PSMS Panther Band

Band Families,

• Congratulations to our 7th and 8th graders on a terrific performance at the BV Tiger Band Middle School Band Night on Friday! There were around 250 of our middle and high school students performing in pregame and in the stands during the first half. We were very proud of your performance! We use these types of experiences during the school year as opportunities for our middle school students to get to interact with their high school peers and to get a "taste" of what being in high school band will be like for them in the future.
  Here is a link to some videos and pictures we were able to grab at the game
  
  
• Over the past two weeks, our beginning 6th grade woodwind and brass players have had an opportunity to work with professional musician specialists in clinic-type settings during our class times. It has been a wonderful way to get them started on their instruments in the best possible format and a lot of students are having great success! If you would be interested in having your student work with one of the specialists one-on-one in a private lesson format on a regular basis, here is the is of teachers we have been working with:
  Flute (Virginia Backman - vqbmusic@gmail.com) Clarinet (Ashley White - ashleywhite.clarinet@gmail.com) Saxophone (Kevin Arbogast - kbadmz@mail.umkc.edu) Trumpet (Joon Park - hyojoonpark@gmail.com) Trombone (Dave Cooper - bonetruth2@yahoo.com) Euphonium / Tuba (Eddie Miles - eddiebelly@gmail.com)
  
  
• Practice is important, but what does effective practice look like? Watch this 5 minute video to show how to practice effectively. How To Practice Effectively...for just about anything
  1. Minimize the distractions 2. Start out slowly 3. Gradually increase the speed of the quality repetitions 4. Frequent repetitions with a lot of breaks 5. Divide your time used for effective practice into multiple daily practice sessions of limited duration 6. Practice in your brain in vivid detail

• TRI-M is an honor society for musicians that focuses on community service through music. If your student missed last Wednesday's first meeting, it is not too late to join! Tri-M will meet again this week on 9/15 at 7am in the orchestra room.
  

Have a great week!

Mr. Aubrey, Band Director

The KS Sousa Honor Band is a state-wide "all-state" band for the top musicians in grades 6 - 9 from across the entire state of Kansas. If selected, the honor band weekend takes place at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas on January 21 - 22, 2022.

The audition music is rigorous, and must be played at a very high level to have a chance at being accepted. Nothing less than your best will do. Feel free to download the music and get working on it! Auditions are to be recorded and submitted with $10 audition fee to Mr. Aubrey by October 14th. Find the audition music and other information here. 7th and 8th Graders also received a hard copy of the audition music in class.

Here is a handy list of 1st semester performance dates and times. The full year can be found in the band handbook More details forthcoming as the date approaches for each event.

• October 14 (Thurs) 7th and 8th 7 - 8 Band and Strings Concert 7pm (call time - TBA)
• December 7 (Tues) 7th and 8th PSMS Music Assembly???? TIME - TBA (DAYTIME EVENT)
• December 9 (Thurs) 6, 7, 8, Jazz Winter Band Concert @ PSMS. 6th Grade & Jazz Band 6pm; 7th & 8th Grades 7:15pm

If you are in the market for a new instrument, or a step up / professional quality instrument, please let Mr. Aubrey or Ms. Janda know. We can help guide you to a good quality brand and model of instrument that will fit your student well. If your student is taking private lessons, their private instructor would also be a good resource. Not all step-up or "pro horns" are the same. You typically get what you pay for and there are many misleading advertisements out there.

Also, you can often find great quality used instruments in great shape that will cost must less than a brand new instrument and perform just as well. You can save a lot of money if you know what you are looking for. Let a teacher know you are looking and we can point you in the right direction.

Mouthpieces are also a great upgrade to an instrument if you aren't ready to fully purchase a new instrument yet. Again, let your teacher know and they can help determine what would be great for you (and what to avoid!).

Email: paubrey@bluevalleyk12.org
Location: 14201 Mission Road, Leawood, KS, USA
Phone: 913.239.5691
Twitter: @PSMSBand