Marching Band Leadership Team 2010-2011

A special thanks is extended to all DGN Band students who auditioned to be a part of the 2010-2011 Marching Band Leadership Team.  Nearly 60 students auditioned for less than 30 positions.  We appreciate all of the effort that students put into their auditions.

A list of this year's Leadership Team (excluding Percussion and Guard - which will be determined in May) will be launched on the North Band's Blackboard 'Organization' site at 5 PM this evening.  Students looking for a roster of the team are asked to log into Blackboard after 5 PM.

'Sharing Is Caring' Concert

Congratulations to the members of the DGN Symphonic Band Percussion
Ensemble, the DGN Jazz Lab Band, and the DGN Jazz Ensemble for their
outstanding performances at the 2010 North High 'Sharing Is Caring'
Concert.

Guest artist Charley Harrison (UCLA) performed six selections through
the course of the evening, and the Jazz Ensemble's performance of the
1924 Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin received an immediate and
lengthy standing ovation by all in attendance.

Congratulations to all students who performed!

Artist In Residence - DGN Welcomes Charley Harrison from UCLA

DGN Musicians Study Gershwin / Recreate History

The DGN Jazz Ensemble will present, as a part of the April 13th 'Sharing is Caring' Concert at North High, a recreation of the original 1924 performance of George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue.

A little known historical fact about Gershwin's "Rhapsody" - even among professional musicians - is that the piece was originally written for jazz band.  The work, premiered by Paul Whiteman's Jazz Orchestra in New York City in 1924, employs standard jazz band instrumentation, and adds violins, French horns, oboe, banjo, tuba, and orchestral percussion.

"Every effort has been made to recreate the sound of the original performance," said music teacher Brayer Teague.  "We rented reproductions of the original Gershwin manuscripts from the holding library in New York and have rehearsed from them so that our students could more fully appreciate Gershwin's compositional process in creating this master-work."

Junior Marie Kirkegaard will perform the solo piano part originally performed by Gershwin himself.

The concert begins at 7:00 PM in the Clarence Johnson Auditorium.  Admission is free, and the concert is open to the public.