NORTHPORT -- Three northern Michigan high school jazz bands will be showcased, but the real story for the performers happens before Sunday evening's Battle of the Bands concert in Northport.
Sunday afternoon, members of these Elk Rapids, Kingsley and Suttons Bay high school ensembles will work with Bill Sears, the event's guest clinician. That evening, each band will perform in a public concert held at the Northport Community Arts Center.
Sears, director of jazz studies at Interlochen and all-around jazz guru, will spend 90 minutes with each band. For at least an hour per band, he will guide and shape their musical performance with feedback, demonstrations and suggestions.
"It's actually a unique kind of setup in that this is one of the few festivals where they give you a lot of time to work with the groups," said Sears, returning as clinician for the second year. "What I appreciate with this is we can get to the meat of things, we can get to the heart of things, and help groups step forward to become better musicians."
Almost as good as working for more than an hour with Sears, musicians and teachers can listen and absorb his comments as the other two bands have their turn. Musicians in effect sit through three clinics in one afternoon -- one hands-on and two others as a rapt audience.
"It's about five hours of intensive work," said Tom Clare, director of the 20-member Kingsley Jazz Prism Band. "It's a great opportunity whenever you get a chance to work with a guy like Bill Sears -- holy cow!"
Dave McKeon, director of bands in Elk Rapids, is "very excited" at the opportunity to work with Sears. He has seen an upsurge of interest in jazz bands at the high school level since he started the Zero Hour Jazz Lab Band in 1991. This year his band has 16 members in grades 9-12.
"Jazz bands are becoming much more popular. Most collegiate music programs offer jazz studies now and it's filtering down into the high schools," McKeon said.
The Battle of the Bands was launched in 2007 and is the brainchild of Ken Bloomquist, a retired director of bands at Michigan State University. The Northport resident remains active in the arts, serving as president of the Northport Community Arts Center, and retains a keen interest in nurturing high school band musicians.
He merged passion for the genre with friendship to create the event, whose vision is to invite different bands from the region.
"I was knowledgeable of the bands around and knew some very fine jazz bands in northern Michigan," said Bloomquist. "And I also claim Bill Sears at Interlochen as a friend, so I was anxious to get him to be the clinician because I know how good he is and how much he gives to student musicians."
Last year Bloomquist invited jazz bands from Traverse City West High School, Harbor Springs and Cheboygan to learn and perform. As he did last year, Bloomquist tapped Sears for input and sifted through jazz bands before issuing invitations for the 2008 event.
"These three were very obvious because they have very strong programs," he said. "They've got wonderful programs in all three of these schools, with concert bands and marching bands and jazz bands and they go to contests. They have what I would call very comprehensive music programs."
The Battle of the Bands will be held on Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Northport Community Arts Center in Northport. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students. For more information or to reserve tickets, call 386-5001 or see www.northportcac.org.
Print this story
E-mail this story
