Mitchell High School’s jazz bands continued their impressive spring run on March 1 by winning the Class AA competition at the Jazz on the Great Plains Festival, held at Augustana University.
The Jazz 1 ensemble scored 290 out of a possible 300 points, the highest score across all classes in the competition. Jazz 2 came in fifth place with a score of 258, the highest total among second bands. Also competing in AA were ensembles from Brookings, Yankton, and O’Gorman (Sioux Falls).
“We have some incredibly talented young musicians,” MHS Director of Bands Ryan Stahle said. “What really sets them apart, though, is the hard work they put into bringing out their talent.”
Each band meets multiple times per week at 7:15am to rehearse. All jazz band members are also part of the concert bands, and several of them play in other school ensembles as well.
“They know each other so well musically because they’ve spent so much time playing together,” Stahle said. “They’re able to get a really tight sound on very challenging pieces.”
In addition to the full band award, several individual members were singled out for their solo work at Augustana. Jesse Dodd (drums), Christian Kremer (saxophone), Ella Mutziger (guitar), and Zachary Van Meter (trombone) all took home awards as outstanding soloists.
Later that evening, several members of the jazz band performed along with the jazz band at Dakota Wesleyan University for the “Jazz Night” event, hosted in the Sherman Center. The next performance for the jazz bands will be as part of the spring concert, March 15 at 7:00 at the Performing Arts Center.
“We are extremely blessed to have such great music here in our community,” Stahle said. “Once people hear these kids perform live, they get a sense of how awesome they sound.”
(Thanks to Denise Van Meter)