JAMS Music announcements from Debra Schaaf

Music Announcements

First meeting of Friends of Jane Addams Music (FOJAM): Wednesday, June 11, 7 pm, JAMS Library: This organization will support the JAMS Music Department to ensure high-quality experiences for all music students. Please join us!!

Music Mailing List

If you haven’t already, please register your email address and child’s information here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14qCTd2KY00wGNm8LfSa3IZ6cU2O35fKTyCoyL8prWCs/viewform

6^th Grade Music Placement Audition Dates

There will be 4 levels each of Concert Band and String Orchestra available at JAMS next year. Try-outs for placement in Band and Orchestra Classes will be held Saturday, June 7 and Saturday, June 14 at JAMS. An audition is NOT necessary for students who wish to join band or orchestra for the first time, or who would like to begin a new instrument.

Students should bring their instrument and music/book, and should be prepared to play something that they feel they play well.

Here is the link to the sign-up for BAND (Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet, all saxes, Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Baritone/Euphonium, Tuba, Percussion.): http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4BAEAA2BABF58-band

Here is the link to the sign-up for ORCHESTRA: (Violin, Viola, Cello, String Bass): http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4BAEAA2BABF58-orchestra

7^th and 8^th Grade Placement

Students from Hamilton and Eckstein Middle Schools will be placed in band or orchestra classes based on recommendations from Mr. Rowe, Mrs. Armaly, Mr. Escobedo, and Mr. Smith. Students transferring from other middle schools will need to audition for placement. Please use one of the links above to sign up.

Senior Jazz Audition Date

Admission to Sr. Jazz is by audition only; at least a year of Junior Jazz experience is required. Instrumentation is limited to standard big-band: alto, tenor and baritone saxes; trumpets; trombones; and rhythm section. Auditions for Senior Jazz Band will be held Friday, June 13 at JAMS. Students should be prepared to play:

Horns: (saxes, trumpets & trombones): two different major scales of their choice (one of which must be two octaves) and one chromatic scale (preferably two octaves), a piece that demonstrates understanding of jazz style, a demonstration of improvisation (optional; concert B flat blues is recommended. There are high-quality backing tracks available on Youtube for practice, or you can use Jamey Aebersold discs) and sight-reading.

Piano, bass, guitar: a prepared piece that demonstrates understanding of jazz style, a demonstration of improvisation (optional; concert B flat blues is recommended) and sight-reading

Drum Set: demonstrate steady time in three different styles: Swing, Latin of your choice, third style of your choice; sight-reading.

Although this sounds like a lot, I promise to keep this as low-key and low-stress as possible, and am thinking of this as a first opportunity to get to know students individually and to just find out what they know and can already do. If there’s something listed in the audition requirements that students are unsure of, DON’T PANIC! We’re here to learn!!

Here is the link to the sign-up for SR. JAZZ: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4BAEAA2BABF58-srjazz

Junior Jazz Sign-up

Junior Jazz is open to students who have at least one year of experience on their instrument. Sign-up forms will be available after the start of school. Junior Jazz will meet twice a week after school on Wednesdays and Fridays, and will be taught by Colin Pulkrabek.

Questions? Contact Deborah Schaaf: deschaaf@seattleschools.org

Instrument Rentals

If you are new to band or orchestra, you will need an instrument! Renting an instrument generally costs between $25 and $45 per month. Here is a list of shops that provide rental services:

The Bass Church: (specializing in double bass)

9716 Phinney Ave N

Seattle, WA 98103

(206) 784-6626

Bischofberger Violins: (Violin, viola cello)

1314 E John St

Seattle, WA 98102

(206) 324-3119

Capitol Music Center:

1006 NE 50^th Street

Seattle, WA  98105

(206) 622-0171

Hammond-Ashley Violins: (All orchestral strings, including double bass)

320 Third Ave NE

Issaquah, WA  98027

(425) 392-396

Kennelly Keys Music:

Across the street from Northgate Mall
10720 5th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98125
(206) 440-8299

Metropolitan Music:

8414 5^th Ave NE

Seattle, WA 98115

(206) 729-9299

Mills Music:

13500 Bel Red Road Suite A

Bellevue, WA 98005

(425) 643-3100

Seattle Sound Repair

4122 Stone Way N

Seattle, WA  98103

(206) 659-9023

It is the policy of the JAMS Music Department that every interested student be able to participate, regardless of his/her family’s ability to provide an instrument. If instrument rental causes financial hardship, please contact us about borrowing a school instrument.

