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This time of the year remains busy as the De Soto Bands continue to perform across the state. Yesterday our DHS Band students performed at All State Band Auditions and the De Soto Christmas Parade. Yesterday we took 8 De Soto students to Hickman High School to audition for a chance to be a member of the All State Concert Band or All State Jazz Band. There were over 1200+ students attempting to earn a spot in the All State Bands. They all had great auditions and one of our students earned recognition. Congratulations to Caleb Avila on earning Honorable Mention on Bass Guitar for All State Jazz. The Dragon Pride Marching Band members looked great performing in the annual De Soto Christmas Parade! We are so thankful for all of our students and the hard work they put in to be outstanding musicians. Music is about the journey and consistent progress, not the destination. Our students continue to represent De Soto with Pride and show their commitment to excellence! Go Dragons!  
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Would you like to get a pullover with the band logo on it?
We are currently taking orders for the HS Band Pullovers. If you would like one please use the form at this link to order one. A picture of the pullover is on the website, it will include the Dragon De Soto Bands Logo on the left chest. Orders are due December 3rd, 2018. Pullovers will be $20. Dear parents, students, and community members:
The Thanksgiving season serves as a strong reminder that we have much to be thankful for in our music program. As our program continues to develop and additional opportunities are provided to our students, we thank those that make it possible! Tri-M Chapter #8124 Our Tri M Chapter is off and running with projects aimed to improve music opportunities for our student and our community. They have already donated time creating some Taiko drums for Symphonic Band, collecting donations for Samaritan's Purse, and getting sponsors for the music festivals. Composition Contest Supporters Being able to offer our students the opportunity to learn to write music is one of the most amazing experiences. A sincere thank you to all of the composers from across the country that volunteer some time to give my student composers feedback. Chromebooks being 1:1 Having this technology available at our JH and HS has greatly improved instruction, assessment, and feedback. Students are using their devices to record themselves for assessment, to research new music and evaluate pieces, and to compose pieces of music! -A sincere thanks are extended to our administrators. We continue to enjoy an ongoing open dialogue focusing on the role of music as part of a complete curriculum offering. This year we began offering Jazz Lab at the HS level. This course allows students to learn and work on the foundations of Jazz. Next year we hope to add Guitar at the HS level and Jazz at the JH level. Both of these courses will have a positive impact on student achievement. Community support of the arts remains strong! From a community vantage point, we must be thankful for local leaders who are solid supporters of music in our schools; they realize music education offers heightened performance in all aspects of life and they are outspoken advocates of music education. Evidenced by the many local businesses that donate to fund scholarships, equipment, and music purchases and the passage of the previous bond issue to build a wonderful performing arts center. Community members, organizations, and businesses are sponsoring our efforts to provide incredible opportunities for our students! Thank you to ALL that provide services, aid, and financial support so that we can continue to provide for our program. Music as a Core Subject From a national perspective, we must be thankful that the arts are written into federal law as part of the CORE curriculum for every school in Every Student Succeeds Act. Students have a right to a well rounded education that now includes MUSIC as a core class. Personally, I want to give a heartfelt THANK YOU, to all of the parents and families that have shown support this year! Your keen interest, loyal support, and active participation are the essential elements of our successful past, our exciting present, and our promising future. Collectively, we must extend thanks to the young men and women who spend countless hours in the learning, rehearsing, and performing of music. It is a privilege and an honor to work with the finest students here at De Soto. These music makers of today are preparing to be the leaders of tomorrow. The