2018 Summer Band Dates

Urbank Parade

Practices:

Monday, June 18, (everyone 7:00-8:00 pm) (percussion only 6:15-7:00)

Tuesday, June 19, 7:00-8:00 pm

Thursday, June 21, 7:00-8:00 pm

Parade:

Sunday, June 24, 1:30pm
Band room open at 12:15

Line up at 1:00 behind church

Van will leave from the high school at 12:30 if you need a ride

Parkers Prairie Parade
Practices:

Tuesday, July 31, 7:00-8:00 pm

Thursday, August 2, 7:00-8:00 pm

Parade:

Sunday, August 5, 12:00 pm

Band room open at 11:00

Line up at 11:30

5th-8th Grade Lessons

Starting: Monday, July 16

Ending: Thursday, August 16

Lessons will run Monday-Thursday each week

Specific schedules are on the front of this sheet
Lessons are held in the high school music room

Beginning Lessons

Starting: Monday, August 20

Ending: Thursday, August 23

Each student gets one lesson each day

Specific schedules will be available July 25

Lessons are held in the high school music room

2017 Fall Pep Band Schedule

Fall sports season has started and pep band is in full swing. Check HERE for the fall schedule including the first 2 rounds of playoff games.

2016-2017 Winter Sports Pep Band Schedule

Although there seems to be a long break between pep band events, we will start playing again on January 20 and keep playing regularly through the end of the sports seasons and hopefully into play-offs. See the entire winter pep band schedule here.

2016 Fall Pep Band Schedule

The fall pep band schedule is out for Panther volleyball and football. Please keep in mind that we will need to have a balanced pep band to go to play-off games should the teams be playing. Only 7th grade students who have exceeded their lesson goals will be invited to play before our winter break. All 7th graders will be welcome to join the pep band at games in the new year. Let's build some excitement and have a great fall pep band season!

Beginning Band Lessons

The new group of beginning band members have all had their first lessons and now are all able to carefully put their instruments together and (holding their instruments properly:) play a couple notes. The next step is to get them attending lessons and practicing a lot. The regular lesson schedule is available here. If you use this schedule along with this October calendar you can see what days your child will need his/her instrument at school. I've also included some practice tips for students and the parents/guardians helping them. I hope these help your child to have a successful start to band and as always if you have questions or concerns, please contact me in whichever method is convenient to you. dplasek@pp.k12.mn.us or call at 218-338-6011 ext. 134.

Fall Sports Pep Band

The fall sports season for the Parkers Prairie Panthers and the Prairie Valley Nighthawks is underway. The senior high and junior high bands will again take part in supporting these activities through pep band. The fall pep band schedule can be found here. Please make sure you give this schedule to your work and make it to as many events as possible. Go Panthers!

2012 Summer Band Lessons

Summer band lessons will begin on Monday, July 16 and go through Thursday, August 23. All lessons will be held in the Parkers Prairie High School Music Room. Students will need their instrument, lesson book and a pencil. During summer lessons we try to review the material each student was working on last school year, try to progress a little bit in their lesson book and play some songs just for fun. I'm looking forward to seeing many students during the next 6 weeks. See the schedule here.

URBANK PARADE AND REHEARSAL DETAILS

Marching Band Schedule for Urbank Parade
The Parkers Prairie junior high and senior high band members (next year’s 8-12 grade students) will be marching in the Urbank Dairy Days parade on Sunday, June 24. Please attend as many of the following practices as possible to make sure we have a performance that we can all be proud of. Practices will not go past 8:00 p.m.

Monday, June 18
 Drum Line – 6:00 p.m.
Group 7:00 p.m.

 Tuesday, June 19
Drum Line – 6:30 p.m.
Full Group 7:00 p.m.

 Thursday, June 21
Drum Line – 6:30 p.m.
Full Group 7:00 p.m.

 Sunday, June 24 – Urbank Parade
Meet at the school to ride bus – 12:30
Be at parade site by 1:00
Parade – 1:30

 Please email dplasek@pp.k12.mn.us or call 338-6011 ext. 134 with any questions.

THREE SUPERIOR RATINGS!!!

The concert band traveled to Ashby yesterday to take part in our large group band contest. The band played The Klaxon arranged by Andrew Balent and Encanto by Robert W. Smith. Each of the three judges gave us a superior rating, the highest rating possible!Thank you band members for your hard work!

5th Grade Full Band Rehearsal

This week the 5th grade students are starting full band rehearsal. During this first week, the 5th graders will rehearse without the sixth grade students in order to get used to playing as a group. Today the kids learned where to put cases, where they will sit when they're in group rehearsal and how the cues work between director and band. Each of the students received a folder with two band songs. We got a chance to play a few exercises out of the lesson book as well as trying out one of the band songs. I'm excited to get this group of band students playing and ready for the spring concert!

Come back soon for some videos of the band.

Panther Pep Band Winter 2011-12

Check out the pep band schedule for winter 2011-12. Remember that pep band is open to all 8th through 12th grade band students and 7th grade after winter break. See you at the games!

Welcome Back!!

It seems like just yesterday that we were marching in the Fall Festival parade and sitting in a bus stopped in the middle of I-94(talk to Mr. P or Mike Arvidson for the full story:). However, we're back at the beginning of another exciting school year. I hope that everyone is excited or a mildly eager to be in school again.
I've spent some time going through both new music as well as the music in our band library and have come up with some awesome possibilities for this year's concerts. In addition to the music, we have a couple new tools to use in band. First is SmartMusic. SmartMusic is a program that will play accompaniment, change tempo, record your performance and rate your performance. It's really cool and the students that have used it so far have enjoyed seeing their results. The other tool we have is Finale. Finale will allow us to write music and exercises to use for individual practice or large group applications. No more hand written parts from Mr. P. !! If you want to check either of these programs out, let me know and you can come in and give them a try. See you all next week!

Fall Festival and Valleyfair

The attendance at practices has been great. I appreciate those that took the time and the heat to make sure that we can put a quality performance on the street this weekend.
We'll meet at 11:30 in the high school music room for the parade on Sunday.
The bus will load at 7:45 on Monday to leave for Valleyfair. Don't forget your sunscreen, $ for two meals, a change of clothes and swim stuff if you plan to go to the water park.
See you this weekend!

Junior High Concert

The concert by the junior high band and choir was a great example of what some good musicians can do when they work together. I'm very proud of what the band has accomplished this year and look forward to more concerts..

Great Job!!

Elementary Spring Music Program

The Parkers Prairie 5th and 6th grade band will be performing for parents and the community on Friday, May 27, at 12:30, in the elementary gym. We ask that the kids dress nicely. Jeans are allowed but the kids should wear a nice shirt without large writing. See you next Friday.

Here are videos of two songs that will be played in the concert:

Junior high band and choir concert next Monday

The junior high band and choir will be performing their spring concert next Monday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the high school gym. The kids have been working hard on this music, some of which is quite difficult.

New marching band song and cadence

We've got a new marching band song this year, "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green. Most of you have heard the song before. It's a really great arrangement for marching band and fun to play. Both the Junior High and Senior High bands have only looked at it a couple times but we'll hit it hard after both concerts are done. Check out the link on the sidebar to hear the new marching band song and to see the 2011 marching band schedule.
The percussion section is also working on a new cadence for this year. Click the link on the sidebar to hear the new cadence.