The jazz band season is in full swing for Perry High School. 

Perry Jazz Band Director Blaine Schmidt says that he has 20 students in this year in jazz band. Schmidt points out that they have already traveled to Norwalk for the Iowa High School Music Association Jazz Band Festival and his group performed three rehearsed songs that earned a division two rating. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that it was a successful first competition. 

“They’ve been in a growth phase right now. So we’re kind of working towards getting back into just getting in front of people and performing. It was a new experience. I’d have to double check with them, but I think I only had maybe one student who had ever gone and performed in a jazz band in front of judges before.”

Schmidt says that his group will be traveling to the Southeast Polk Jazz Festival on Saturday. He explains what he’d like to accomplish in this competition. 

“My number one goal was just to get them out in front of judges to perform, get some feedback so that they can improve upon their own playing, and that we can continue to grow as a group and find more challenging music and have more rewarding performance experiences.”

Schmidt states to end the season they will have a jazz night in the Perry High School Commons on March 7th to perform in front of the student’s families.