great thing about teaching band is that in any of my band classes, I have such an incredible mix of students from varied backgrounds and experiences. I have students that are top of their class sitting next to students that struggle in every class. Students from different backgrounds all come together for an hour to make music. We want students to continue to find their spot, take a seat, and enjoy music at De Soto. More importantly we want our students whom have benefited from our program to go out into the world with a music background. These students will be our greatest advocates as they enter their adult lives with an appreciation of the arts. Yes, music does make the difference, and we are thankful for each and every student that has chosen to join their fellow musicians as part of our musical family. The disciplines learned in music classes reinforce a standard of excellence that is required for success in all of life. As we approach the halfway point of our academic year, I extend a sincere vote of thanks to everyone who has made it possible for our music program to thrive and prosper. Your investment of time, effort and energy is the key to our success. With gratitude, Darrell Boyer Director of Bands De Soto High School Facebook: facebook.com/desotobands Twitter: @DeSotoBands www.desotobands.org Fountain City Music Composition Contest
The Fountain City Music Composition Contest kicks off December 3rd, 2018. This event is free to enter and is open to all students grades 7-12 in the De Soto School District #73. How to Enter: A pdf score and an audio file must be submitted in Google Classroom under the composition assignment. GENERAL GUIDELINES: Compositions must be a minimum of 2 minutes. Compositions must be written for two or more instruments. Works may include non-interactive electroacoustic elements (e.g., CD playback). Works may have been performed before, but should not have been composed before the year 2018. The winning composer must agree to provide parts by February 1, 2019, in order to guarantee a performance of the winning work at the De Soto Solo and Ensemble Event. Attendance at the Festival is required. Students may submit no more than 3 pieces for consideration. All compositions are due January 21st, 2019. Tri-M Music Honor Society Chapter 8124
This year, the De Soto HS Tri-M Music Honor Society was formed. The purpose of this group is to recognize students for their academic and musical achievements and to provide leadership and service opportunities to young musicians. This group is open to all choir and band students grades 10-12 that: demonstrate leadership skills in their ensembles, can maintain attendance and grade standards, and are recommended by their director. Service projects slated for this year include creating a music mentoring program, participating in Operation Christmas Child, and hosting TWO music festivals. Our Chapter 8124 is organizing and hosting the Fountain City Jazz Festival on March 23rd, 2019 with guest artist Steve Wiest and the De Soto MS Band Festival March 30th, 2019. The group is also looking to partner with area businesses to promote school fine arts activities. More information about our chapter can be found on our website at: https://sites.google.com/desoto.k12.mo.us/tri-m. Officers for our Tri-M Chapter are: President- Kaitlyn Podgornik President-Elect- James White Vice President- Sophie Harris Secretary- Averi Muniz Treasurer- Shelby Bourisaw Historian- Victoria Avis Tuesday night were District Band auditions. Below are the results from the night.
Over 250 students auditioned for Concert Band Over 125 students auditioned for the Jazz Bands 20+ High Schools were represented The De Soto HS Bands were represented well with multiple placements in the District Concert and Jazz Bands. Representing De Soto in the All District Concert Band this Saturday (Nov. 10th) at Rickman Auditorium on the Fox Campus: ECD7 All District Concert Band Marybeth Sansoucie- Clarinet Jillian Williams - Bass Clarinet Teagan Wallis- Bassoon Alternate Ethan Brown- Percussion 1, 2, and 3 (For the 2nd year in a row Ethan has taken the top spots in all 3 percussion options!) Our growing Jazz Program continued to place more students in the District Jazz Bands. The following students will represent De Soto in the All District Jazz Bands Saturday December 8th at Jefferson College! ECD7 All District Jazz Band Ethan Brown-Vibraphone and Piano Logan White- Trombone Alt. Anna Kozloski- Bass Trombone Austin Kingsland- Guitar Caleb Avila- Bass Guitar Brandon Nunnally- Vibraphone The students below will be heading to State, December 3rd. This is the largest