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Nine Weeks Update

Dear Hawks,

It’s hard to believe we’re already rounding out the first nine weeks of school! We’ve made some adjustments and I’m sure there will many more, but no matter what form orchestra takes it is a joy to discover and learn new music every day.

Please take a moment to read through the following updates and clarifications as they pertain to your student. If you have any questions feel free to contact me with the contact information below.

Parent Survey

Please take a moment to fill out the Parent Survey. We gather feedback from our students regularly and we’d love to hear from you too.
https://forms.gle/ASxyKdP2PuQN2WVy7

Virtual Class Expectations

The virtual students meet every day from 10:55am-11:25am. The Webex meeting room opens at 10:50am. Two rounds of attendance are taken, first at 10:50am and again at 10:55am. Every virtual student is required to fill out the attendance form every day, which includes attendance records, daily curricular questions, and general feedback questions. Missing both rounds of attendance and/or the attendance form may result in an unexcused absence and/or lower daily assignment grades. Please let me know if your student is unable to attend class, or they may contact me as soon as possible on Webex if they are experiencing technical difficulties.

Our students are facing an unprecedented challenge of individual and self-guided learning. Beyond this they may be facing additional challenges that we may not be fully aware of. As always I ask and expect them to do their best, and whatever that is for wherever they are, we can find a path for them to be successful. We are continuing to explore different musical possibilities and this may include individual discovery as well as ensemble music more connected to the in-person orchestras. The general practice expectations are for your student to practice for thirty minutes a day, five days a week. For context our in-person orchestras are rehearsing for 450 minutes a week, with the same individual practice expectations outside of class. Individual practice can be daunting, so much of our virtual lessons are on how to use practice time to focus and improve on individual ability. Maestro Itzhak Perlman has noted that he practiced for three hours a day growing up, but recommends not practicing more than five hours a day 😉 Please let me know if I can be of any assistance in helping set up a successful practice routine at home.

In-Person Expectations

Class rehearsals are proceeding with some major and minor adjustments in accordance with the district guidelines. This is a friendly reminder that every student must bring their own set of orchestra accessories to class every day. This includes rosin, a cleaning cloth, Tonal Energy installed on their device, shoulder rest (violins/violas) and (recommended) accessory pouch for cellos/basses. In the past some sharing between players has been accepted, however sharing school supplies is currently strictly prohibited.

All-Region

All-Region will look a little bit different this year and our All-Region candidates will receive training in the Webex group. The audition window will open on Saturday, October 10 at 10:00am and close on Wednesday October 14 at 11:59pm. On-campus recording with high quality microphones is available for Virtual and In-Person students after school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let me know if you would like to reserve a recording time. Please wish our auditioners the best as they represent Hebron at (Virtual) All-Region!

Archive

We have a new tab on http://www.hebronorchestra.org! Visit https://hebronorchestra.org/archive/ to listen to a selection of past Hebron Orchestra performances. More performances will be added as they become available, but some past recordings may be omitted due to copyright considerations.

Orchestra Updates

Hebron Orchestra 2020-2021
Orchestra Updates

Dear Hawks,

We are so excited to welcome back many of our students to campus next Tuesday. I know we’re all doing our best with remote learning… it’s a totally different experience to bring music to life together every day. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to review the Hebron and LISD guidelines for our return to campus. In addition to campus guidelines we will also have LISD Fine Arts guidelines for the orchestra room.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1boKzZwwVN-CRBWY7rK3ov3AV1VsBc9MA/view

Private Lessons

Our private lesson program is going to look a little bit different this year. Our goal is the same – to provide high quality private instruction to our students.

Private lessons are an essential component of musical and instrumental development. Typically a private teacher will give your student an individual lesson in a private lesson room during class. Due to district policy, lessons will be conducted online for the foreseeable future. Lessons allow for individual, focused attention to the needs of the student, allowing for the strongest and most consistent progress as a musician. Lessons also give your student the greatest chance at higher musical achievement, such as placement in the All-Region Orchestra, and/or high achievement at the Solo & Ensemble Festival.

