Three Bellevue High School Jazz Festivals ago, the top jazz band from Twin Falls Middle School entered the competition for the first time, and took third place. Two festivals ago, they took second. This year, on May 13, they logically claimed first place.
“We came out on top of Eckstein Middle School… they’ve won the division five or six times. That was quite the experience!” said Matt Wenman, director of the Twin Falls jazz bands.
The next day, two Mount Si High School jazz bands competed at the high school level. Jazz Band II, directed by Wenman, won second place in the AA division, and the school’s top jazz band not only won its AAA division, it took the sweepstakes prize, making it “the best band overall, in all divisions,” said director Adam Rupert. “We took home the top prize of the festival.”
For both schools, the wins mark the end of competition season, and cap a successful year all around.
Twin Falls students not only won Bellevue, they performed in two non-competitive events, the Eastshore festival at Mercer Island, and the Viking Jazz Festival at Poulsbo Junior High, where they earned the highest score.
The high school band also earned the high school division’s high score at Viking, for the second year in a row. They competed five times, and auditioned for a spot in the Essentially Ellington competition in New York May 12 to 14. In three years of auditioning, Mount Si has made the top 20 for the last two years. This year’s audition resulted in soloist awards for Matt Baumgardner and Ryan Donelly.
Winning at Bellevue was especially important to Mount Si, Rupert said, because “this is the one we look the most forward to, and it has the stiffest competition.”
These students are well-rehearsed in competition, starting with just making it into the band.
With its focus on excellent musicianship, creativity, improvisation, and sight-reading, Rupert said, “the jazz program is the elite ensemble of our program.”
To make any school’s Jazz Band I, students practice all summer, audition, and commit to 6:30 a.m. practices, five days a week.
“Every jazz kid in the district is used to the 5:30 a.m. alarm clock,” said Rupert. “They’ve been doing it since they were sixth graders.”
“I think it really comes down to the student work ethic,” Wenman said.
The Mount Si High School Jazz Band’s final concert is Wednesday, June 1, 7 p.m. at the Mount Si Auditorium. You can see the Twin Falls Middle School Jazz Band Friday, June 3, 7 p.m. as part of the middle school’s two-day Music Showcase. Order tickets at tfmsmusicboosters.org/Ticket%20Order%20Form.pdf.
