Jazz Band ties for second at big annual festival in Reno

The Sisters High School Varsity Jazz Band made a second place finish in its division at a major festival in Reno last month.

The Sisters band was one of about 330 bands to perform in the Reno International Jazz Festival the third weekend in April. The Reno festival is the largest festival of its kind in the Western United States.

The Sisters jazz band tied for second place with Brookings out of the 18 bands in its division. The bands were judged on the same criteria used at the district competition (see story, page 3).

The jazz band scored ratings of 83, 87, and 88 from the three judges. Scores were posted from all categories at the end of the festival, which showed that only about 40 bands at the entire festival received cumulative scores as high as the Sisters band, which included all categories of high schools and colleges.

During performances clinicians and adjudicators note individual talent within each band.

According to band director Henderson, "each adjudicator and clinician is a professional jazz musician or professional band leader, or, in most cases, both. This results in a festival staff of 55 top notch jazz professionals, all at one educational event."

They seemed to think highly of Sisters' players. Generally, two to three members of each band receives outstanding recognition awards.

However, seven individuals from the Sisters band were awarded outstanding musician awards: Ryan Reed, Justin Little, Shane Connor, Robin Hoagland, Mike Kurtz, Ben Scharf and Travis Napier.

"The coolest thing was the band's review with the judges after their performance," said parent chaperone, Cindy Glick.

"He told the band they were one of the best they had heard all day. His final words were 'dream big' and the kids' eyes just lit up and huge smiles of confidence spread across their faces."

The event is also known for the 40 plus college and university bands that attend.

The college performance venue at the festival is an intentional first stop for the Sisters students.

"The most important element of great musicianship in playing jazz is listening," Henderson said. "Hearing great bands makes you play better, so it is an obvious good thing to do before a performance. Listening to live jazz is such a reactive and interactive activity, and listening to it together as an entire band is even better."

In addition to the college band divisions there are eight divisions of high school classifications and a middle school classification. Sisters participated as part of the E division which represents the smallest high schools.

Junior Ben Scharf was thrilled with the Reno experience.

"The Reno trip was so cool," he said. "People from all over the country got together to celebrate jazz music.

"Our band learned a lot and had fun in the process. The whole experience made us a better band."

This was Senior Chris Mintiens' second trip to the Reno festival and he noticed a definite difference in the band's abilities compared to the previous year.

"We have improved so much," he said. "This year we earned rankings a lot of bands can only wish for.

"Every year I'm blown away by the talents of everyone there, from the youngest middle school student, to the oldest college student," Mintiens said.