Choir Performances 2023-2024

7th Grade Band Performances 2023-2024

8th Grade Band Performances 2023-2024

7th Grade Band – Practice Report Information

Gift Ideas For Your Band Student

Band/Choir Shirt Order Form 

Verification Form

Hoodie Order Form

Note: Scroll to the bottom to access practice cards. 

All SJH music students are expected to practice their fundamentals and music at home on a regular basis.

All Speedway Junior High band students will receive a weekly grade for keeping track of their practice time.

7th Grade students will keep track of their practice time on a paper practice card. They will be given a new card at the beginning of each grading period. Paper practice cards must be signed by a parent at the end of each week for the student to receive credit.

8th Grade students will submit their practice time online via a Google Form every Monday. They will be given time in class to do this. Every nine weeks, a new link will be posted to Google Classroom.

At-home practicing is worth 30 points a week (grading scales below.)

Links to the Google Forms and practice cards are at the bottom of this page. 

WEEKLY GRADING SCALE (7th Grade Band)

90 minutes = 30 points = A

75-89 minutes = 26 points = B+

60-74 minutes = 23 points = C+

45-59 minutes = 21 points = C-

Practice time over 90 minutes or less than 45 minutes will earn 5 points for each 15 minutes of recorded time.

WEEKLY GRADING SCALE (8th Grade Band)

60 minutes = 30 points = A

45-59 minutes = 25 points = B

30-44 minutes = 22 points = C

Practice time over 60 minutes or less than 30 minutes will earn 5 points for each 15 minutes of recorded time.

Note: Click the links below to access our paper and online practice cards.

8TH GRADE BAND PRACTICE FORMS:

EIGHTH GRADE BAND - FIRST 9 WEEKS

EIGHTH GRADE BAND - SECOND 9 WEEKS

EIGHTH GRADE BAND - THIRD 9 WEEKS 

EIGHTH GRADE BAND - FOURTH 9 WEEKS

7TH GRADE BAND PRACTICE FORMS:

SEVENTH GRADE BAND - FIRST 9 WEEKS

SEVENTH GRADE BAND - SECOND 9 WEEKS

SEVENTH GRADE BAND - THIRD 9 WEEKS

SEVENTH GRADE BAND - FOURTH 9 WEEKS

Amy (Fanning) Cronin is a graduate of Plainfield High School in Plainfield, IN. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education Degree, a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Studies, and a Performer's Certificate from Indiana University.

Amy is married to Patrick Cronin, who is also a band director (in Sheridan) as well as a professional trumpet player. They have three boys named Charlie, Michael, and Henry. Charlie is a student at Ball State University, Michael goes to IUPUI, and Henry goes to school here in Speedway.  

In Indiana University circles, Amy is known as the new "mop lady" of Indiana Basketball fame. She was asked by Coach Bobby Knight to sing Indiana-related songs at all of the home basketball games during his last two seasons at IU. 

Amy began her teaching career as the Band Director at Paul Hadley Middle School in Mooresville, IN. After that, she went back to IU full-time to pursue her Masters Degree. While studying at IU, Amy met Gene DiNovi, the former pianist and arranger for Lena Horne. She sang with him at "The Festival of the Sound" in Parry Sound, Ontario for two summers. After obtaining her masters, she taught elementary music in Bedford, IN for one year before she got the job here at Speedway Junior High. 

Amy also performs in Indianapolis with a local professional big band called "The Serenade Jazz Orchestra". You can catch them several times a year at The Jazz Kitchen in Broad Ripple and at The Dugout Bar (621 Virginia Ave.) 

Contact Mrs. Cronin if you want to be added to the mailing list. She LOVES seeing familiar faces out in the audience!

Beginning band starts in the summer before 7th Grade. All 6th graders are eligible. If you're interested in joining the band, you will need to choose what instrument you would like to play.

Here is a link to the brochure that was handed out to the students in April:

Brochure

Here is a link to the information that was given to parents at the meeting on May 9:

Handout

All 7th Graders must choose one elective class. They can choose from Band, Choir, Exploratory Spanish, or Business Information Technology. All elective classes meet every day during school hours. 

If your student has chosen band, you have the option of filling out their band survey electronically. Please click on the following link to fill out and submit the form directly to Mrs. Cronin. 

SJHS Online Band Survey

If you would like to sign up for choir, click the link below:

SJHS Online Choir Survey

Note: All students that join the band will be expected to attend free summer lessons M-F from June 5-16. Summer lessons are required for all members.

Contact Mrs. Cronin at acronin@speedwayschools.net if there are conflicts.

Click here for the summer schedule.

Still need help deciding what instrument to play? Check out this video!

Beginning choir at Speedway Junior High is a mixed group of 7th and 8th grade students. Admission to the group is through audition or teacher recommendation only. 

Any student currently in 7th grade is eligible to audition. Students should prepare "Happy Birthday" to sing for Mrs. Cronin. No other song needs to be prepared. All auditions are one-on-one, so you will not have to sing in front of a group of people. 

Students currently in 6th grade that are interested in choir simply need to fill out the form that Mrs. Cronin gave them in April and give it to their teacher.

Once the form has been received, Mrs. Cronin will contact Mrs. Fraley (the elementary music teacher) for a recommendation. All 6th Grade students that can match pitch are accepted into the choir.

Current 6th Grade students can also sign up for choir by filling out the form at this link:

SJHS Choir Survey

The Speedway Junior High Music Department took an all day trip to King's Island on May 6, 2023.

The next trip is tentatively scheduled for May 3, 2025.

Below is the itinerary for our last trip. Each time we go, we follow the same schedule. 

King's Island Itinerary

Orders are now complete for our annual Music Department Fundraiser.

Thank you for your participation!

Our next fundraiser will be in November of 2023.

Seventh Grade Band Members are tested on their playing ability every week to make sure students are progressing sufficiently.

Eighth Grade Band Members are tested once per grading period. 

Here is a link to some fun music students can play if they are bored with playing out of our book all the time: 

http://www.mrwentzel.com/FunSongs.html (Tenor Saxes should just play the Alto Sax music and Baritone/Bass players should play the Trombone music.)

Unfortunately there is no music on Mr. Wentzel's site for tuba, so here is a site full of music for tubas! (Be sure to open the BC part!)

http://www.tubapeter.com/index_files/free_pdf.htm - HAVE FUN!

All Eighth Grade Band members should work on scales EVERY TIME they practice at home! Scales to concentrate on are Bb Concert, Ab Concert, C Concert, Eb Concert, F Concert, and the Chromatic Scale.

Major Scales