Bands to converge in Fort Dodge for Jazz Festival
Iowa Central event is one of the largest in the state
-Submitted photo <br> Fort Dodge Senior High Band Director Al Paulson leads the Jazz Band during a performance at the Triton Jazz Festival last year. Fort Dodge will be one of 49 schools performing at this year’s festival.
-Submitted photo <br> Members of the St. Edmond Jazz Band perform at last year’s Triton Jazz Festival. This year’s event will be held over three days starting Wednesday.
-Submitted photo <br> Fort Dodge Jazz Band members Makinley Nore, Simeon Roberts and Joscelyn Kahler perform during last year’s Triton Jazz Festival. This year’s event will be held Jan. 10-12 with 49 bands performing.
-Submitted photo <br> Fort Dodge Senior High Band Director Al Paulson leads the Jazz Band during a performance at the Triton Jazz Festival last year. Fort Dodge will be one of 49 schools performing at this year’s festival.
-Submitted photo <br> Members of the St. Edmond Jazz Band perform at last year’s Triton Jazz Festival. This year’s event will be held over three days starting Wednesday.
-Submitted photo <br> Fort Dodge Jazz Band members Makinley Nore, Simeon Roberts and Joscelyn Kahler perform during last year’s Triton Jazz Festival. This year’s event will be held Jan. 10-12 with 49 bands performing.
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Nearly 50 bands will converge on Fort Dodge next week as Iowa Central Community College hosts the 11th annual Triton Jazz Festival over the course of three days.
The festival, which started with just a handful of bands a decade ago, has grown in size each year, according to Iowa Central Director of Athletic Bands Jeremy Smith. This year 49 bands from all parts of the state will perform.
"We've been growing every year," said Smith. "Last year was the first year we went to three days. We have schools from as far away as Sioux City and Cedar Rapids coming. It's so cool to get them together. It's a way for some bands to interact with schools they normally wouldn't."
The festival will be held this year at Best Western Starlite Village Inn & Suites in Fort Dodge. That's due to ongoing construction at Decker Auditorium and the instrumental music areas on campus.
The festival will include bands from 1A through 4A schools, with Class 1A and 3A performances taking place on Wednesday, Class 2A bands on Thursday, and Class 4A bands on Friday.
Each participating band will have a warmup time, 25-minute setup/performance/tear down and a session with a clinician following the performance.
Bands will perform for a panel of three jazz adjudicators and have a clinic with an experienced jazz educator in a separate area.
The festival is sanctioned by the Iowa High School Music Association and results will be provided to the Iowa Jazz Championships Committee for wild card qualification considerations.
"The scoring is divided into sections," said Smith. "One is the entire ensemble. One part is the rhythm section and one section is for programming and style presentation. The final part is improvisation and solos. The full bands get judged, but we want to give groups credit for the individuality that happens. That's always the hard part. It takes guts to get up and do a solo."
Several area high school bands will be competing at the festival this year including: St. Edmond (1A), Newell-Fonda (1A), Southeast Valley (2A), Pocahontas Area (2A), Belmond-Klemme (2A), Manson Northwest Webster (2A), South Hamilton (2A), Humboldt (3A), Webster City (3A), and Fort Dodge Senior High I and II (4A).
"It's good for us to have bands coming here," said Smith. "We want people to see our facilities and the opportunities we have to offer. Because of the time involved, we don't really have time for a hard pitch (to students). I just wish this year was on campus so we had a little bit more room to run things.
"When we started this competition, there wasn't much going on in this part of the state. Now our festival is one of the larger ones in the state," he added.
The performances are open to the public and there is no charge for admission.
"We want these kids to get as much support as they can," said Smith. "We know parents are already spending a lot of money to support their children."
Performances Wednesday run from 8:15 a.m. to 5:05 p.m. Thursday starts at 8:25 a.m. and runs until 3:30 p.m. and Friday runs from 8:45 a.m. until 3:45 p.m.
Awards will be announced at the conclusion of each day.
A schedule of individual performances and past results can be found at https://www.iowacentral.edu/performing_arts/music/triton_jazz_festival.asp