By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Student musicians from throughout Aroostook County shone as brightly as their trumpets, trombones and saxophones last Wednesday night as they competed in the District 7 Jazz Festival, sponsored by the Northern Maine Music Educators Association.
Middle and high school jazz bands from Presque Isle, Houlton and Fort Kent participated in the festival, which was held at Presque Isle Middle School.
Bands that received a 74 or higher advanced to the state competition. All of the bands participating advanced to the state competition, which will be held March 18-19 at Mount Desert Island High School for high school musicians and March 26 at Stearns High School in Millinocket for middle school students. Each group had 25 minutes to get on stage, perform, and exit the stage. The high school state jazz festival will be held.
“The district festival is a qualifying event to move on to the Maine State Jazz Festival to be held at Mount Desert High School on March 19,” Houlton band director Joe Fagnant said. “The Houlton High School Jazz Band qualified for the state festival and received a one rating. The group impressed the judges with their sound, song choices and musical style. The band’s soloists — Marina DiMarco, Zach Waite, Tanner Caron, Zacharia Harvey and Dustin Fitzpatrick — all received solo awards.”
“This year, every school that came for a score from the judges made it to states,” said Pat Bragdon, host director and band/vocal music instructor at PIMS. “Some bands in the past have performed one long, 15-minute song, but generally groups do three songs … something jazzy, a slow ballad, and some type of Latin tune.”
Sherri Calhoun, who teaches music at Mapleton Elementary School, served as one of the judges along with Bob King, a retired music teacher from Limestone.
“[As a judge] I look for basics and good musicianship. For example, good tone production, are they breathing correctly, are they articulating clearly, are we hearing a lot of dynamic contrast, are they phrasing well, are they playing together … just basic musical concepts,” said Calhoun. “We’re trying to look at things that are real black and white.
“The other thing we’re looking for is whether or not what they’re playing is developmentally appropriate for them,” she said. “We don’t expect the same level of difficulty of music from the middle school that you would from a high school, but you would take that into account.”
Calhoun said she was pleased with how well the bands performed.
“The kids are doing well, and it’s exciting to see the kids grow as musicians; I’ve seen a lot of growth,” she said. “My encouragement to all the performers is ‘Keep on tootin’.’”
