Welcome to Nieman Elementary Bands
Pancake Dinner Correction!
Dear students and families of SMN Bands,
There is a modification to the previous email.
Admission to the meal portion of "Pancake Dinner" will be as follows:
$8/Attendee
$6/ individuals aged 5 and under
Free for members of the 6th Grade Honor BandThank you for your time and attention!
Best,
Galen
Galen W. Whisman
Music Teacher
Shawnee Mission North High School
7401 Johnson Drive
Overland Park, KS 66202
Cell:(785)737-3183
Information from SMN Bands!
Good afternoon, students and families of SMN Bands!
Wishing you a safe and happy Four-Day Weekend! Please find details for the upcoming events below!
Lettering
I have heard from a plethora of individuals in response to the amount of Lettering Points and the lateness to which it was shared, and I hear you loud and clear. Therefore, to benefit the most students, the number of points required to letter for the 2024-2025 year is 150! Thank you, to those of you who have shared your concern and support for our band! Let’s keep making better systems!
Winter Park Ski Music Festival Final Payment Deadline – 2/15
Please reach out to me with any questions you may have. Looking forward to this exciting event!
Pancake Dinner – Volunteer Sign-Up
Mrs. Buckbee and Mrs. Trost have been doing a phenomenal job preparing for this event and we greatly appreciate their efforts. Please follow the link below to show your support by getting involved and volunteering! The efforts shared by each and all make such a difference!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084EA4A92DA5FEC52-55077133-2025
Pancake Dinner – 2/20 – Details
5:30 pm – Pancake Dinner
6:00 pm – Jazz 1 – Call Time 5:30 pm
6:20 pm – Jazz 2 – Call Time 5:45 pm
6:45 pm –Transition to the SMN Auditorium
7:00 pm –Begin performances in the following order:
6th Grade Honor Band – Stage Call Time 6:45 pm
7th Hour Concert Band – Call Time 6:30 pm
2nd Hour Concert Band – Call Time 6:30 pm
Symphonic Band – Call Time 6:30 pm
We invite 6th Grade Honor Band Members to eat free of charge. For all others, $8 will allow you access to as many pancakes as you can eat! (Children 3 and younger eat free as well).
We can’t wait to feature the efforts of our hard-working students! Looking forward to this event!
Upcoming Pep Band Dates
2/21 – Hocker Night – Triple Lettering Points! (That’s 15 EASY points)
2/25 – 5:00 PM Call – Senior Night – Double Lettering Points! (10 Points)
SMNW Cabaret 3-6
Jazz II has been invited to participate in the Jazz Cabaret hosted at SMNW. More information will be shared with these students very soon!
Spring Swing 3-7
Let’s celebrate the Dance Band Tradition and break out our dancing shoes as we celebrate the efforts of all the SMN Area Jazz Bands! We will be hosting the Hocker Jazz Band, Jazz I, and Jazz II for this exciting event that just around the corner!
More information to follow!
Be sure and look below for specific information regarding Summer Events!
If there are any other questions you may have, please don’t hesitate to reach out! Wishing you a wonderful start to your week!
Best,
Galen
Recycled Information
Midwest Winds – 2/23 Community Event
“Midwest Winds” is a community ensemble made up of mostly music educators. Many of our area’s districts are represented; Shawnee Mission, Olathe, Blue Valley, and Kansas City to name a few. Many educators that you may know, such as Penny Snead, participate and we want to invite you to our next concert, which will be at Olathe West at 3 pm! We’d love to see you there!
Mnozil Brass at the Lied Center – 3/3
Drumline Auditions – 4/23
In preparation for this event, we will be hosting Drumline Practice 4/2, 4/9, 4/16 with Mr. Casey Miller. Music will be shared soon for your preparation!
Hocker Marching Band Auditions
Wind Instrumentalists will have the opportunity to audition for the SMN Marching Stampede on 4/24 & 4/25 after school at Hocker Grove!
Students should be able to:
Play the SMN Fight Song (Memorized not required)
March with straight leg style to a steady tempo (I will come visit at least twice in March to help here)
Important Summer Band Dates
To be respectful of everybody’s summer planning, here are the dates and times for our marching band camps!
5/16 – Instrument Rental Nigh/Indoor Rehearsal
6/20 – 6/ 28 – Music for All Summer Symposium (Drum Majors)
7/15 – Leadership Day and Brass Impact – Leadership Team
7/17 – Ice Cream Social – All Marching Band Students
7/21 – 7/22 – Fundamentals Camp – All MB Students (Change from last email)
7/21 – 7/25 – Percussion Camp – MB Drumline and Front Ensemble Students
7/23 – 7/31 – Full Band Camp (No Weekends) – All MB Students
7/31 – Marching Band Preview Night – All MB Students and Parents
We have had talks of an optional weekly “Open Gym” where we would get together and rehearse music or marching during the summer. Which night of the week would you prefer? Submit your answer here! https://forms.gle/RxAqhumNojqVwSvTA
Galen W. Whisman
Music Teacher
Shawnee Mission North High School
7401 Johnson Drive
Overland Park, KS 66202
Cell:(785)737-3183
Intro and Show Release
Hi there!