Our lesson teachers are highly qualified and experienced, and are vetted by LISD. The lesson rate of $22 per half hour is set by LISD. In addition to teaching they may regularly perform as professional musicians throughout the metroplex and beyond. Their schedules may be extremely limited so lessons will be arranged on a first come/first served basis.

Private lessons are highly encouraged for all members of the orchestra. Our focus with the Hebron Orchestra is individual progress combined with team achievement.

Please click the link to sign up for private lessons this year:
https://forms.gle/j3MsgpNAMndFiPHXA

It’s been great to see and meet our students online and I’m looking forward to putting names with faces, or maybe seeing some spring/summer growth spurts.

Please let me know if there’s anything I can help with, and we hope to share some new music with you all soon!

Matthew CautivarOrchestra Director
Hebron HS | Lewisville ISD
cautivarm@lisd.net
469-948-3010

Hebron Orchestra 2020: Into the Unknown!

Dear Hawks,This is Matthew Cautivar with the Hebron Orchestra. If you’re new to the Hebron Orchestra I want to welcome you to the orchestra family, and if you’re returning I want to welcome you back!

As we head into the unknown, please help us adhere to the plan set forth by LISD:

We will begin classes tomorrow by meeting on Webex. The Webex groups will be created via Canvas. The orchestra class schedule is currently as follows:

1st Period – Concert Orchestra
2nd Period – Virtual Orchestra – Intermediate (Concert Orchestra Level)/Advanced (Symphonic and Chamber Orchestra Level)
3rd Period – Chamber Orchestra
4th Period – Symphonic Orchestra

Since there are two virtual classes scheduled during 2nd period, Intermediate will meet from 10:15am – 10:45am and Advanced will meet from 10:45 – 11:15.

I am currently available for office hours during Tutoring and PLC time.

Per district instructions, if you received a Webex Teams invite via email, please delete it. This is a direct result of the Parent Observer Role. When LISD teachers began the Canvas integration with WebEx Teams, it notified students as well as parent observers. This communication was not intended to be sent to parents and parents cannot be a member of their child’s WebEx Team.

Scheduling

Thank you for your patience as we work out any scheduling discrepancies still remaining. We will go over scheduling during class tomorrow and hopefully resolve them as soon as possible.

Attendance

It is extremely important for us to take accurate attendance in accordance with the district guidelines. Please have your student log in to their WebEx class according to their most recent schedule for tomorrow. If they are unable to attend for any reason, please let me know as soon as possible.

Music

I’ve always asked our students to view new challenges as new opportunities. Whether we like it or not, we will have many new opportunities this year. I’m excited for our orchestra to discover and explore new facets of music and find new ways to share music performances with you and the Hebron community.

2020 Orchestra Greeting

I’m looking forward to this year no matter what direction it takes us. Thank you in advance for your patience as we communicate frequently as our year rolls out. For your reference, orchestra emails will also be posted to our website at hebronorchestra.org. This email list was newly generated from your current Skyward accounts, so please feel free to manage your email preferences again this year.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdz61Ct8syN6YMv98Z7XTR3aeouriCTbWGoftOzPmeUVV98A/viewform

Please let me know if there’s anything I can help with, and I hope to see you all soon, online or in-person!

Matthew Cautivar

Orchestra Director
Hebron HS | Lewisville ISD
cautivarm@lisd.net
469-948-3010

Orchestra Email Form

This form is only required if you would like us to add a new email address or remove an old email address to the mailing list. If you are already receiving orchestra emails at your preferred email address you do not need to fill out this form.

Orchestra emails will also be posted at hebronorchestra.org

Please email Mr. Cautivar at cautivarm@lisd.net if you have any questions.

Orchestra – Virtual Options

LISD has added virtual learning course options for all Performing Arts programs.

You have the opportunity to amend your survey response and course requests through August 5th.

Please note that there will be a limited number of course offerings, as it is not possible to replicate all of the specialized and leveled options afforded through in person learning. We will make every effort to maintain instructional delivery plans within clusters, as our performing arts curriculum is cluster-based.

