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Jazz 1 receives invite to play at prestigious music conference

This past June, Band Director Jeff Pottinger found out that the St. Louis U High Jazz 1 Band had been selected to perform at the Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) conference—one of the top honors for a jazz program in the state of Missouri.

The MMEA conference is an annual conference held in the Lake of the Ozarks for the top musical educators from around the state. Music educators go to the convention to learn, network, brainstorm with their colleagues, see the other groups perform, and attend classes about different teaching techniques.

The program accepts just four bands to perform: two concert bands, one middle school band, and one jazz band.

“It’s just a huge honor,” said Pottinger. “And of course, since they only take one jazz band, for us to get to perform there out of all the schools in the state of Missouri is pretty exciting.”

Bands make a recording and submit it in May, receive notice on whether they were selected by June, and perform at the conference in January. This means that a program will have one group apply for the performance, and another group actually perform at the conference.

“The biggest thing about last year’s group was that they were really clean. They really tightened up and did that extra little bit that took them into that upper echelon of playing,” said Pottinger.

“The group, especially in the rhythm section, was very tight, keeping time and tempo,” said senior Aiden Lundergan. With a good foundation in the rhythm section, soloists were able to thrive.   

The current band knows Pottinger will have them ready.

“He does a very good job at bringing the juniors into leadership positions and giving (the players) tools so that they understand what’s expected and are ready to lead the band fully next year,” said junior saxophone player Bobby Rizzo.

“He (Pottinger) brings in big names in music, like Christopher Bruige, to give lessons,” said Rizzo. “He’s a big help and important factor for the success sectionals.”

Bruige is well-known on Broadway with multiple Grammy nominations.

Pottinger believes that this year’s group of students will live up to the high bar set by their predecessors.

“They (the 2019-2020 Jazz 1 Band) have already exceeded my expectations this year. We are further along this year than we have ever been before. I’m very excited,” said Pottinger.

The performance is open for anyone to apply. The selection process is decided by out-of-state judges, composed of various collegiate music professors who score each band based on numerous topics like blend, balance, and tuning.

“I just read the judges’ comments yesterday and my wife found an envelope with the judges comments and it said stuff like tuning, excellent, balance and blend, exceptional—just all these one-word responses,” said Pottinger. “Normally they write a bunch of stuff down but there were just these short one word responses. The guys just did a great job at learning the music and mastering it to the point where the judges didn’t have much to critique.”

Despite being a first for SLUH’s program, Pottinger has already had two other appearances performing at MMEA for his previous jobs at Parkway Central Middle and Hazelwood Wood West.

“This program puts us in the upper echelon of groups in the state, at least the top five,” said Pottinger. “It is great affirmation for SLU High and for the guys in the program to know that what we’re doing is really high quality and it gives SLUH a sense of pride.”

 

 


 

 

 

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