I am so honored to be a part of your band! I cannot wait to meet each and every one of the students, parents, and supporters of the Shawnee Mission North Band Program! We are so fortunate to have on staff this year:
- Michaela Middleton and Ellery Bailey – Dance Coaches
- Casey Miller – Percussion
- Lyle Simpson – Hocker Grove
- Ed Tovar – Associate SMN
As you are able, please join Remind. As I understand this has been used in the past and for continuity I have created a class (hopefully) in the same format as previous years. The link for the Remind “Class” is below!
We have been busy working on the upcoming show, and I believe we have found just the one! The show is entitled “The Rise of the Phoenix” and features “Legacy” by Michael Markowski, “Ashes” by Celine Dion, and “The Firebird Finale” by Igor Stravinsky. The sheet music and an mp3 are linked below! I’m excited to hear what you all think!
Our work continues in creating exciting theatrical elements to the musical performance! I cannot tell you how excited I am to meet the students, parents, and community in the very near future. With that being said, should you have the ability to do so please follow the link below and begin practicing! (Please reach out if you have any technical difficulty, I am happy to help)
2024 SMN Marching Show “The Rise of the Phoenix”
Please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] should you have any questions, concerns, or comments! Thank you so much for your time and effort in making our band better!
Best,
Galen
band announcements May 17-21
band announcements April 22-May 6
Band announcements April 4-13
April 4- Shawnee Mission Concert Band Festival at SM Northwest. 6:30 report time in the Northwest cafeteria. Wear all black dress clothes. Concert begins at 7:00PM and is free to the public. We perform second, but kids are expected to stay for the duration, it should be over around 8:30PM.
April 8- Symphonic and Concert band Contest Concert, to be held in the North auditorium. 6:30PM report time in the band room. The concert begins at 7:00PM. Concert band should wear all-black dress clothes, symphonic band should wear their symphonic band uniform. This should be a short evening, as those are the only two groups performing. We are also kicking off a huge fundraiser, but everything should wrap up before 7:45 PM.
April 13, Solo/Ensemble festival at Olathe South high school. Specific times and rooms can be found on the attached document. The large percussion ensemble is still not on there, I’m working on that.
Finally, could everyone please review the schoolfundr document? This is a way for our band to make our $20,000 goal. All students should begin loading family/friends emails using the provided QR code. Parents, most of your kids have already created an account so you need to ask your child what their password is, if you are planning to help them get 20 emails. Kids, please make sure your parents can help you get 20 emails of family, friends, etc. I know many of you have questions regarding the nuts and bolt of this fundraiser, and we will go over all of that at the concert next Monday night. The vital thing right now is for everyone to create an account, and get 20 emails into their account, so we can start our fundraiser on April 9th.
This can be such an easy fundraiser to help the band make as much as we make hosting the SM North Marching Invitational! This is that big of a deal! The North track team very recently made over $10,000 doing this fund raiser!
Go North band!
Mr. Reed
March 26th- additional band announcements
Band students, please vote for the band nominees for the 2024 Spring Court. Use this link and please do so by tomorrow, Wednesday, March 27th 3:00PM. Students, please use your SMSD account when voting. Here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNRtoXwzoPhvznqCP-7kl2HQ5Bo8Jz0aTyV939bCiWKLn5TQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
Everyone, two date changes to the Spring calendar:
Booster meeting Monday, April 1st at 5:45PM (instead of April 2nd)
Spring Concert will be Wednesday, May 8th at 7:00PM in the auditorium (instead of May 7th).
That’s it for now. Thank you!
Mr. Reed
final March 4th Kauffman details
Monday:
Students need to arrive to school with their instruments, black shirt/dress uniform, concert black shoes (no sneakers), music and instrument.
Students are then dismissed from block 7, to change into uniform and prepare for the bus.
Our bus situation has challenges because of conflicting school bus routes. The plan is as follows:
Bus 1 will leave at 2:15pm- Bus 1 is ALL BAND students- drop off at Grace and Holy Trinity
Bus 2 will leave at 3:15pm- Bus 2 is ALL ORCHESTRA VIOLINS- drop off at Grace and Holy Trinity. Ms. Beasley is chaperoning this bus.
