I have added a Director’s Update for this week. The complete Update is found in this email, as well as archived on our FVL Schools Band Website under “Band Member News”. Because of the important nature of this Update, I will put all of the information in both places.

It’s amazing how things are changing day by day, sometimes even multiple times a day! One thing remains constant - God’s love for us, and that’s even more amazing!

Mr. Kramer and I have learned a lot about online teaching and learning over the past week, and we’re excited to share some of this information with you and your children. As we head into online learning for what our governor called an indefinite amount of time, we’re excited about some new possibilities for interaction and continuing our FVL Schools Band Lessons.

Most of what you see below is taken from Nate Amundson and Angela Hohenstein, teaching colleagues at Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School. They have been running with these virtual band lessons for over a week already, as their spring break didn’t start until this week. We thank them for sharing their knowledge and experience with us and many of the other WELS grade school lesson programs around the state.

Band Lessons

We are moving all of our band lessons to live video lessons. At this point, we are offering lesson sign ups on a week to week basis for as long as necessary. We will extend our online lessons as far as needed until we’re able to once again meet in person at our individual schools. Since all of our students are just getting into online schooling (and parents as well!), and your “normal” lesson time may not work, we will be allowing you to select a lesson time for your child during the day with times via this Time To Sign Up link for Mr. Neujahr’s lessons, and this Time To Sign Up link for Mr. Kramer’s lessons. Please sign up for one lesson this week. We will make available another lesson sign-up sheet for each week that we need to do online lessons. We will send that link out to you toward the end of each week, for the following one. We understand this option might not work for everyone, but we’re hopeful it will for the majority.

Zoom Video Conferencing

We will be using the Zoom app. for our video lessons. It’s free, can be used on any device, and you won’t even need to sign up or register with them to use it. Once you select a time on the sign-up sheets listed above, you simply log into Zoom a few minutes before your scheduled lesson time. Listed below are the links for a “meeting” (lesson) for each day of the week with Mr. Neujahr and Mr. Kramer. All you’ll need to do is click on that link and it will place you/your child in a virtual “waiting room” on Zoom. We will be able to invite your child in at his/her lesson time, much like inviting them into the actual lesson room at school. The teacher and student will be able to see and hear each other and play, listen, and communicate just like our lessons in person.

There may be some setup and/or technology issues along the way but we’ve practiced with this over the last few days and it seems to work quite well. The FVL Faculty also used Zoom for all of our Faculty meetings this past week. Several WELS Band Directors also had a Zoom video conference on Saturday night to discuss video lessons, best procedures for signing up, and so on.

It is really quite easy to use Zoom! For a quick tutorial on how to use Zoom, here’s a quick example of fixing audio/video problems .

If you do have issues connecting, I would suggest calling or texting us at our mobile numbers, (920) 740-3924 for Mr. Neujahr, and (920) 740-2806 for Mr. Kramer.

Mr. Neujahr is also teaching Virtual School at FVL for the foreseeable future. He is working in an online format for both the FVL Symphonic Band and his College Music Theory class. Since his “live office/available time” for FVL is from 9-11 AM and from Noon – 2:00 PM, he may need to take care of a few emails or questions from his high school students. Since the lessons are going to be 20 minutes, and the sign up is for a 30 minute slot, there should be time to take care of high school business in between lessons.

Live Video Lesson Links

After you’ve signed up for a lesson slot on Time To Sign Up (see above) you’ll need a link to join the Zoom meeting when it’s your lesson time. The links below will take you to a “waiting room” where we will come and find each student when it’s time for his/her video lesson. You only need to join the Zoom link a few minutes before your scheduled lesson time. No need to hang out in the waiting room for a long time. Please make sure you’re signed up for a lesson slot before clicking on one of the links below.

Mr. Kramer's Students

Monday, March 30

Tuesday, March 31

Wednesday, April 1

Thursday, April 2

Friday, April 3

Mr. Neujahr’s Students

Monday, March 30

Tuesday, March 31

Wednesday, April 1

Thursday, April 2

Friday, April 3

Spring Concert

As of right now, the concert scheduled for Sunday, April 19 is cancelled. Maybe there’s an outside chance we can do something, based on if the governor would relax the shelter in place order earlier than planned. So for the time being, Mr. Kramer and Mr. Neujahr will use the lesson books for their lessons, and put the Concert Winds and Cadet Band music “on hold”.