Welcome back for another year!

The past two days we have been settling into our new classes - students and teachers alike! We are excited for the prospects that this new year will bring, and we are committed to approaching them with the purpose, pride, and passion of Hopewell School District.

For those of you in Mr. Toporski's classes, please check out the following information for staying updated through the Remind alert system:

• 7th Gr. General Music: https://www.remind.com/join/jhgenmusic
• Theatre Tech Elective: https://www.remind.com/join/hmjhstech
• Jr. High Chorus (all grades): https://www.remind.com/join/jhchorus

Hope everyone has a wonderful year, and please check back for more updates!

7th Grade General Music students interested in earning some extra credit may do so this week by creating their own techno song. You may use the online mixer at Soundation.com or a program like Garage Band for Apple computers and iOS devices. Here are the guidelines for creating your song:

• Must be at least 20 seconds long.
• Must have at least 4 layers.
• Must loop at least two of the layers.

Once completed, bring the song into class to share. Here are some instructions on how to do this:

Soundation.com

• Open the mixer by clicking the orange "Launch the Studio" button. (You do not need to create an account.)
• Play around with the studio and see what you can do!
• Once finished, go to the mixer's menu bar and select "File" > "Export .wav File"
• After processing your song, a box will pop up. Click the "Save" button.
• Save your .WAV file to a folder on your computer.
• Copy the file to a transportable storage device like a USB flash drive and bring it in to school!

Garage Band

• You can download the Garage Band app on Apple devices for $4.99 at the iTunes store. Garage Band also comes free with most Apple computers.
• If using Garage Band on a mobile device (iPhone, iPad, etc.), you may just bring in that device to share it with the class. (NOTE: Remember that electronic devices are not allowed to be used otherwise in school!)
• Using Garage Band on a computer, open the program and select New Project, then double click on the "Loops" icon.
• Choose where to save your file and what to name it, then click "Create."
• Check out all the different loops in the Garage Band library and see what you can do!
• Once finished, you have two options on how to save it. If you want to bring it in on your iPod or iPhone, you can go to the menu and select "Share" > "Send Song to iTunes..." Edit the song information and click "Share." Your song will be exported to iTunes! Just make sure to sync your device before bringing it in to class.
  

• Your other option is to save it as a file and bring it to class on a transportable storage device like a USB flash drive. To do this, go to the menu and select "Share" > "Export Song to Disk..." Change the drop down menu for "Compress Using" to "MP3 Encoder," then click "Export." Save your file to a folder on your computer, copy it to your flash drive, and bring it to school!

The deadline for this extra credit is FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2012. You may bring in your song on any day between now and then.

Glad to see all the students after summer break! It sounds like everyone did some interesting things during their time off. Hopefully you're all refreshed and ready for another exciting year of school!

I'm pleased to announce that we were able to purchase three new Remo drums for our use in the general music classes. My goal is to keep expanding our percussion inventory so that students get the chance to experience and make music on a variety of instruments from around the world.

As we get back into the swing of things, please remember that I will be keeping our website and social media pages up to date with all the latest class information. That said, everyone's first assignment of the year is to share your Course Syllabus or Handbook with your parents, then returned the completed Signature Sheet no later than Friday, August 31st. Extra copies can be obtained from your class page on the website, or by asking me at school.