Student musicians and staff got off to an energetic start on Monday and Tuesday as all IIM programs went into full swing. Excitement and fun were in the air as bands gathered for the first time.
Young Rockers enthusiastically practiced counting, marching, and other rhythm exercises as a way to learn basic time signatures. They also began choosing a first song and worked together to select which instruments they were going to play first.
While Young Rockers arrive in a room with all the instruments set up for them, the Advanced Young Rockers got their first taste of setting up their equipment. Then they also did rhythm exercises and discussed quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes. Next, they chose their first song and got started learning the basic structure and chords for that song.
Rockers, most of whom are returning students from previous years, jumped right into choosing songs and, in some cases, reviewing songs they had performed in their final shows last year. For their new first song of the year, staff worked with them to review and solidify their understanding of counting, helping them to identify time signatures and tempos. Staff members also stressed the importance of identifying and writing down not only chord patterns, but the actual structure of the song.
Individual instrument lessons in guitar, bass, voice, and piano are all ongoing, along with Songwriting and Music Theory classes. We still have space in our Sound Engineering course, which features instruction in both live and studio sound, in a hands-on environment. An organizational meeting to begin planning the Community Arts Magazine also took place, as Anwar, Rick, and Rick helped students brainstorm article ideas for initial online postings.