Mrs. Cancino’s Fifth Grade Band Newsletter
October 19, 2015
Dear Band Parents:
So many wonderful things are happening!! I can’t wait to tell you all 
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Several of your children who were struggling have begun to show improvements! Fingerings, tone,
reading, tonguing…it’s all starting to come together for my late bloomers. I’m just so happy for them!

TONS of your children are going above and beyond to earn their Band Ninja Belts. This is just terrific.
This week, we took the first Yellow Belt test of three, and at least half, if not all, of every class
volunteered to play an exercise that was NOT a regular playing test. AND, I purposely chose
challenging exercises from the book for the belt tests. If your child didn’t play line #22 this week, we’ll
be doing more tests next week, and they’ll need to perform #22, #23, and #35 accurately in order to
earn the next belt. Way to go!!

Your children have learned seven notes, fifteen vocabulary terms, and six different rhythms. At one
of my schools, a fifth grade teacher heard the class and stopped in to commend them. “You’ve only
been playing for two months, and you’re already playing songs,” he exclaimed. This is happening at all
four of my schools, so you should be very proud of your budding band member.
We are now getting to the “fun” part of band, when the students have mastered enough basic material that
they have more to play. You should be inundated at home with beautiful music.
The end of the first quarter is fast-approaching, and I had optimistically scheduled several playing tests.
However, during this week’s test on line #21, even the more advanced players were struggling with accuracy.
Because I believe the point of education is not to take tests, I’m postponing the playing tests on pages 10 and
11 to the second quarter. The students will have more than enough time to absorb the material and to
develop the technique to play lines #33 and #38 well over the next few weeks. All of the students should
currently be practicing pages 10-11 in the Method Book (Standard of Excellence, book 1), pages 1-3 in the Band
Practice Pages packet, and exercises #1-5 in the Daily Warm-Ups for Band packet. And, for fun, they have
page 35 of The Real Book. *Some children are working on pages 6-9 to review and master past information*
All classes received a 3-worksheet packet last week…only a few have returned it completed. Please check
with your child to make sure it’s been turned in. I’ll have it back to them this week, so they can use it to study
for the written quarterly exam on November 3 and 4.
I’m not sure if you have all been informed, but Band grades will NOT appear on the first quarter’s report card.
Your child’s current grade is actually quarter two, and will be added to his/her average at the semester.
Enjoy your week!
Mrs. Cancino
Wade, Diggs, Jenifer, & Berry
mkcancino@ccboe.com
http://www.ccboe.com/departments/music/