Bus 3 will leave at 3:45pm- Bus 2 is ALL ORCHESTRA CELLOS/VIOLAS/BASSES- drop off at Kauffman. Cook is on this bus.
Please see bus rosters. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A24TlevXu1xo7DrnE8_zJCGVuWp0o4DIetlZR7ZNMhE/edit#gid=0
The issue we had is that Kauffman won’t allow students to enter before 4:30pm.
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral downtown has graciously allowed our bus 1 and 2 students to be dropped off there where they will be able to eat, use restrooms and rest before reporting to the Kauffman. Bus 3 will report directly to the Kauffman.
These are one-way buses. All students are expected to depart the Kaufman center with a parent or another mode of transportation, we will not have a bus to take students back to North. For safety reasons, construction on Broadway, and liability of instruments, administration has made it clear that ALL students need to ride the bus to the Kaufman center and not provide their own transportation there. Cellos/basses, please make a plan for transporting your instrument.
Students will be provided a sack meal via SMN cafeteria. Bus 1 and 2 will eat their meal at Grace and Holy Trinity. Bus 3 will need to eat before departure from SMN or on the bus to the Kauffman. The “sack dinner” is being provided by the school (free of charge), which includes PBJ sandwich, carrots, cheese stick and milk. You’re more than welcome to bring something else.
At 4:30pm, Bus 1 and 2 will walk down with Mr. Reed and Ms. Beasley (SMN Band directors) to the Kauffman, where we will meet up with Bus 3. We will enter Kauffman all together, as there is a check in process that starts at 5pm sharp.
Students will get checked in with their instrument/school group, go to their warmup space and drop off instruments before finding their seat in the Kauffman before the concert begins at 6pm.
Tickets:
I have received many emails of people still needing more tickets. After speaking with the organization, they have released the following statement:
The ticket links may start showing “sold out.” This is beyond our control as KCPA dictates which sections they make available when the concert is GA. That said, no concert will be truly sold out, as many people reserve more tickets than they need. Please encourage parents of your students and anyone else to show up for the concert even if they don’t have a ticket reserved. KCPA will release any unclaimed seats with plenty of time before the concert starts, so don’t worry – everyone will get a seat.
The concert begins with Youth Symphony of Kansas City Repertory Orchestra, followed by Staley High School band. SMN band is expected to take the stage by 7:20pm, and SMN orchestra by 8:10pm.
This is a concert festival where students will receive written and audio feedback from clinicians who are in the audience. This is also a huge opportunity for our students to make wonderful memories performing in one of the premiere concert halls in the world. THANK YOU for being so supportive of your student in music. Please let me know if you have any questions!
band announcements Feb. 26-March 4
Hello everyone-
This Friday (3/1) both jazz bands and Hocker Grove jazz band will host our annual Spring Swing! We’ll play 2 hours of dance music. This isn’t so much a concert as it is a party. We will also have appetizers and other food items. The event is in the North cafeteria from 6:30-8:30PM. Adults are $15/ea and students are $8/ea and everyone should pay at the door. This is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the jazz program. Again, you will have a great time, we hope to see you there!
Here’s the link to donate food items for this Friday’s (3/1) Spring Swing: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084EA4A92DA5FEC52-48156249-spring#/
Here’s the link to help volunteer for this Friday’s (3/1) Spring Swing: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084EA4A92DA5FEC52-48163054-spring#/
This is a really fun event, thanks in advance for everyone’s help!
Symphonic bands, our final Monday night rehearsal is today/tomorrow (2/26) on the stage, from 6:30-8:30PM. Our Kauffman performance is next Monday, March 4th. Here’s the link. To get your free tickets, we’re performing during the 6PM performance: https://tickets.kauffmancenter.org/22231?queueittoken=e_waitingroom5~q_152695c3-e539-4914-8da2-a732118c5823~ts_1708899682~ce_true~rt_safetynet~h_c392395fa9cf88d9d7b26e4f750af833858eead6206eb7d672384e2238c9e72b
March 4th Kauffman free tickets link below
Hi everyone-
Although many of us are headed off to Wichita tomorrow for the state music convention, including a Jazz Ensemble performance this Friday, at 4:25PM in in the Wichita Hyatt Regency ballrooms, I wanted to get ticking information out for the March 4th Kauffman performance.
The SM North Symphonic Band will perform at the Kauffman on Monday, March 4th at 6:00PM. Tickets are free! However, you need to use the link below to receive your tickets.
Again, please reserve your tickets and spread the news to EVERYONE you know, this is going to be a very special night! Here’s the link: https://tickets.kauffmancenter.org/22231
We are performing at the 6PM concert.
Between Pancake dinner, KMEA convention, Kauffman, spring swing, all within 4 weeks of each other…wow!
Mr. Reed