Posted: Thursday, April 16, 2009 12:00 am
High school group primed to belt out two hours of tunes
By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter
PHILOMATH - About 25 teenage musicians stopped warming up and flipped through sheet music to find Thelonius Monk's "'Round Midnight."
Band teacher Dan Johnson - holding a soda pop and almost comically energetic at way-too-early in the morning - gave them tips on the song.
"This is toward the end of the set, so people will be tired," he said, "but you won't be."
At most concerts, high school bands play three or four songs, or about 15 minutes of music. The Philomath High School Jazz Band is preparing to perform for two full hours Saturday for the Philomath Rotary Club's 10th annual Salmon & Jazz Dinner, Dance and Silent Auction.
Students said they're stoked for the fundraiser, but tenor saxophonist Kyle Thrall said it will be like running a marathon.
"Your embouchure gets tired; your lips. After about 30 minutes, you feel it. After an hour, they feel like they're going to fall off," he said. Thankfully, there's a short break in between the hour-long sets.
And perhaps Johnson's energy will be contagious.
The band practices every day at 7:15 a.m., before school officially starts, but Johnson was a dynamo, snapping and jabbing the air with his fingers, bobbing to the rhythm, using a pencil as a makeshift baton and gesturing wider and wider with his hands to stress a crescendo.
Johnson said Saturday's event is the largest fundraiser for the jazz band. Every year, it provides about $1,000 and covers 45 percent of sheet music and travel and meal expenses.
"With budget cuts and whatnot this year, this is huge," Johnson said.
The students said the show is huge fun, too.
The band will perform nearly 30 songs, and Thrall figured it was like playing a real, professional gig.
Jessica McKeirnan, a senior trumpet player, said she loves watching the crowd dance, whether they can swing or whether somebody has two left feet.
"We get to play a lot of the good-old big band songs that you don't hear anymore," she said.
Also, on April 25, before the Mr. PHS pageant, the program will hold a spaghetti feed.
The Salmon and Jazz Dinner, Dance and Auction had sold nearly 300 tickets as of Tuesday, said Rosemary Tuana, who is helping organize the event.
"We've sold more tickets this year than we ever had," she said. "This is our biggest fundraiser of the year, we usually clear somewhere between $7,000 and $8,000."
Proceeds this year also will go to create new tennis courts in Philomath, to the Philomath Food Bank, to the Philomath Youth Activities Club and to the Rotary foreign exchange program.
This year, there's a new venue for the event, which will be held in the recently completed Philomath Scout Lodge, not Clemens Primary School. Because of that site, beer and wine can be served.
Kyle Odegard can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.