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SATURDAY January 24, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels December 23, 2003 Born a traveling band Ashland High School's combined bands are raising money for Mexican trip By Susan DeRosia Ashland Daily Tidings As the Ashland High School Symphonic Band and Jazz Bands performed in the Mountain Avenue Theater last week, enterprising students and parents held a silent auction to raise money for the music department's cultural exchange trip to Ashland's sister-city, Guanajuato, Mexico. Susan DeRosia | Ashland Daily Tidings Isaiah Thalmayer, Shawn Johnson and Erick Johnson (back - left to right) play guitar with Keith Smelcer (front) on tenor sax perform in AHS's Advanced Jazz Band at Mountain Avenue Theater last Tuesday. The 51 choir, band and orchestra students who are going on the trip are actively working to raise the money for the trip, but the concert was more than just a fundraiser. It was also a chance to display the local musical talent, as the bands performed everything from J.S. Bach to W.C. Handy. Parents and students Bustling around the tables, freshman Vajra Maitreya checked the prices on the cards by the gifts. Maitreya began playing the bassoon four years ago in a in sixth grade band class with band director Vicki Jorgensen. "A lot of people don't play bassoon because they think it's hard," Maitreya said. "It has a lot of thumb keys. It's a double reed and it's a really fun instrument to play, but it's challenging. It's not that difficult, but you're usually the only one on a part so you have challenging pieces and there are certain expectations of you. But it's exciting." Also exciting, she said, was the prospect of going to Mexico with the members of the band, choir and orchestra. She thinks it will be a "totally different experience." She said the rush was on to raise money because the next installment of their fee for the trip is due for the tickets which are being purchased now. The cost for each participating student is $1,000. The auction was bolstered by items provided by Ashland area businesses. Holding up a small bracelet with tiles depicting tiny angels from the new vintage clothing store downtown, Maitreya said that people were very kind and let her choose items she thought would go over well with the high school crowd. Ara Johnson also helped out with the auction. She became enthusiastic about the trip when her son, Jeremy, who is in choir, came home after hearing about it. "He plunked down his $200 deposit and told me he wanted to go on the trip," Johnson said. Johnson credited Maitreya for much of the impetus in putting on the silent auction. When the idea for the benefit came up at a meeting, Johnson hadn't participated in a silent auction. "Vajra just said, 'we can do this' and her enthusiasm ignited us. She went around to the community and got donations. She's been great," Johnson said. According to parent volunteer, Polly Greist, the benefit raised $780. Other efforts The auction is not the only thing AHS students are doing. Last year, the Wild Goose recently produced a CD especially to raise funds for the AHS music department. This year 100 percent of the sales of "Wild Holiday Goose, Holiday Hits to Support the Arts in our Schools," will go toward the trip. Spencer Reynolds and his friend Nik Stanek both play trombone in the Symphonic Band. They have been selling the CDs and so far, they've made about $500. Music Department Supervisor Russ Otte says that the group will be interacting with students from the University of Guanajuato and performing and meeting students in public schools during the visit. The group also plans for the students to visit three smaller communities around Guanajuato that specialize in other arts, like pottery and jewelry-making. Otte says that the fundraising goal for the trip is $25,000. Roughly 20 percent has been raised. A family trip too Raising the money to make the high school trip to Guanajuato a reality is no small feat. And that fact is not lost on orchestra director Gerry Par�. Par� decided that the cultural exchange was something she wanted to share with her family, especially her son, who is Guatemalan. So she's planning to bring her son, husband and eighth-grade daughter on the trip. Par� has been involved in fundraisers over the course of the year. In November she cooked for the spaghetti feed which was held at the Ashland Elks. That event raised $1,500 and was so successful that plans are underway for another event at the Elks Club - a Valentine's Day pancake breakfast on Saturday, Feb. 14. She's also taken an idea which she usually presents at the middle school, a Venetian Cabaret. For this year, though, it will be at the high school and the theme will be a Mexican Fiesta. Members of the chamber winds and strings will play, the choir will sing, and she'll invite musicians from the community. The mid-April event will feature food and music with a Mexican theme. The trip is scheduled for June 10-18, 2004. Teacher returns to AHS By Susan DeRosia Ashland Daily Tidings "It's kind of fun to come back to the high school to work at the higher level of music again. The mature sound is so great," said Ashland High School band director Vicki Jorgensen after last week's concert at Mountain Avenue Theater. Jorgensen has been the band director at Ashland Middle School since 1990. In addition to being a familiar face for the 85 percent of band students who learned their instrument from her in middle school, Jorgensen is not new to the high school. She worked at AHS as the assistant band director during the late 1980s when Scott Taylor was the band director and district music supervisor. After the departure of Sue Foster, who was band director from 1990 until 2002, Jan Jasseau and Gerry Par� divided up the responsibilities with Par� teaching Symphonic Band and Jasseau teaching Wind Ensemble and the two jazz bands. The moves allowed Jorgenson to return to the high school, dividing her time between the two schools to direct both programs. This year Jasseau is teaching at Walker Elementary School and Jorgensen is teaching band at both AMS and AHS and Par� is teaching orchestra at both schools. Once back on familiar turf, Jorgensen decided to combine the Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble. "We had about 20 students in each group, and we wanted to have full instrumentation so we combined the two groups," she said. "The result produced some very strong sections, including five horn players and a very strong low horn group." The Symphonic Band has 41 students, the Advanced Jazz Band has 18 players and Beginning Band has 14. Jorgensen was pleased with the Symphonic Band member's mastery of the material and their attention to blend, balance and intonation. "We didn't start learning the four songs for the concert until after football," she said. In the early part of the year Jorgenson focused on increasing participation in the marching band during the football season, she said. She attended all the home games. "We marched at every game and did some new drills," she said, "including one called the pinwheel drill. The crowd loved it." Jorgensen beamed when she talked about the jazz band, pointing out that the students chose to wear the matching gray tuxes that the music department had available. "They looked great and sounded great. All of the advanced jazz band members improvised their own solos. They did an excellent job and they followed the guidelines that I'd given them," she said. 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