High school band jazzes it up

by Bridgette Moore

The Montezuma High School Band will participate in the JAZZFEST in Ottumwa at the Bridge View Center on Saturday, February 25. The event will be sponsored by Indian Hills Community College. 

There will be 18 schools competing this year, ranging anywhere from class 1A to 3A.

They will be leaving at 6:00 a.m. and be there from about 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. After they arrive they will warm up until they perform at 8:50 a.m. 

The songs they will be performing are “Swing Machine”, “Abaco”, “Birdland” and possibly “Deja Blue”. Then, after their performance they will go to a “clinic” where their judges will critique them to help them improve their performance.

The Montezuma High School band has gone to the JAZZFEST for the last two years, performing one year and watching other schools the next year.  Because they only received comments only and no rating in the past, they were not sure how they had ranked.

This year will be a new change as they will receive both a rating and comments from the judges. The rating scale gives bands a ranking between 1 and 4, with one meaning excellence. The bands that get ranked a 1, 2 or 3 will compete at the State Jazz Championships.

Scott Stanton, the band director of Montezuma High School, hopes that the student will be able to see the other schools perform, how they stand in comparison to Montezuma’s band and help to continue to motivate the students to be at top level.