Music in the Parks

Music in the Parks is a day-long or two-day festival for student choral, orchestral, and band ensembles, held annually across the United States. Music groups perform before adjudicators who rate the ensemble in the morning, and then spend the day at an amusement park. The day culminates with an awards ceremony. Awards can be given to either a single player or a whole ensemble.

The festivals are organized by the Educational Programs Network.

Company information
The program was first founded in 1981 by Dr. James R. Wells. The Educational Programs Networks hosts over 200,000 music students each year.

Locations
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay           Tampa, FL

Busch Gardens Williamsburg    Williamsburg, VA

California's Great America    Santa Clara, CA

Carowinds                     Charlotte, NC

Cedar Point                   Sandusky, OH

Darien Lake                   Buffalo, NY

Disneyland Resort             Anaheim, CA

Dollywood                     Pigeon Forge, TN

Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom Allentown, PA

Elitch Gardens                Denver, CO

Hersheypark                   Hershey, PA

Kennywood                     Pittsburgh, PA

Kings Dominion                Richmond, VA

Kings Island                  Cincinnati, OH

Knotts Berry Farm             Anaheim, CA

Lagoon                        Salt Lake City, UT

Lake Compounce                Bristol, CT

Morey's Piers                 Wildwood, NJ

Oaks Park Portland, OR

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk    Santa Cruz, CA

Sea World Orlando             Orlando, FL

Sea World San Diego           San Diego, CA

Silver Dollar City            Branson, MO

Silverwood                    Coeur D'Alene, ID

Six Flags America             Largo, MD

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom    Vallejo, CA

Six Flags Fiesta Texas        San Antonio, TX

Six Flags Great Adventure     Jackson, NJ

Six Flags Great America       Chicago, IL

Six Flags Magic Mountain      Los Angeles, CA

Six Flags New England         Agawam, MA

Six Flags Over Georgia        Atlanta, GA

Six Flags Over Texas          Dallas, TX

Six Flags St. Louis           St. Louis, MO

Universal Orlando             Orlando FL

Universal Studios Hollywood   Universal City, CA

Valleyfair                    Minneapolis, MN

Wild Waves Theme Park                    Seattle, WA

Worlds of Fun                 Kansas City, MO

Categories
There are many different categories in the Music in the Parks festival. There are categories for band, Orchestra, and choir. Each of these has a high school and junior high/middle school category. The categories are then split up into A or AA, depending on the size of the school. Also, there are different types of band, orchestra, and choir, such as concert band, jazz band, mixed choir, and women's choir. Finally, there are other awards given that are based on overall achievement or attitude, as well as for an individual member of a group.

Awards
Once the group, orchestra, band and/or choir performs at the performance area, they go to the amusement park of the director's choice, and at night, they go to the location of which they are told, according to where they performed, and are given their awards at a ceremony. Students from each group are asked to represent the school or group and receive the award in honor of the school. Every school gets an award, and there are rankings (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on) according to how many groups entered. There are also scales on which how you performed (90 - 100% = Superior, 80 - 89.9% = Excellent, 70-79.9% = Good, 60 - 69.9% = Fair, 50 - 59% = Poor, and <50 = Participant) But even if you win 1st, you are not guaranteed Superior, and if you are placed last, you can still be Superior (since that is based on the performance score).