Pep Band Sets Tone for Spirited Friday!

Before the exciting basketball win again York, the pep band took to the stands Friday afternoon to welcome their fellow students to the Winter Pep Assembly. Thank you Pep Band, for sharing your talents once again with the DGN community!

DGN Pep Band Sounding Great With Class of 2021 Guests!

The DGN Pep Band is rockin' the Purple Gym tonight with guest 8th grade musicians!

Picture Yourself at Blue Lake This Summer!

The Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (in Michigan) is one of the nation’s leading arts immersion camps.  BLFAC is a non-profit summer school of the arts specializing in two-week arts programs for intermediate and high school students. 

Because there is a strong tradition of highly qualified District 99 students attending Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, the institution actively recruits in our schools.  Additionally, BLFAC sends a representative to our building each February to hear interested students play and sing.  From those ‘mini auditions’ BLFAC frequently awards merit-based scholarships to attend the camp.  This year’s BLFAC scholarship auditions will be held on Friday, February 17th during periods 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and for a short time after school.  If you are interested in playing or singing a short audition for the BLFAC rep, please express your interest on a sign-up sheet in the Fine Arts Office (room 131).  Please see Ms. Denecke or your music teacher to sign up for a time. 

What should you be prepared to play or sing in your audition?  Plan to perform 2-3 min of music that you have been working on with a private music teacher, or in class.  This could be an etude, a solo, or a piece of literature that you have really enjoyed studying.  Pick something that shows off your abilities!

The Blue Lake representative will share some basic information with the student to take home to parents.  In the meantime, you are encouraged to check out Blue Lake’s website at www.bluelake.org.  

Many DGN musicians have received significant scholarships to attend Blue Lake as a result of these mini-auditions.  Please consider this fabulous opportunity!

DGN Winter Guard Takes 4th at Naperville North

Congratulations to the DGN Winter Guard team on their 4th place finish at their first competition of the season at Naperville North!  Great start to the competitive season.  Go Trojans!

DGN Jazzers Swing Home With Awards from Purdue University Jazz Festival @Dist_99

Congratulations to the student musicians of the North High School Jazz Program for an outstanding showing at the 2017 Purdue Jazz Festival.   Three jazz ensembles performed and competed with more than 100 high school ensembles from five states across the Midwest.  In addition to receiving a score from the panel of adjudicators in each room, each group received real time formative feedback from each judge in an audio recording.  This feedback is essential to the continuing growth of both individual students and the musicianship of each ensemble.  

The DGN Jazz Combo earned the title of "Honor Band" for their division at the festival, earning the highest score of all 17 ensembles in the Combo Room.  

Each of the three ensembles from DGN received a Division I rating from the panel of judges.  This is the highest possible rating on the scoring rubric.  In addition to the outstanding ensemble performances, 12 Outstanding Soloist Awards were given by the panel of judges to DGN students for displaying outstanding musicianship.

DGN Jazz Combo – Division I Rating / Honor Band Award (1st Place)

Outstanding Soloist Awards: Josie Bondarowicz (bass), Matthew McCoy (alto sax), and Caleb Schmurr (trombone). 

DGN Jazz Ensemble – Division I Rating / 3rd Place

Outstanding Soloist Awards: Emily Dwyer (trumpet), Matthew McCoy (alto sax), Miles Teague (piano), Michael Thompson (tenor sax), and Marz Tingzon (bari sax).

DGN Jazz Lab Band – Division I Rating / 4th Place

Outstanding Soloist Awards: Daniel Borgard (drums), Andrew Jackson (tenor sax), Justin Koblich (drums), and Sebastian Strempfer (bass).

Seeking Volunteers for the Class of 2021 Freshman Open House!

We are seeking current band students who would like to help us make a positive impact on current 8th graders who will be attending the Incoming Freshman Open House (Class of 2021).

The Open House is on Thursday, February 9.  We need volunteers to work at both the Elective Fair (in the Field House), and also volunteers to help us make presentations in the Band Room that night.  

If you think you could help us, please follow the link below, and fill out the short form. Specific times are detailed on the form.  

We will look at the volunteer pool, and try to put together a team of speakers and helpers that night that represents a great cross-section of our Band program.  (Various grades, instruments, sender schools, etc.)

Please complete the form no later than Saturday, January 28.

Thanks for your consideration!  

http://tinyurl.com/DGNBandOpenHouse

Pep Band - January 14

The Pep Band sounded great tonight and enjoyed cheering the Trojans on to victory! Thanks to all who came out to play, including DGN Band Alumni!

DGN Jazz Cafe Features Great Music; Raises Money for St. Jude's Hospital

Congratulations to the members of the @dgnbands Jazz Ensemble, @dgnbands Jazz Lab Band, Westview Hills Middle School Jazz Ensemble, Jefferson Junior High School Friends of Jazz, and the Herrick Middle School Jazz Band for terrific performances at the 2017 DGN Jazz Cafe!

The annual DGN Jazz Cafe serves as a philanthropic event, with free-will donations going to a charity nominated by the student musicians.  Thank you to all of the concert patrons who made a donation to the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. We appreciate your support!

Special thanks are extended to the DGN Fine Arts Boosters for their generous support of the Jazz Cafe, as well as Peet's Coffee of Downers Grove for their donation of coffee.  We also offer our deepest thanks to parent Carolyn Donnelly who has served as the Jazz Cafe Volunteer Coordinator and has led the logistics of this event for the past seven years. Thank you, Mrs. Donnelly, for your long-term commitment to this event!

The Jazz Cafe Is Tonight! #WeAreDGN

Don't miss tonight's DGN Jazz Cafe!  This annual showcase of outstanding student talent - from across the community - will be sure to get your toes tappin'!  The concert begins at 6 PM with a performance by the DGN Jazz Ensemble, and continues with bands from Westview Hills Middle School, Jefferson Junior High School, and Herrick Middle School. The DGN Jazz Lab Band, DGN Jazz Combo and DGN Jazz Ensemble bring the concert to a close at approximately 8:30 PM.


Join us for coffee, soft-drinks, popcorn, good friends and wonderful jazz music in this 'cafe' atmosphere!

Band Leadership Holiday Party 2017 #WeAreDGN