North Babylon students named to All-State Music Festival

Congratulations to Seniors Kourtney Krause and Richard Corragio, who have both been selected by the New York State School Music Association to perform in the All State Festival in December, 2008.  Richard and Kourtney will be performing with the All State Chorus ensembles, joining approximately 300 students from around the State in rehearsals with a guest conductor.  The culminating concert will be held in the famous Eastman School of Music Auditorium in Rochester.  

In addition to Richard and Kourtney, Merissa Principe and Alex Proctor were selected as alternates to the Festival.  We congratulate the students and their wonderful teacher, Ms. Irene Seubert, on this fantastic achievement.  For additional information on the All-State selection process, click here.

North Babylon shares in National Endowment for the Humanities Grant

Belmont and Woods Road Elementary Schools have been selected by Friends of the Arts, Inc. (fotapresents.org) to participate in their Artreach Program for the 2007-08 school year.  Belmont's successful "Colors of Jazz" project during the 2007-08 school year, which culminated in a day-long Mardi-Gras on April 17, 2008, so impressed the staff at FOTA that they decided to invite a second school to participate in the Grant funded project.  This year's theme at both schools "Stand Up and Be Jazzed" will focus on improvisation in both the arts and literacy, with a goal of improving student skills in composition in all subject areas through study in the arts.

 Jazz Sampler is designed to introduce students to the history and elements of jazz through workshops and performances with professional artists; to use jazz as the vehicle to deepen student learning, motivate students to read, write, and learn in all subject areas; and to enable classroom and specialty teachers to incorporate the theme of jazz into their curriculum.

Did you see the article "Audience etiquette for school concert season" by Pat Burson in Newsday on December 16, 2007?  If not, go to www.Newsday.com and search for "concert etiquette".  Included in that article are these suggestions from the Music Educators National Conference:

10 RULES OF CONCERT ETIQUETTE FOR ADULTS

Refrain from talking.  This is the first and greatest rule. This rule includes whispering to or disciplining your other children.

Refrain from unwrapping noisy candy wrappers during the performance. If the composers wanted to include crinkle paper noises in the music, they would have.

Turn off pagers, cell phones and watch alarms. While many phones and pagers now have very symphonic-like rings, they don't always fit into the musical score, nor do they provide pleasant sounds for your neighbors.

Do not wave to your child during the concert. After all, they do know who you are already, and they know you are there; you most likely brought them to the concert.

Do not take flash photography. You don't want your child to walk off the edge of the stage from flash blindness, do you?

Do not walk down the center aisle with your video camera. Video cameras work just as well from the back of the auditorium. (Besides, the light is usually not good enough for videotaping anyway. )

Do not leave as soon as your child's portion of the concert is over. All of the students deserve a full audience for their performances. Remember, the next time your child's song could come last.

Applaud at appropriate times. Some music has several sections. Remember, it's not over until all of the sections have been performed.

Do not leave the auditorium during the music. Wait for a break in the concert to visit the restroom, unless you are carrying a screaming child, in which case you should leave quietly and quickly, please!

Go to the concert expecting the best. You just might be surprised how good your student sounds when other students join in.