09/01/2026
Hello, everyone! This year, I would like to try to communicate more than I did last semester to you, the parents, and the community about all things going on within the Leeton Music Program (along with any updates or important announcements)! I decided to do a weekly update that I like to call Mr. Martley's Monday Music Memo (or MMMMM, for short)! Without further ado, here are some of the things going on within the Leeton Music Program as we move into the 2nd week of School!
High School:
The Marching Band has been working hard to get ready for our public debut in a few weeks time at Carrollton Band Day! The Color Guard, along with Coach Dani, have been getting down with their routine, which will be to the tune of Wild Cherry's Play That Funky Music! Meanwhile, Drumline has been working through their cadences (entitled Storm, Sub-Sonic, Time Travel, and Zombie Squirrels)! In the coming weeks, you'll be seeing us a lot more on the streets as we work to march to our Parade tune this year, the Imperial March (from Star Wars)! We're sure excited for the season, and I hope you are too! We encourage those who are out and about to cheer us on in case you ever see us marching down the road (just to give us the boost of confidence we need to play our very best!)
A Couple of important reminders:
We are officially NOT going to Concordia, so feel free to take that off of the list of competitions!
Color Guard Practice starts at 5:45 AM, and lasts until 7:15 AM every day before school
Starting this week, Drumline practices are every Tuesday and Thursday during Bulldog Time, and runs until 4:00
Please get Physicals taken care of ASAP! I cannot let you practice without one!
Choir:
Well, we're small in numbers in Choir this year, but that doesn't mean we can be mighty in sound! We spent the last week determining our vocal ranges (to which, funnily enough, everyone's an Alto!). We also started working on Aural Training to work on identifying Solfege (or as what we like to call it, "THAT..."), and singing specific pitches to get us ready for our Christmas tunes, which we started looking for!
6th Grade Band:
Last week, we started looking through the Essential Elements Rhythm Studies to practicing how to count rhythms the Band way, and did a Note naming game to see how much the students remembered from Elementary Music! More excitingly, we did our official instrument testing, and everyone has determined what instruments they would like to play! We will start divvying out instruments in the weeks to come, and we'll start working out of the Essential Elements band method book!
7th/8th Grade Band:
The 7th/8th Grade band is the ensemble I'm most excited for this year, as this is by far my biggest group (19 kids!) We started getting back into playing by counting and playing through the same Rhythm Studies that 6th Grade has done. We'll also be diving back into Essential Elements (Book 1) This week!
Elementary Music:
This year, Elementary Music will be breaking down Music into 4 different components (or "vitals", as I like to call them). These 4 vitals are Rhythm, Pitch, Dynamics, and Articulation. We will be spending this first quarter dealing primarily with Rhythm, which means we will be doing a LOT of drumming, tapping, stomping, anything to get the Rhythms through your body! I hope everyone will be looking forward to what we have in store for the year!
That's all I have for now! If you have any questions, feel free to email them to me!
I'll see you next week for the next Monday Music Memo! LET'S GO BULLDOGS!
- Mr. Martley
