From Left To Right: Finn Witt, piano, Joseph Scheetz, piano, Hanah Novotny, bass guitar, Ethan Heck, drum set and Daryn Cherveny, drum set. Seated, front row, left to right: Luis Avalos, tenor sax, Alondra Bolanos-Lupian, alto sax, Katie Husak, alto sax, Itzel Herrera, tenor sax and Tyler Moran, bari sax. Second row: trombones- Katherin Kofstad, Libby Albright, Mariah Spinler, and Jordyn Cremeans/Third row: trumpets- Roman Hill, Jonathan Meyer, Alexes Baeza, Makayla Backen and Amber Mylie. Chronicle/Wendy Witt

Hosting the State Jazz Band Festival on Monday, Jan. 27, at South Tama High School, was a lot of fun, it’s something we haven’t done since before I started here 20 years ago, and I’m not sure STC has ever hosted the IHSMA State Jazz Band Festival.

We wanted to make each school and the judges feel at home and at ease, and this was only possible with the outstanding volunteer group of music parents and supporters, along with the extremely enthusiastic members of our band program who served as ambassadors to the schools and judges. I can’t express my gratitude enough to them for their help in making this so positive.

As for the band’s performance, they played really well and received many very positive comments and great feedback on how to improve from the judges. The band scored straight 43 points from each judge (out of a total possible of 50) to earn a Division II Rating. The cut off to receive a Division I Rating is 45, so we were close. We feel we can improve between now and when the band competes next on March 7 in the NorthEast Iowa Bandmasters Association Jazz Festival at Independence High School.

In addition to South Tama High School other high school bands performing were from Belle Plaine, Center Point-Urbana, Marion, and Benton Community,

I also want to express appreciation to the administration, staff, and custodial crew for all their support and help with hosting this event, we definitely could not have done it without any of them!