Virtual instruction will include a combination of remote, synchronous delivery and asynchronous practice and assignment completion by virtual track students. Families should be aware that their synchronous virtual learning experiences may not be with their current director at their campus, although we will be able to maintain direct connectivity through student access to program enrichment materials in CANVAS.

The list of virtual course offerings will be updated to include the following performing arts courses:

Middle School (Note – 6th grade beginning performing arts are already offered virtually):

Band Middle School Intermediate; Band Middle School Advanced
Choir Middle School Intermediate; Choir Middle School Advanced
Orchestra Middle School Intermediate; Orchestra Middle School Advanced
Theatre Middle School Intermediate; Theatre Middle School Advanced

High School:

Band High School Intermediate; Band High School Advanced; Percussion; Color Guard
Choir High School Intermediate; Choir High School Advanced
Dance High School Intermediate; Dance High School Advanced
Orchestra High School Intermediate; Orchestra High School Advanced
Theatre High School Intermediate; Theatre High School Advanced; Theatre High School Technical

Things to consider:

As per TEA guidance for the 2020-21 school year, families will have the option to reconsider their learning plan preferences each 9 weeks.
Colleges and universities are well aware of the conditions affecting opportunities in the performing arts, and they are contending with the same issues for their prospective graduates. We encourage individual skill development and preparation, focusing upon what students CAN do.
Virtual track students MAY participate in extra-curricular components of their respective programs in accordance with modified UIL guidelines this school year.

For more information visit: LISD.net Return to School Update

The Finish Line

hebron orchestra 2020 3x1

Dear Hawks,

Well it’s been a strange journey but we’ve crossed the finish line. I am so proud of our students and I hope we can come back better than ever next year. I’m sad we missed out on many of our spring events, but I challenge our students to cherish everything we did this year, and throughout all of the years they’ve played in orchestra. We all decide what music means to us in our lives, and as our seniors move on I hope that music doesn’t become a part of their past, but continues to be in their lives in different ways.

Our orchestra wouldn’t be successful without you! I want to thank you all for helping us put together our program. We didn’t know it then, but we ended our performance year with three superior UIL sweepstakes – an incredible recognition by the state that takes many dedicated people to accomplish year in and year out. Special thanks to our wonderful booster club officers, parent volunteers, student leadership team, Hebron admin, middle school directors, and private lesson teachers. Thank you to all of our parents! You were your student’s first teacher, and maybe some of you weren’t expecting to revisit that this spring. 🙂

Trip Reimbursement

For those of you who were planning on going on the spring trip, US Integrity Tours has issued an 85% refund to you on the original ticket price. Please fill out this form in order to choose your refund options.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXOYhGll4JDWrXtPRy1VeeC7wyHk0-v_mVBIwkEEIlLxcmZQ/viewform

The trip reimbursement will be held by the booster club until a refund option is selected.

Uniform Return

If you missed the scheduled uniform return it’s ok. Please hold the uniform for the summer and return it to the orchestra when it is declared safe to do so.

Chamber Orchestra Summer Assignment

The Chamber Orchestra summer camp is TBD. Here are the links to the summer music assignment:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cBLYEr7JzqY6JofYdNUAqJEyqaaWeD1H?usp=sharing
All State Audition Information:
https://www.tmea.org/divisions-regions/orchestra/audition-material

Solo & Ensemble

Our Solo & Ensemble Festival took on a new format, among the many curveballs we were thrown. Many of our students were still able to prepare a superior performance for their solo & ensemble project. Typically only one solo and one ensemble performance is recognized in each festival room as one of the outstanding performances of the day between all orchestra students in the district. In lieu of this I would like to recognize the following students for their Outstanding Solo & Ensemble recordings:

(In alphabetical order)
Kessa Dryburgh
Grace Ebbinghouse
John Hwang
Elli Kim
Ke’Juan Thompson
Alice Wei

I hope you all have a wonderful summer, stay safe and healthy, and I’ll be looking forward to us having another fantastic orchestra next year!
Matthew Cautivar

Orchestra Director
Hebron HS | Lewisville ISD
cautivarm@lisd.net
469-948-3010