Garfield and Roosevelt in Essentially Ellington (Again)
The jazz bands of Garfield High and Roosevelt High have been selected, along with, Mount Si High, to participate in the Essentially Ellington Jazz Band Competition in New York. The competition takes places in early May in NYC.
The Times reports that Garfield has been a finalist 14 times (since 1999 when the competition realized there were high schools west of the Mississippi.) Garfield has been in first place four times. Roosevelt has been a finalist 16 times and won first three times. Neither has won since 2010 but I foresee a win for either band.
Congrats - students, band leaders and parents.
I also want to note the creation of a new jazz band - the Girls Ellington Project. They applied to be in the Essentially Ellington competition and didn't make it but kudos to all of them. Story via KUOW.
The Times reports that Garfield has been a finalist 14 times (since 1999 when the competition realized there were high schools west of the Mississippi.) Garfield has been in first place four times. Roosevelt has been a finalist 16 times and won first three times. Neither has won since 2010 but I foresee a win for either band.
Congrats - students, band leaders and parents.
I also want to note the creation of a new jazz band - the Girls Ellington Project. They applied to be in the Essentially Ellington competition and didn't make it but kudos to all of them. Story via KUOW.
Comments
Special shout-out to GHS's music instructors. Clarence Acox is a treasure - Seattle is lucky to have him here. Props to GHS's Mr. Tsutakawa & Mr. Sodano, orchestra & concert band/drumline instructors - they are outstanding, dedicated teachers. Mrs. Barr-Clingan, Ms. Fortune, & Mr. Walker-Loud @ WMS do a fantastic job in a middle school music program feeding GHS, and Seattle JazzEd and Seattle Music Partners do an equally fabulous job preparing students & providing tutelage outside of school hours. Last, the City's Creative Advantage initiative is worthy of praise. I'm sure there are many more music instructors who are/were instrumental (ha! Pun!) in these bands' success.
Congratulations!
Great to hear about the Ellington Girls Jazz group. Fantastic!!!
Northend mom
Why
artsmom
Yes - strong music programs are expensive. We currently only have them where parents or nonprofits are willing to provide funding. It would be awesome if the state would take over that responsibility.
Artsmom, first, there is a whole plan for arts education in SPS and it is slowly rolling out. But it takes money.
Also, just to say it again, these great programs are really the work of the band directors and the parents. The district invested no real money to build them to what they are today.
-reality
Perplexed
open ears
None of these observations answer the question "Why are there only X # of females in a group of Y#?" But recognition of these discrepancies in numbers is a good thing - for students, parents & instructors.
http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/high-school-music-groups-grapple-gender-gap-94867
" Tracking student participation in high-school ensembles, University of Maryland researcher Kenneth Elpus finds a consistent pattern in which females outnumber males—not only in choirs, but also in bands and orchestras.
“This trend has been fairly stable for the past three decades,” he reports in the journal Music Education Research. "
Curious