Dear PHS Music Booster Members,

This 2007/2008 music school year has once again been a very busy season: Pep Band season, Pep Band Alumni Night, Jazz Festivals, Chili Supper, Fiddle on the Roof musical, Music for Moderns Concert, district Solo & Ensemble, guest artist event Jody Espina.

Our congratulations to all the students and their directors for the wonderful participation and performance at this year’s district Solo & Ensemble Festival at Denmark High School and Luxemburg/Casco High School. Also congratulations to the PHS Vocal Choirs for their first big trip to New York.

Spring brings an equally full calendar of events including: State Solo Ensemble Festival, Award Concerts, Graduation Ceremony and Memorial Day Ceremony, June’s Concert on the Concourse and pie social, and Independence Day Parade in Washington DC.

Each of these exciting events requires some degree of Booster support to make them successful. Please continue to “jump in and lend a hand.” Everyone’s help is welcomed and appreciated—together we can accomplish great things!

Our next Booster meeting will be held Monday, April 21, at 6:30 in the PHS Band Room. At this meeting agenda items are election officers for the executive board for the 2008/2009 school year, determine fundraising efforts and the loss of Lambeau revenue, and support for many of the upcoming events. All parents of MUSIC students are encouraged to attend.

This is the final newsletter we will write as they year’s Co-Presidents. On a personal note, we would like to say a warm and heart-felt “thank you”. Thank you for your help, your patience, and your words of encouragement. Most importantly, thank you for your continued support of Pulaski Music. We continue to be amazed at the dedication and generosity of the people associated with the organization. Thank you for allowing us to become a part of such a wonderful community of people.

Sincerely,
Neal & Julie Maccoux
Pulaski Music Boosters Co-Presidents

From: Mr. Busch

Sincerely,
Mr. D. Thomas Busch
PHS Director of Bands/Department Chair
Music Department Chair
dtbusch@pulaski.k12.wi.us
822-6828From: Mr. Alban

Dear Music Boosters,

The year has been going by like a flash and it feels like classes just started! All of the great events and wonderful music have indeed made time fly. The Pulaski Jazz Bands just spent a great weekend up at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Symphonic Band’s Large Group Festival performance on Wednesday, May 14 in Manitowoc, and the summer trip is approaching. Please read on for information with these events!

• The weekend of March 31 was an amazing experience at the UWEC Jazz Festival. This year the festival welcomed Tenor Saxophonist Benny Golson and Drummer Dave Weckl. Red Raider scored well enough to land a 3 rd place spot in the Class A category (schools with 1000-1499 students). Judges were very helpful and all the bands did great! Please check out http://www.uwec.edu/mus-the/JazzFestival/ to learn of all the things we experienced at the Festival.
• Symphonic Band will be performing at the Lakeshore Concert Festival at Roncalli High School during the day on Wednesday, May 14 th. We hope to depart by 7:30am and busses will return to PHS by the end of the school day. The Lakeshore Festival is an opportunity for the band to perform and work with fantastic judges from all over Wisconsin. Last year’s event proved to be a great experience, and I expect the same for this year. Symphonic Band students are busy preparing the music for their group and individual lessons and working hard in rehearsal to make the music the best it can be!
• Red Raider submitted a recording to the Essentially Ellington Competition earlier this year will receive results in a few weeks. The competition includes top-notch bands from all over the country and is judged by many of the biggest names in jazz. This year, the band voted to submit the recording for comments only. We are all very eager to see what the top professionals in jazz have to say about our work.
• Auditions for the 2008-2009 Red Raider Jazz Ensemble are fast approaching. Audition material was passed out on April 14 th with audition to follow on May 12 th. We will again be holding the annual Red Raider Read-Along, which will be on May 5 th. This is an opportunity for interested students to play Red Raider music and get a feel for the pace of the ensemble before the actual audition. Please encourage your son/daughter to audition for this ensemble! Auditioning is something that needs practice just like scales!

Thank you all again for your support! If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to call or drop me an email.

Sincerely,
Ryan Alban
PHS Associate Director of Bands
rralban@pulaski.k12.wi.us
822-6827From: Molly Danke

2007-2008 is almost over! Seniors are starting to get antsy, kids have a dazed look on their faces, and teachers have big black rings under their eyes (or at least I do). This year has been full of amazing things. First of all, I’m sure we are all sighing a big sigh now that NYC is over.

The trip to NYC went off without a hitch! It was so much fun, and the kids were GREAT! We got to sing at the Cotton Club, watch Hairspray, watch a rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic, and tour the immigrant settlements of New York City. Our choir earned silver ratings in the Men’s category, and a bronze rating in the Women’s category. Thank you for making this trip so memorable for the students.

At state solo and ensemble, Alex Jacques received an Exemplary State Soloist Awards for his classical tenor solo. Each judge gets two nominations per day, and even then not a lot of judges give awards out. Congratulations to Alex for an outstanding performance!

Last Wednesday, the choirs competed at the WSMA large group festival in Luxemburg-Casco. Both choirs competed in the class A category. The treble choir, who is 98% freshmen and first year choir students, earned a second while the concert choir earned 1 st ratings across the board. The concert choir was complemented on their excellent performance on “college level” music.

Next on our choir agenda is a performance at Nicolet Memorial Gardens on Memorial Day. Students need to arrive at the school at 9:15am. We are still in need of chaperones for that performance, so please make plans to attend. It’s going to be a great service!

Finally, please note that our awards concert is May 28 th at 7pm in the Ripley Performing Arts Center. Here, you will be able to hear and see the students perform various music selections, see the awards ceremony, and help the choir say good-bye to their seniors. Hope to see you there!

Yours In Music,
Molly Danke
Director of Choirs
mmdanke@pulaski.k12.wi.us
822-6826