Welcome everyone to another wonderful year of musicking at NDC!

This post will serve as the Course Outline and Information Package for the music programs at Notre Dame Collegiate for the 2023-2024 School Year.  Every email sent home to parents will be posted to this website, so bookmark it for future reference!

Important Dates (bold dates are confirmed)

• September 12, 2023 - Instrument Rental Night at 6:30 PM in the NDC Music Room
• September 21, 2023 - Startup Clinic Day (All Grade 7 Students, new Grade 8 students, Senior High Volunteer Clinicians)
• December 8, 2023 - Christmas Concert Night (Grade 7, 8, Woodshedders, Strings and Junior Panorama at 6:00 PM, Grade 9, Senior Band, Senior Combos and Senior Panorama at 7:30 PM)
• Mid March, 2024 - Grade 7 and 8 Drumheller Music Festival (Overnight trip, details to be announced sometime in February 2024)
• Mid March, 2024 - Junior and Senior Panorama at Highwood Lions Music Festival (Day trip, details to be announced sometime in February 2024)
• Mid-Late March 2024 - St. Cecilia String Ensemble to Lethbridge and District Music and Speech Arts Festival (Day trip, details to be announced sometime in February 2024)
• April 14-16, 2024 - Grade 9 Band and Stage Bands to Edmonton Cantando Festival (3 days and 2 nights, details to be announced sometime in October 2023)
• April 25-28, 2024 - Senior Concert Band to Con Brio Sun Peaks Festival by Kelowna, BC (4 days, 3 nights, details to be announced sometime in October 2023)
• May 18, 2024 - NDC Marching Band in Little Britches Parade and Battle of the Bands (single Saturday, completion by 2:30 PM)
• June 5?, 2024 - The Woodshedders, Senior Combos, and Junior and Senior Panorama perform at NDC Family Night
• June 6, 2024 - Year-End Showcase and Hall of Fame Awards Night (All Bands)

NDC Music Courses

• Grade 7 Concert Band - Meets Day 1 Block 1, students will select instruments in the first week, rent by September 12, should have their instruments in their possession by September 21 for our Startup Clinics.  Later in the year all Grade 7s participate in the NDC Marching Band for the May Long Weekend.  Performances throughout the year include festivals and concerts, and one solo or small ensemble piece.
• Grade 8 Concert Band - Meets Day 2 Block 2.  Students should have instruments at the school by September 11, 2023.  Performances throughout the year include festivals and concerts, one solo or small ensemble piece and optional participation in the NDC Marching Band.
• Grade 9 Concert Band - Meets Day 2 Block 4.  Students should have instruments at the school by September 11, 2023.  Performances throughout the year include festivals and concerts, one solo or small ensemble piece and optional participation in the NDC Marching Band.
• Instrumental Music 10-20-30 (Senior Concert Band) - Meets Day 1 Block 2.  Students should have instruments at the school by September 11, 2023.  Performances throughout the year include festivals and concerts, one solo or small ensemble piece and optional participation in the NDC Marching Band.
• St. Cecilia String Ensemble (includes General Music 10-20-30 for High School) - Unconfirmed Meeting Time is Tuesdays after school until 4:45 PM.  Performances throughout the year include festivals and concerts, and one solo or small ensemble piece.
• The Woodshedders - Unconfirmed Meeting Time is Thursdays after school until 4:45 PM.  Performances throughout the year include festivals and concerts.
• Junior Panorama - Meeting Time is Wednesdays from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM.  Performances throughout the year include festivals, concerts and any gigs they are hired for throughout the year.
• Instrumental Jazz 15-25-35 (Stage Band and Steel Pans) - Students may participate in one of these options or both.  If participating in one option, they receive 3 credits toward their high school diploma.  If they participate in both, they receive 5 credits toward their high school diploma.
  • Senior Combos - Unconfirmed Meeting Time is Mondays after school until 4:45 PM.  Performances throughout the year include festivals, concerts, and any gigs they are hired for throughout the year.
  • Senior Panorama - Senior Panorama meets on Wednesdays after school until 4:45 PM.  Performances throughout the year include festivals, concerts and any gigs they are hired for throughout the year.

Students interested in participating in any after-school music course (St. Cecilia Strings, The Woodshedders, Senior Jazz Combos, Panorama) must meet in the music room either Tuesday, September 5 at lunch or Wednesday, September 6 at lunch.