JAMS music booster club (FOJAM) seeks volunteers for its Board of Directors

More good news for music-loving JAMS families: Zari Magness, the president of Hamilton's very active and effective music booster club, has announced the formation of a similar club for JAMS!  Zari is looking for volunteers for the FOJAM (Friends of Jane Addams Music) Board of Directors. Please see Zari's message below. If you would like to get involved, you should be able to get a message to Zari through principal Paula Montgomery at p l mont gom ery at seattle schools dot org or the incoming JAMS Music Teacher Leader, Debra Schaaf: d e schaaf at seattle schools dot org [remove spaces, replace words with symbols].  Music at JAMS is going to be fantastic!

Dear incoming JAMS families,

I am pleased to update you on the status of the new nonprofit music booster
club for Jane Addams Middle School. The purpose of the organization is to
support the music program and music directors at Jane Addams and provide
enrichment for all music students. We are happy to announce that Articles of
incorporation for Friends of Jane Addams Music (FOJAM) have been filed with
the state by one of the Hamilton parents, Faith Pettis of Pacifica Law
Group. We are grateful to Faith and her firm who agreed to do the legal work
pro bono for FOJAM. We still need to make the 501c3 filing with the IRS
which will incur some additional filing fees, but we will detail those later
on.

In the meanwhile, we need to identify 7 volunteer director positions for the
FOJAM board. Attached please find a short document (~8 pages) with the board
structure and responsibilities and let me know if any of these positions are
of interest to you. Ideally the board should be representative of all
schools feeding into JAMS. Once we have nominations for these positions, a
meeting will be called to vote on the directors as well as to vote on the
FOJAM bylaws.

If you can not commit to a board position right now, there are many
volunteer positions where you can help. These non-board positions are also
listed in the boxes in the attached document as well but I can provide you
more details on what they entail. To provide a great music experience for
our students at JAMS, please consider helping out by volunteering for any of
the many jobs that will need you when school starts. If you have experience
writing grants, please contact me, so we can start brain-storming while the
FOJAM startup goes through.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions.

Sincerely,
Zari Magness
2013-14 President

          Friends of Music at Hamilton International Middle school. 

New JAMS PTSA web site puts you in touch with Music Department and PTSA!

The JAMS PTSA Steering committee has set up a web site -- www.jamsptsa.org -- to keep families informed of all events happening at the new Jane Addams Middle School.  This site has links for useful JAMS-specific information.  The Steering Committee is busily working on putting together the charter application for JAMS membership in the Washington State PTA.

Here's a great opportunity for music-loving kids to let Debra Schaaf, the Music Teacher Leader of JAMS, know about their talents and what music opportunities they'd like to have at JAMS.  Click on "JAMS Music Information Form" in the upper right corner of the main page to submit your information to help Ms. Schaaf and Principal Montgomery in their music planning.

Thanks to the JAMS PTSA Steering Committee for their ongoing work!

Music Teacher Leader Announced; Interview Training

JAMS has hired its first teacher!  From the JAMS Fusion page:

JAMS Music Leader Announced

We are incredibly pleased to announce that Debra Schaaf has accepted the position as the Music Leader for Jane Addams Middle School.

Debra has built the instrumental music programs at both Orca k-8 as well as Aki Middle School. She has developed significant arts partnerships for students throughout the district and also serves as lead teacher through our Career ladder teacher program. With nearly 20 years of music expereince, Debra has the right skill set to lead the development of the Jane Addams Middle School music program. She will be a great addition to the great cadre of music educators in North Seattle. Please join us in welcoming her as the first Jane Addams Middle School teacher!

