PPSEL Jazz Band Earns Awards

The Pikes Peak School for Expeditionary Learning’s Jazz Band was named the Best Middle School Band at the Pikes Peak Jazz Festival and eighth-grader Gregory Myers was named the Best Middle School Soloist. 

Gregory played both the clarinet and saxophone during the performance. He has been playing the clarinet for years, but just picked up the saxophone last year. 

“I handed him a saxophone and I said, I need you on this,” said Boyd Sweeney, PPSEL Music Director. 

“I started, near the middle of last year, but it took a while for me to be able to actually play. Since that saxophone was being difficult,” Gregory said.

Gregory Myers on clarinet. 

 

“Jazz is calming in a way, It just flows along more than other genres of music. It feels, in a way, like a river. It just goes along and the different emotions portrayed in the piece are kind of like the grooves in it. And occasionally, like going with the analogy of a river, it can branch off into other songs, similar to how oxbow lakes are formed,” Gregory said.

Sweeney believes that Gregory’s ‘branch off’ during one of his solos is one reason he won the award. 

“A big thing with him is he loves jazz, he can rattle off all of his favorite musicians, all of his favorite clarinet players,” Sweeney said. “And since he listens to this genre of music, he knows what it sounds like. He knows he's really learning the language. As opposed to just notes.”

Gregory had a goal of winning the best soloist. 

“I felt kind of astonished in a way. I was hoping to get the award, and that's what I was aiming for. But I also felt like there were a lot of other musicians at the festival who definitely could have gotten the award over me, including people in our jazz band. But I just felt very excited for myself, because I aimed for a goal and was able to reach it.”

“He is never not practicing,” Sweeney said. “Anytime I see him he's got his clarinet out practicing. He's always been super motivated.”

Gregory feels having a good band community is important to success. 

“It's necessary to have a good environment around you, especially with the people you play with. Because just having fun with it, that's what matters the most. And being able to share your accomplishments with other people who won't just feel envy or jealous, that is something that can be very powerful and engaging.”

Ryle Larance on piano. 

 

Seventh-grader Ryle Larance agrees. “It’s a great community. You get to learn cool stuff and meet cool people. Everyone was super supportive”

Winning the band award is a highlight for the piano player. 

“We push ourselves a lot and Mr. Sweeney helps us reach our potential,” Ryle said. “We don’t think the highest of ourselves, because we like to be hard on ourselves. We do need to give ourselves more credit at times. It was a great experience to do it with all these people.”

Besides winning the best band award, this is the third year in a row the PPSEL Jazz Band has received superior ratings at the Pikes Peak Jazz Fest. 

“These achievements are a testament to the students' hard work, passion, and dedication to their craft,” Sweeney said. “I definitely feel a sense of pride in the work that they've done musically. But the character they showed on the day was wonderful too.”

“It is also one of those things that being at a little school, with jazz band, you never really know where you stand. Because we don't do all the festivals with the band and choirs. But it's very validating. It very much helps these kids be able to see that it's not always about all the extra bells and whistles. It's not about having a big, state of the art band room. It's not about having all the best instruments in the world. It's about the time you put into it and the effort you put in, and being supportive of each other. That's the part that I'm most proud of is just the fact that they let themselves excel to that higher level, even though it's, from the outside looking in, we're practicing in a cafeteria, but it doesn't matter. We have advantages. We have a really incredibly supportive principal. We're a great school community.” 

Sweeney has been teaching music and band at PPSEL for 12 years. 

“I became a band director to teach band, but jazz band is what my passion has always been. Finally getting to have the jazz band in the school and being able to be accomplished and have an award-winning jazz band, it's a dream come true.”