Parkland: A Season for Giving

The bills have all been paid (mainly to the duplicator, but also mechanical licensing, shipping/postage, and other miscellaneous expenses) and we are still able to donate $2,200 to the Allentown Rescue Mission from sales of our Music Production class’s holiday CD, “Parkland: A Season for Giving (2011).”  The Allentown Rescue Mission helps homeless men in the Lehigh Valley  turn their lives around. What’s more, this organization received almost no government funding, so private donations such as ours mean all that much more.

By far, this has been our best year ever in terms of number of CDs sold (about 300) and profit.  In fact, we probably could have sold about 50 more CDs if we’d only had them on hand at our last sales event (the PHS Band and Chorus concert)….oh well, live and learn! Plus, the CD had some great new, and “greatest hits,” student-generated music on it to boot!

A hearty congratulations to the students in the Parkland High School Fall 2011 Music Production class. As the bitter winter cold ramps up in the Northeast, making the reality of being homeless in our area that much more dire, I’m proud to say these PHS students have made a positive difference in our community.

BTW, if you haven’t listened to the podcast about this year’s CD for charity project, check it out here (click this link).

Handing off $2,200 donation to Gary Millspaugh, Director of the Allentown Rescue Mission

At last evening’s PHS Band/Chorus Concert we sold our last 30 or so CDs and currently have no inventory left!  However, today we put in one last “emergency” order to the duplicator: sometime Tuesday we should be getting 40 more CDs and THAT will be it.

If you’ve thought about getting this disk but still haven’t, don’t wait longer than early next week.  Stop by the Music Tech lab (A120) and see Dr. Watson.  Maybe this video of Andrew singing his original song, THE MEANING LEFT BEHIND, from the “Season for Giving (2011)” CD will win you over and move you to buy the CD!

THE MEANING LEFT BEHIND

Still not convinced? How about this clip of Principal Dr. Lessel and PHS teacher Mr. Schwartz singing their track from the CD, “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer”?

GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER

Last night the PHS Concert Choir, Chorale, and Orchestra delivered great performances at their Winter Concert.  Thanks to Mr. Anonia and Mrs. Creeden for letting us “plug” the CD, and for Allentown Rescue Mission director, Gary Millspaugh, for coming out to the concert, greeting the audience, and sharing the work of the Rescue Mission.

Music Production class members Juliette and Nick worked the CD sales table in the lobby and sold a record 68 CDs in one night!  Could their strong sales numbers have something to do with Juliette’s standing on a chair in the lobby and waving the CD back and forth?

Parkland High School's orchestra, Karen Creeden director, performs at the Chorus/Orchestra concert on 12/8/11.

This a.m. (Wed., Dec. 7) we officially introduced the PARKLAND: A SEASON FOR GIVING (2011) holiday CD to the school and community at a “Coffee House” in the PHS auditorium lobby. Several tracks received “live” performances (James’ “Jingle Bells,” Andrew’s “The Meaning Left Behind,” and Dr. Lessel’s/Mr. Schwartz’s rendition of “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer”), and the others were played over the PA for all to hear.  The Performing Arts Club did a great job as always serving coffee/tea/hot chocolate and baked goods, and we had at least three media reps with us: a camera man from TV2, and reporters from the Parkland Press and South Whitehall Patch.  At our sales table, we sold 18 CDs – not bad for a 7:00-7:40 a.m. crowd!

Dr. Lessel and Mr. Schwartz perform "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" with Michael on bass and Andrew on drums, while James works the sound board.

Kaela (PR) and Genna (Marketing) work the sales table at the Coffee House CD Launch.

Click HERE to hear a podcast about this year’s holiday CD project!

The class has been meeting the last few days to launch the business component of our holiday CD project.  We’ve decided things such as where to sell the CD, how much to charge, and other items.  Stay tuned….

Today is officially the “LAST” day for students to wrap up their tracks for the 2011 CD.  I know it seems early, but it takes a couple weeks for our duplication service to copy the CD, CD artwork, assemble, shrink wrap, and ship out prodcut back to us in time to sell when we “launch” the CD at Parkland.

Previews of the tracks we’ve been sharing in class are very positive, with several tracks sure to be among the strongest we’ve ever produced.

Some set backs, however, include THE FLU which has plagued several class memebrs as they try to finish their work! Our producers, Oliver and Nick, and one of our marketing persons, Genna, have all missed school days (and in-class work recording, mixing, etc.) during this critical time. Nick and Oliver are back and working hard to catch up.  Hopefully Genna will be in tomorrow to finish her track.

Next up: a class “business meeting” to strategize sales/marketing!

It’s that time of year, and students in the PHS Music Production class are busy at work on their annual holiday CD for charity project!  You can follow progress on the CD, it’s release, and sales, right here.

In the days and weeks ahead, two clas members – Genna and Juliette (in charge of marketing and social media) – will be blogging about the CD project.  Topocs they’ll address include:

• Descriptions of the CD: For instance, this year in addition to the new 2011 tracks, we’re including “bonus content” – the “greatest hits” from previous “Season for Giving” CD’s. We also plan to post sample sound clips here to give you an idea of the great music you’ll get when you buy our CD.
• Artist profiles: We’ll let you know a little about the talent involved in our CD project.
• Charity Information: The students have chosen another great, worthy charity, the ALLENTOWN RESCUE MISSION.  We’ll share with you why they deserve your support.
• How to Get the CD: Info on buying the CD or ordering it or downloading it online will be posted here as well.

So…STAY TUNED!  Bookmark this blog and check back often.

Right now we’re just waiting on some final details in order to wrap up our annual holiday CD project. We haven’t heard how our online sales have done, but we’re hoping that the TV commercials running on Service Electric Cable TV, and the print ad we took out in the Parkland Press, made a difference. We also need to settle up with a couple folks who took CDs to sell for us – hopefully they sold everything they took! Finally, we have a few bills to pay

When it’s all said and done we think we’ll be handing over a nice donation to our charity, Valley youth House.

All our physical CDs are gone! Thanks to everyone who bought a CD this year. All the Parkland staff, students, parents, and friends that purchased one of our holiday CDs are partners with the talented students who put the CD together in helping abused and troubled teens through the programs at Valley Youth House.

If you’d still like to get a CD for yourself YOU CAN ORDER ONLINE….see the links to the right.