 You can watch a performance by the Orca Jazz Band here!

Hiring of teacher leaders is going on right now, and hiring of other teachers will be continuing into the spring.  Anyone who would like to participate on an interview team must complete the Seattle Education Association training and then notify Paula Montgomery of their interest.  Students can participate in the training and be on an interview team, too!

There is an interview training being held TODAY at the Jane Addams building from 4-5 p.m.  Contact Paula Montgomery at p l mont gom ery at seattle schools dot org [remove spaces, replace words with symbols] to see whether there is space if you are interested in joining in today. 

The next training being held at the John Stanford Center is on February 11, 2014.  Email Regina Redmond at: SEA at washington ea dot org [remove spaces, replace words with symbols] to register (pre-registration is required).

Information from Paula Montgomery on JAMS Programming

Thank you all for your comments and questions on the last post. We asked Paula Montgomery, the JAMS Planning Principal, for information on planned meetings with families. We also sent her the link to the last post so she could see what some families are thinking about.

Ms. Montgomery is working on a master calendar of currently scheduled meetings with families and will get it to us at the beginning of next week to post. We know from a meeting she had with a group of Sacajawea families last week that she is planning multiple appearances at PTA meetings and with kids at Eckstein and Hamilton who will be geo-split away to JAMS to get their perspectives. Definitely watch for that master calendar and take advantage of the chance to get to know her and ask her questions.

Here are Ms. Montgomery's "quick big answers" to questions posed on the blog. 

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1. Yes, JAMS will have Algebra 2 next year. It looks as if we may have enough qualified students for two sections.

2. Geometry and Algebra 1, no problem. Plenty of sections.

3. Yes, for band and orchestra program. Just added a second music room to the plans for Phase 2 (summer 2014). The number of sections/levels will be driven by student needs. Both Hamilton and Eckstein band directors are involved in planning.

4. Working on initial instrument and library inventory with district.

5. Yes to foreign languages, starting for 6th graders. At this point, I can say absolutely Spanish and Japanese due in large part to preparing students for high school. I will need to see the number of current 6th graders in French before making a decision.

6. Spent day at Garfield, learning what needs to happen in APP at the middle level for students to be successful in 9th grade. Plan to visit Ingraham as well.

7. Yes to biology. Hoping to pull off science electives as well. Our school site is an amazing resource for environmental sciences. In conversation with science leaders in the district to develop possibilities.

8. Teacher leader positions are now posted! An all Seattle district email should be sent out next week, alerting teachers about the opportunity. Hope to have interviews in late December. May have to interview in early January given how busy December is . These leaders should be on board by mid-January.

9. Other programming decisions are waiting for 1) student data review, 2) teacher leader input, 3) student input, and 4) parent input.

And now I have a BIG ask. If anyone out there is able/willing to do pro-bono work on logo design. I would love to connect. Our BEX levy is really covering academic spaces and curriculum and this is an area that has not been addressed. Would love to use the expertise of a professional to start designing logo/mascot possibilities and have our future JAMS students select the mascot/colors/etc prior to February. The architect for the project then can include these elements into finishes for our school.
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If you're interested in providing some design help, Ms. Montgomery can be reached at p l mont gomery at seattle schools dot org. [remove all spaces, replace words with symbols.]

Also, information that Ms. Montgomery passed on from Tracy Libros in response to the questions raised by maps of the JAMS, Eckstein and Hamilton attendance areas: they are working on "enlarged (and therefore more detailed) maps of the middle school attendance areas for JAMS, Eckstein, and Hamilton."  Dr. Libros provides this info for families: "For specific information on where your child will be assigned for next year (2014-15), please go to the Address Lookup Tool on the district’s web site. We are in the process of updating that information for 2014-15 to reflect changes approved by the School Board. We expect to have the updated information posted the week after the Thanksgiving break."

Now a request from us to you: please share the address of this blog with people you know. The more community involvement, the better it will be. Thanks.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!