Students receive jazz scholarships

Nine Sisters students have received scholarships to jazz workshops this summer. Seven will be traveling to the University of Oregon for the week-long Jazz Improvisation Workshop.

Wes Ford, a sophomore, and his brother Trevor, a seventh grader, are two of the the seven.

"Both of the boys got full scholarships to the University of Oregon Jazz Improvisation Workshop based on a performance they gave at the Oregon Jazz Festival in January," said Jody Henderson, Sisters High School Band Director. Eighth grader Tanner Smith, sophomore Jacob French and sophomore Sam Orwig also received tuition scholarships.

"They go for a week, and they go to class, and they play in different bands. They audition when they get there, and they are placed by ability into bands between four and seven people in size, what we call jazz combos," said Henderson.

The combos are coached by graduate teaching assistants and professors. According to Henderson, the University of Oregon has one of the top jazz studies programs in the country.

"People come from all over to study there," Henderson said.

Referring to the three young men who make up the Ben Darwish Trio that performed in concert for the high school student body last Friday (see related article, page 31) Henderson said: "All three of those guys ... are either Master's or potentially Doctorate students in the jazz studies program at the U of O."

While attending the jazz improvisation workshop, Sisters students will additionally study music theory and music history. The workshop culminates with a performance where students are given the opportunity to demonstrate the skills and insight they have gleaned from the workshop.

Henderson told The Nugget that the adjudicators at the Oregon Jazz Festival in January listen for the top students and recommend these students as scholarship candidates to the director of the University of Oregon Jazz Improvisation Workshop. Approximately 32 schools attended the Oregon Jazz Festival. The university normally awards eight tuition scholarships.

"Our kids came away with five of the scholarships," Henderson said.

In addition to the five scholarships, the Sisters Jazz Festival has donated more than $2,000 to provide scholarships to summer workshops and camps for Sisters students.

Sam Orwig is one of the jazz festival's scholarship recipients. Orwig has been given a housing scholarship from the Sisters Jazz Festival to add to his tuition scholarship.

"He's going to go totally free-ride," Henderson said. "He was one of our top candidates for a scholarship."

To qualify for a scholarship from the jazz festival, students must write an essay answering questions about their involvement in jazz music and their understanding of the genre. They also have to secure evaluations from two teachers, one of their music teachers and one of their core teachers.

Riley Gilmore, a junior, and his brother Colby, an eighth grader, both received scholarships from the Sisters Jazz Festival. The pair were granted tuition scholarships for the same jazz improvisation camp at the University of Oregon as the Ford brothers, Smith, Orwig and French.

Nathan Uttley, a ninth grader, received a tuition scholarship from the jazz festival to the Britt Institute Instrumental Jazz Camp in Jacksonville, Oregon. It, too, is a week-long camp.

Sophomore Jared Henderson, who is the son of the band director, received a tuition scholarship from the jazz festival to the Fifth Annual Jazz Institute at Purchase College in Purchase, New York. The camp is directed by Todd Coolman, who is noted as one of the finest bass teachers in the history of jazz education.

"That's a camp that just takes 40 kids nationally," Henderson said. "We are able to send him because he got the tuition scholarship, and it's quite costly to fly him out there, of course."

The airlines do not allow bassists to travel with their instrument because of size.

"You either have to ship your bass ahead of time for hundreds of dollars or rent a bass. The jazz festival's tuition scholarship has made it really possible," Henderson said.

Having nine students receive summer music scholarships is an honor for any school district but even more significant when taking the size of the district into account.

"We've got a lot of kids that work hard, and it shows,"Henderson said.