amount of students De Soto has taken to State in quite some time. These students are to be commended for the many hours of hard work they have put in to be able to perform at the state level. Marybeth Sansoucie-State Bound Jillian Williams-State Bound Teagan Wallis-State Bound Ethan Brown-State Bound Anna Kozloski-State Bound Austin Kingsland-State Bound Caleb Avila-State Bound Brandon Nunnally-State Bound Thank you all for your support of the De Soto Bands! Guest Artist Announced!Trombonist and composer Steve Wiest will be headlining the Fountain City Jazz Festival! Mr. Wiest has also been commissioned to compose a piece for the De Soto HS Jazz Ensemble! You can read more about Mr. Wiest below.  2019 FCJF Soloist
Guest Artist- Steve Wiest "On his debut album as a leader (Excalibur, The Steve Wiest Big Band), he demonstrates his mastery of his instrument as well as his virtuosity and expansive imagination as a composer and arranger. Although the writing is sophisticated, it's always tuneful and inviting." -Jazz Times Multiple Grammy-nominated jazz composer and trombonist Steve Wiest is known world-wide for his fresh cutting edge writing as well as his extroverted virtuoso trombone playing. With a zeal for finding fresh ingredients for his muse, Steve is a true multi-genre persona. As a recording artist, composer-arranger, science fiction author, cartoonist, and educator Wiest is at home with many different and diverse areas of creative endeavor. His path to recognition began with a four-year stint as trombonist and composer with Maynard Ferguson. During this period Steve appeared on two Ferguson projects (Storm and Live from San Francisco) a video project (The Playboy Jazz Festival) and penned a number of works for Maynard including South 21st Shuffle. His YouTube solo on Denis DiBlasio's arrangement of Don't Stop from this era has been described as one of the most exciting of its kind on the Internet. After leaving the Ferguson band in 1985, Wiest went on to complete a master's in jazz studies at The University of North Texas. During his time at UNT in the 1980s, Steve wrote for and performed on seven different recordings with Neil Slater's One O'Clock Lab Band. Upon leaving UNT and spending two years as Assistant Director of Jazz Studies at The University of Texas at Arlington, Wiest began a 17-year tenure as Director of Jazz Studies and trombone at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. During these years Steve began a long and accomplished career as a clinician-guest artist while becoming a regular with The Doc Severinsen Big Band. Working with greats such as Eugene "Snooky" Young, Conte Candoli and Ernie Watts on Doc's band during this period while continuing to write music for Maynard Ferguson helped to shape Wiest's future endeavors. In 2006, Steve released his first recording as a leader; Excalibur: The Steve Wiest Big Bandto critical acclaim. A unique modern jazz project for large ensemble, Excalibur was described by jazz great Bob Mintzer: "Steve's music is rich with color, textures, and lots of interesting twists and turns. Through utilizing his various influences on this project, Steve has really learned how to 'spin a tale' musically. I very much enjoyed listening to each piece to see where it would go next. He managed to truly develop each idea to the fullest, to the point where it would spill over to the next section out of necessity. As a result of Steve producing this fine body of work, he has emerged as an articulate arranger and composer with a developing distinct voice of his own." Wiest followed Excalibur up with a 2007 Grammy nomination for his arrangement of Besame Mucho on Maynard Ferguson's final CD The One and Only . 2008 saw the release of another critically acclaimed project titled: Out of the New; The Steve Wiest Quintet which featured nine jazz re-imaginings of modern pop tunes. Joining the faculty at The University of North Texas in 2007 first as professor of jazz composition, then as director of the six-time Grammy-nominated One O'Clock Lab Band®, Steve has firmly established himself as an important voice in jazz education as well. During his first year as director of The One O'Clock, their recording Lab 2009 was Grammy-nominated for Best Large Jazz Ensemble and Wiest's original Ice-Nine garnered a nomination for Best Instrumental Composition. After producing and directing six successful CDs for the band and touring the US, UK and Thailand with the group, Steve moved to Denver to join the Jazz Studies Faculty at The University of Denver's Lamont School of Music. As Coordinator of the 21st Century Music Initiative at Lamont, Steve