While many feel down and have less of a pep in their step during the winter and early spring months of Feb. and March, the EGRHS Band fought against any winter blues by showing their musicality and getting jazzy in their various competitions and concerts during this dreary season.

One of the events for the band was their festival competition. Festival was held on Feb. 26, and the band went through various preparations to ensure that pieces would be stage ready.

“We had a pre-festival concert which was 2-3 weeks before festival. During that time we brought in clinicians who are adjudicators from different districts, and they came in and listened to us and gave feedback,” Mark Wells, Director of Bands,
said.

The pre-festival gives underclassmen a taste for what’s to come while figuring out what areas need extra care.

During festival, the band showcased pieces that displayed various skills and conveniently for the band, the event was held at the high school.

“We usually play three tunes. One of those is from a large list we choose from. Then we have to play a march, and then we play one of our choice,” Wells said.

Though three pieces may seem like a lot to master, this year’s festival was successful for all levels of band.

“Both the Concert Band which primarily consists of freshmen and sophomores and the Symphony Band which is primarily juniors and seniors both got excellent or superior scores,” Wells said.

Along with festival, another important event for the band occurred in the last few weeks. On March 20, the EGRHS Jazz Band held a jazz concert in the PAC, performing alongside local professional big band “Big Band Nouveau.”

“The high school band had a lot of fun and in total performed 4-5 tunes. Then after the high school band, Big Band Nouveau performed a set of music, about 45 minutes worth. Then we combined for a piece called Anteca. Lastly, we brought everyone up from the audience who could play and played one final tune called Second Line, which is a New Orleans-style street beat,” Wells said.

For the jazz concert, the members of the band that played included instruments specific to traditional jazz performances.

“For Jazz Band we have four trombones, four trumpets, and a saxophone section consisting of the three different size saxes. We have two altos, which is the smaller saxophone. We have two tenors, which is medium size, and we have one bari, which is the largest saxophone. Then we also have instruments we don’t have in band, which are piano and bass,” Wells said.

While these last few weeks were very busy for the band, the events for the year are not complete. For those that feel that they missed out on the electric atmosphere of the past jazz concert, they can mark their calendars for May 6, the spring concert.