Uniforms

Students are expected to wear a uniform dress code for performances only.  This dress code includes for all ensembles black pants (not skirts), black socks, black shoes (no highlights on either the shoes or the laces, not open-toe), and a white no-logo no-print shirt (recommend a t-shirt or tank top).  The school will provide an NDC Music Jacket to wear over the white no-logo shirt as part of the uniform.  This also applies to after-school music programs.

Instrument Rentals

All instruments, where possible are rented through Long & McQuade.  Our representative from Long & McQuade will be at Notre Dame Collegiate for our Instrument Rental Night at 6:30 PM on September 12, 2023.  Instruments will be rented on that date, then delivered to the school at a later date in time for our Startup Clinics.  Students should always get the rental protection option, as well as a care kit, reeds (clarinets and saxophones), a shoulder rest (violins and violas), and a sticks-and-mallets kit (percussion, should include snare drum sticks, yarn mallets, hard plastic mallets, a mallet bag) at the time of rental.

Some instruments are cost-prohibitive to rent through Long & McQuade, such as tubas, euphoniums, baritone saxophones and unique instruments such as bassoons, oboes and bass trombones.  In those cases, Notre Dame Collegiate maintains a fleet of instruments that can be rented.  Where possible, especially for tubas, students will be rented a second tuba for at-home practice to reduce transportation of larger instruments, and that rental will be included with the rental of the first instrument.

Secondary instruments (such as for Stage Band) may be rented through Notre Dame Collegiate at a secondary instrument rental rate.

Percussion, Electronic Equipment, and Steel Pans Usage Fees are applied to all percussionists, pianists, guitarists, and steel panners.  These fees are required to be submitted before using the equipment.

Any instrument rental or user fees for equipment provided by Notre Dame Collegiate will be processed via SchoolCashOnline.  For more details of the rental amounts, visit The NDC Instrument Rentals page.

Students will be expected to maintain records of their instruments using Opus Administrative Assistant.
This tool will track the condition of instruments, even their own personally-owned instruments and rented instruments, along with their serial numbers and storage locations for those instruments.  Students will also be assigned a folder slot that will be tracked in Opus Administrative Assistant, as will be their Hall of Fame Points and their Practice Logs.

Student Expectations

Assignments and Marks

Marks for all music classes are split into 6 categories;

• 35% of Final Mark - Performances (every student has at least two performances, usually the Christmas and Year-End Concert.  Festivals also count toward this mark, and students are expected to make every effort to participate in festivals.  Those who cannot may receive an alternate performing assignment).  This is a performance-based class, and as such all performances are mandatory.
• 15% of Final Mark - Theory (every student will be responsible for three chapters of theory through the online portal Breezin' Thru Theory)
• 15% of Final Mark - Skills and Techniques (every student will be responsible for recording one solo or small ensemble piece demonstrating a specific skill, and other skills and technique assignments will be completed during class time)
• 10% of Final Mark - Listening and Responding (every student will be responsible for completing two assignments throughout the year where they must respond to some form of musicking)
• 10% of Final Mark - Creating (every student will complete one assignment that scaffolds fundamental musical creation skills)
• 15% of Final Mark - Collaboration (every student is expected to learn how to work with colleagues and synthesize a more enriched sound by combining efforts with others, building upon the strengths of each person for a mutual goal)

Each grade level will complete different tasks, however some tasks can be applied to multiple classes.  As an example, students in Grade 8 Concert Band will be expected to complete Chapter 3 Breezin' Thru Theory.  If a student also happens to participate in Strings, Steel Pans or the Woodshedders, each of those courses would have that same assignment; the student will only need to complete that assignment once, and it will be applied to all courses they are enrolled in.

For notes, instructional videos, and explanations of the assignments that will be expected of each student, visit the NDC Music Notes page.

Awards and Accomplishments

Important Links

	Opus Administrative Assistant For organizing folders, instrument rentals, practice logs and Hall of Fame points.		Breezin' Thru Theory All music students will be completing at least 3 Chapters using this online tool, accessible from home.		SchoolCashOnline For all school fees including NDC Instrument Rentals, Band Trip Fees and trip Permission Forms.
	WindyJ's NDC Notes All Mr. Windsor's Notes and Music Assignment Descriptions including Video and Audio Resources.		BandLab All music students will be submitting skills assignments, but will also have access to recordings of their music here.		PowerSchool All marks and assignments are posted on PowerSchool. Please see above for how marks are calculated in music.

I can't wait to get started on the year with you all!
Let's have a great year of musicking together!