All-State Orchestra:Gwen Gates, ViolinRobin Kim, ViolinTaylor Baldwin, BassTyler King, BassHonorable mention goes to Kayla Fedenrecht for a great effort getting her audition materials together. Auditioning for All-State or All-Northwest is a tough process that takes lots of practice time anddetermination. Students accepted to play All-State will play at the Oregon Music Educators Association conference in Eugune next January. It is very exciting to have West Salem High so well represented.

6) Just a quicky reminder that though students have 5 days off, they are still expected to practice some - periods 5,6, and 7 will need to turn in completed practice logs on the first day back next week, and period 1is learning a wonderful piece of music with solo parts - auditions will be held in 2 weeks to see who will perform the solos at the Dec. 12 concert.

Orchestra Newsletter 11 - 1 - 07

Orchestra Newsletter 11 - 1 - 07

1) Wreath Sales done Nov. 8
2) Parent Booster Meeting Nov. 6
3) Monday Concert opportunity
4) Extra Credit to students whose parents come to parent conferences
5) www.musicteachteacher.com

1) We're reaching the end of the fund-raising season for this Fall - we've complete Music Day, Entertainment Books, and Poinsettia Sales. Wreath sale packets with money need to be in the lock box by Nov. 8. Thank you to all who sold and purchased fund-raisers.

2) Parent meeting Tuesday November 6, 6:30pm - orchestra room. Please come to the next Orchestra Boosters meeting in the Orchestra room on Tuesday, November 6th, 6:30 p.m. We will be discussing finances, fundraising, retreat organization, future concert dates, and more. E-mail Jenny Gates with other suggested agenda items. (gatesjenny@aol.com)

3) This Monday students (and parents) have an opportunity to hear the world renowned St. Lawrence String Quartet in performance at Willamette University. See last week's newsletter for more information. Tickets for the concert are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, and are available at the Pentacle Theatre Ticket Office in Salem at 145 Liberty Street NE, Suite 102. Tickets can be charged over the phone by calling (503) 485-4300, and are subject to a service charge. For information call the Willamette University Music Department at (503) 370-6255.

4) NO SCHOOL this Thursday and Friday. Students will receive extra credit if their parents come to visit Ms. Silberman at parent conferences.

5) Here's a fun website that promotes musical learning: www.musictechteacher.com - rhythm, composers, music symbols and more. Enjoy!

Remember, this newsletter, all other newsletters, and other information is posted at www.titanorchestras.blogspot.com - please bookmark and check often.

Happy November!!
~Ms. Silberman

Electrics!

Students have been given the opportunity to 'jam' on Ms. Silberman's electric 4 and 5-stringed violins with electric guitar sound effects processors. Cellists had the opportunity to play an amplified bass (the best we can do until we are able to purchase, beg, or borrow a cello pickup or electric instrument).