Bringing a 1920's feel to competition

Music department holds annual competition allowing students from the county to come exhibit their different jazz styles to others

 

Senior rumpeter Robert Hill plays a solo during the annual jazz ensemble competition. Because Chantilly was hosting the competition, they did not compete but they still had opportunities to play their instruments. PHOTO BY MOLLY SYME

 

By Molly Syme

April 25, 2008

 

From blues to ragtime, swing to bebop, smooth jazz to mainstream, all the different types of jazz music came together for the 27th Annual Invitational Jazz Festival on March 28-29, in which 29 schools from the Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. areas came to compete with their jazz bands.

 

“It is a competition, but it’s also a fun experience for everybody because you get to hear so many different groups,” band director Drew Ross said.

 

The festival gave students from all over the metropolitan area a chance to hear what styles of jazz other schools were practicing. Even though Chantilly did not participate in the competition, they were given a chance to take part in a judge’s clinic, where the judges critiqued them the same way they critiqued the other schools in the festival.

 

“Each school has a different style, and when you listen, you can tell the schools that really focus on blues and technical things,” senior Berit Voldnes said. “At Chantilly, we focus on technical aspects but we also like to have fun, so we play up tempo and funky grooves, to really get the audience into it.”

 

The band directors teach students the concept that perfection in music is rarely achieved and that the effort they put into aiming for perfection is what really matters.

 

“We always tell the students to strive for the best performance they can do,” Ross said. “We know in music that it’ll never be perfect, and that’s just the way it is.”

 

In addition to those performing, Chantilly had around 100 students involved with the festival in one way or the other. Volunteers were helped out with concessions, while others directed where all the bands should be at specific times.

 

“I was a runner for South County Middle School, and I led them around to their different places they had to go to,” Voldnes said. “For the last part of the day I was working at concessions and getting people food.”

 

Some volunteered for service hours while others enjoy hearing the jazz music and came to support their friends in the jazz bands.

 

“You get to listen to jazz music for free and I just wanted to listen to different ensembles and different music,” junior Don Staggs said. “Plus, friends of mine are in the high school band.”

 

The middle school jazz bands competed on March 28 as well as the jazz combos. Rachel Carson Middle School took first place in the middle school division, with Poe Middle School coming in second and South County Middle School receiving third. Albemarle High School won the jazz combo category.

 

All the high school bands performed March 29 from 8 a.m. to around 10 p.m. Out of the high school big bands, Albemarle High School won first, McLean High School won second.