Sisters Jazz Quartet finishes on top

The Sisters High School Jazz Quartet earned first place in the 48th annual Reno Jazz Festival, held April 23-25 at the campus of the University of Nevada.

The festival featured performances by nearly 300 groups. Students Blake Henderson, Brett Pray, Trevor Ford and Tanner Smith performed in a division of 18 small groups from smaller schools attending the festival, including schools from San Rafael, Pebble Beach, Beaverton and Los Angeles.

This Sisters group was also chosen as one of only seven from the entire festival to perform on the showcase and awards ceremony closing the event.

While Sisters bands have traditionally earned awards for their performances in Reno, the showcase performance invitation is a distinctive, one-time-in-history honor. The group was very well received by the audience of 4,000 in attendance at the showcase, held in the Lawlor Events Center/Coliseum.

In a proud introduction of his students, band director Jody Henderson explained to the audience that the entire town of Sisters would fit in the venue, and that the honor of performing as a showcase band would not be possible without the learning opportunities he and his students had received through observing great programs while attending the festival over the past 10 years.

Over the main two days of the event, over 45 highly qualified educators from around the country serve on adjudication panels which listen constructively and provide voice-over recorded comments to each performing group. Students and their directors also work with adjudicators in a post-performance session, offering on-the-spot reinforcement and ideas in working toward improvement.

The adjudication panels also award points to each group using a scoring guide which evaluates specific areas of musical performance: Quality and quantity of improvisation, playing in tempo, playing in tune, articulation, dynamics, balance and blend, style and interpretation, programming and presentation. This system encourages an objective and informative earning of points.

When not performing in Reno, students are able to check out other band programs, including those from reputable university jazz studies programs such as CSU Northridge, CSU Fullerton, CSU Sacramento, University of Utah and

more.

The Sisters Jazz Band program attends the Reno Jazz Festival through program fundraising and member pay-to-participate fees. For more information about the Sisters High School Jazz Bands call 541-549-4045 ext.1025.