is thrilled to put his love for all things creative into a wonderfully fertile educational environment. Directing the new ensemble The Symposium which combines modern jazz sensibilities with an eclectic instrumentation as well as developing new courses that reflect the landscape of the arts in the 21st Century while also teaching classic jazz language classes, Wiest is enjoying all of the resources and opportunities that Lamont has to offer. Steve Wiest's trombone (also called "Excalibur") was designed exclusively for him by Christan Griego of Edwards Instruments. Wiest also plays Griego Mouthpieces, specifically the Griego-Steve Wiest model. Steve's compositions are published via Walrus Music, UNC Jazz Press, and Kendor Music. Wiest's new science fiction novel The Dover Stone is now available on Amazon.com. This is the book that is the programmatic fuel for his new project with ArtistShare: Concerto for Folded Space which consists of ten pieces featuring Wiest and The Eclectric Band with guest artists Jimmy Pankow,Keith Howland and Jason Scheff of the super group Chicago as well as The Maniacal 4 (plus Jon Gauer) Arlington Jones and Bob Mintzer. Continuing a diverse career as a leader, guest artist, composer, cartoonist, author and educator, Steve Wiest makes his home with his family in Denver, CO. Taken from the Lamont School of Music Website. https://www.du.edu/ahss/lamont/faculty-staff/faculty/wiest-steve.html Rock Hall of Fame The DHS Jazz Ensemble put on an incredible performance with an encore on stage inside the hall! The band jammed for 45 minutes receiving roars from the crowd. Science Center The Symphonic Band played at the base of the Science Center with Lake Erie in the background. The Symphonic Band performed Aztec by Gary Gackstatter, Memories composed by senior band member Gavin Luther, and closed with SeaGate Overture by James Swearingen. The band did a phenomenal job on all three pieces. I have to say it is an incredibly overwhelming to watch your kids excel and achieve in public. I enjoy watching my students become independent musicians and watching a student composer conduct his piece got me choked up a bit. To our Chaperones and families that traveled with us: You all rock and our wonderful people! To the HS Band, thank you! Taking 60 + people around the country can be stressful, but you guys rock EVERY SINGLE TRIP! People kept coming up to me and complimenting your performances, behavior, and your actions. The performance at the science center was awesome for so many reasons. Bystanders were stopping and bringing their small children up to watch and look at our band. Seeing the wonder in the eyes of so many young people was very moving. To see more updates and pics of the trip head over to the new Student Newsletter section and view a student created update on the trip. GO BAND! Take a look at these fine establishments that have shown their support to our program in some way over the years!  The 1st Annual Fountain City Jazz Festival will be held at De Soto Senior High School in De Soto, MO on March 24th, 2018. Our goal for this non competitive festival is to provide the premier educational event for students and directors. The festival will give each band 30 minutes on stage in our new auditorium for a performance followed up by a personalized clinic for each band with one of our judges. We have some incredible Jazz clinicians this year that will be providing comments and clinics throughout the day. The goal will be to provide a performance opportunity to Jazz bands and then offer directors and students a clinic to help improve their performance, understanding of Jazz, confidence. The focus of the festival is not on ratings or trophies, but more on Jazz education and providing support to improve. Next year's date has been set for 3/23/19 Our evening concert is set to begin at 6pm. Ticket prices for this concert will be $3 for adults. Students and directors enter free. This year's guest artist will be tenor saxophonist Austin Farnam! The evening concert will open with the Missouri Big Band. Panel of Clinicians Tony Dipasquale- Belleville Public School District 118 Shawn Harrel- Lee's Summit R-7 Rob Babel-Fort Zumwalt North, Director of Bands Keith Moyer-Fort Zumwalt West, Director of Bands Support for the Fountain City Jazz Festival has been provided by Pine Mountain Country Coffee House. The wonderful family at Pine Mountain have offered to house our judges and guest artist for the festival. Their support of this endeavor is greatly appreciated by the De Soto Bands, judges, and community!  |
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