The band Tycoon Dog, led by the parents of Clinton first grader, Luke Bailey, will put on a free all-ages concert of family-friendly music this Sunday, April 21, from 3-5 pm in Memorial Park. The concert will take place on the grassy hillside across from the NJ Transit station, and the music is a blend of eclectic original songs and improv touching on rock, blues, pop, reggae, funk, soul, jazz, hillbilly country and other vibes. This is a great opportunity to be outdoors with your friends and neighbors while enjoying good music from a former nationally-touring band that has now settled down locally. You can’t beat that for a good time at a great price!

Click to see the free concert flyer for more information.

The South Orange Maplewood School District and the South Orange Maplewood Adult School Suzuki violin lessons begin this month.

This year students in grades K-4 can participate! Lessons take place at five local schools so you can choose the location and the time slot.

The inaugural year last year was a huge success. Registration will be open until classes are full.

Forms and information can be found here:
Suzuki Registration 2011-12 Form

A reminder that our 5th grade band and orchestra concert, originally scheduled for January 12th, will go on as planned on Monday, January 24, 7:30pm at South Orange Middle School.

Thursday, January 27th at 7:00pm is our district wide choral concert at South Orange Middle School.

There will be $5 suggested donation at each concert that will go to musician chairs for our district instrumental rooms.

See you there!

The SOM School District, in conjunction with the Adult School, proudly announces the first district wide Suzuki Violin Program. Students in grades K-3 are eligible for this exciting new program, which runs between Jan 10-June 12.

Registration forms will be going home in backpacks or you can click here to download program information. Instrument rental information can be found here . A completed registration form and payment are due back by December 23rd and scholarships are available. Please contact Anthony Mazzocchi, Clinton parent and Supervisor of the Fine Arts, with questions at amazzocc@somsd.k12.nj.us

Ms. Rebecca Martin (music) and Ms. Christine Tischio (art) spent two weeks of their summer at the Artist Teacher Institute hosted by Arts Horizons. This program is part of the training involved to administer Clinton School’s Artist-in-Residence grant from the New Jersey Council for the Arts. Last year the grant gave our fourth grade students the chance to work with Vince Ector, an amazing jazz musician. The year before that we hosted a professinal dance company. Our 2010-11 grant will focus on poetry. This grant is made possible by a collaboration between the Clinton PTA and Clinton School teachers and administration.

To learn more about the Art Institute (and to see Ms. Martin dancing salsa) take a look at the clip:

Clip

Our 4th-graders and Mrs. Konzelman’s class were amazing yesterday in the culminating performance of our artist-in-residence program with jazz percussionist Vince Ector.

They played percussion, some piano, and sang blues songs each class composed during the residency.

Patch was on hand to cover the event and there is a great story, photos of all the classes, and video coverage of a portion of the performance of Mrs. Khan’s class on the Patch site:

The grant was made possible by the New Jersey Council for the Arts and matched by the Clinton PTA. Much collaboration between school administrators, classroom and specials teachers, the PTA, the NJ Council, and our wonderful artist-in-residence were necessary to pull it off, and the results speak for themselves.

The Clinton PTA is having Mr. Ector back with his jazz ensemble on Monday afternoon, June 14th to perform for Clinton students. Parents will also be invited to attend. The show is scheduled for 1:30 pm.