Irving Elementary Band

8:30 in the morning is never a good time to listen to band, but especially a fifth grade beginning band. I'm keeding, I'm keeding!! They were surprisingly good, especially with two oboes and a new student who had never studied music before. The teacher didn't really warm them up, but rather launched into the rep right away. I applaude that, and even though I believe a warm up is a very important part of ensemble playing, with the limited time she had, and the questionable intonation already, perhaps focusing on the notes and rhythms was more important at this point. They didn't have an actual music classroom, but instead they were in a regular classroom with the desks moved aside and the band set up at one end. She seemed to focus a bit on the drum section, leaving the rest of the band to kind of goof off, but as soon as the "sectional" was over they were all right back attention-wise and ready to play.