FOUNTAIN CITY MUSIC COMPETITION

The 3rd Annual Fountain City Music Competition wrapped up April 22nd with a world premiere virtual performance of De Soto High School Senior Caleb Smith's piece entitled Inspirations.

This is a music composition contest organized by Director of Bands, Darrell Boyer, that allows De Soto music students to practice their compositional skills and receive feedback from a national panel of professional composers.  The panel of judges listen to student submissions and then rank each submission after providing feedback.  The winner of this competition works with Mr. Boyer, to edit, refine, and arrange their composition to fit the De Soto High School Symphonic Band.  Throughout the Spring semester the Symphonic Band will read through the piece and assist making recommendations to the student composer.  The revision process continues and the piece is finally printed and distributed to the band for the "World Premiere" performance at the DHS Spring Band Concert.  

"This year, due to the current situation, things have not gone as they have in the past.  Caleb had learned that his piece was selected as the winning composition in the middle of February and we had just got ready for the first round of reading.  Unfortunately, Caleb was unable to hear his piece performed before school let out."

Due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, all spring band events were cancelled.  
"Our students, like many around the country have missed out on so many special moments that come with the spring semester in high school.  From performing with guest artists to taking our spring band trip, I felt like our students had missed too much."

That's when Mr. Boyer decided to take action.  He reached out on social media to solicit help and organized over 50 musicians from around the country to record parts of the winning composition.  After receiving audio and video recordings from the musicians he then mixed the audio and created a "Virtual Band" so that Caleb would be able to hear his piece.  "Inspirations" by C. Smith, which has been uploaded to YouTube, had its world premiere April 22nd at 7pm.  

"While nothing compares with making music together in person, this provided a shared experience for our community to gather and listen to Caleb's piece.  We had a watch party on YouTube and invited friends, family, and our community take part."

Caleb will be attending Southwest Baptist University to study music.  Past winners of the Fountain City Composition Contest include Gavin Luther (2018) and Kylie Mitchell (2019).  

We hope that you will take time to celebrate the arts with us in the month of March.  The De Soto Bands and the Fine Arts Department are working on numerous artistic events that are open to the community.  From the beginnning of the month to the end, there are a plethora of events that will be taking place on or near campus.  From the Spring Musical to multiple music festivals and performances, there is certain to be a performance for everyone to enjoy.  Please read on for a highlight of some of our upcoming events.  For a complete listing of all March into the Arts events that are occurring, click here.

The De Soto Bands in association with Tri-M Chapter #8124 invite you to the 3rd Annual Fountain City Jazz Fest with headliner Funky Butt Brass Band! Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday area jazz bands will perform on stage. They will receive one on one clinics with some of the finest jazz musicians and educators. During lunch two clinics will be provided for students and directors, in order to assist them in growing the jazz skill set and program.

Come see the DHS Jazz Ensemble and Funky Butt Brass Band at our concert finale March 21st, 2020 at 7pm. Ticket prices for this concert will be $7 for adults and $5 for students. An exciting night of jazz and funk is sure to ensue, with some killer solos and licks. You won’t wanna miss this amazing concert!

In partnership with the HWY 67 Band Consortium, the DHS and Farmington HS Symphonic Bands will be presenting a combined concert on March 26th in the DHS Auditorium. The concert will begin at 6pm, and is free and open to the public. ​

This concert provides our students the opportunity to work with another clinician, share their progress with the community, and meet other area band students that are also preparing for state music assessment and the Missouri Music Symposium.

The DHS Fine Arts Department invites you to come see all of the arts in one night! The DHS Fine Arts Night brings together Art, Band, Choir, and Drama students performing for the community in order to showcase the amazing talent in our schools. The students in our district have grown immensely throughout the year by creating, improvising, and challenging themselves in all area of the arts. This night is a collection of all of their hard work.

There will be live music provided by band and choir members, performances by members of the Drama classes, and live art demos in the lobby of the auditorium. Come see the incredible achievements of the DHS Fine Arts students!

On March 28th, the DHS Tri-M Chapter #8124 will host the De Soto MS Band Festival. This event brings music students from across the region to perform for expert clinicians and receive feedback.

Winter Concert Dessert Auction
This Holiday tradition has been a perennial favorite of mine. The De Soto High School Band and Choir students work incredibly hard to produce several high level performances during the holidays. From tree lightings and caroling to parades and concerts our students and directors work hard to put a quality product together for the community and our school district. Thank you to the families that came and stayed for the afternoon to support all of our musicians and thank you for the help putting equipment away after the concert.

The overwhelming support of the community for the De Soto HS Music Department is moving to me as an educator. The funds raised from this event and our other fundraisers will go to continue our efforts of providing students with guest clinicians, equipment, and additional support.

Jefferson College Community Jazz Project
Thursday night, we had multiple events going on involving the De Soto Bands. We had our DHS Color Guard sponsoring our Mini Guard performance, the DJHS Winter Band Concert, and the DHS Jazz Ensemble participating in the Jefferson College Community Jazz Project.

At the Jefferson College Community Jazz Project last night, the DHS Jazz Ensemble lit the room on fire. This group demonstrated independence and mastery as the student musicians held together and put on an incredible show. I was able to stand to the side and let our musicians shine.

An incredibly gratifying moment occurred last night. At the Jefferson College Community Jazz Festival, Dr. Joel Vanderheyden led the JeffCo Jazz Band to end the concert. Before their last piece Dr. Vanderheyden spent time talking about one of his students. He said he had watched this student throughout his high school career and how developed as a young musician performing in an area high school. Dr. Vanderheyden mentioned how this talented young man had developed a passion for creating music and that he was sad to see him moving on from JeffCo, but happy to see that he will be continuing his studies pursuing a music composition degree. This student is De Soto alumni Gavin Luther, winner of the inaugural Fountain City Composition Competition. The audience recognized Gavin with thunderous applause. The Jefferson College Jazz Band finished the concert with a piece featuring an impressive drum solo by Gavin. It was a wonderful moment and feeling as an educator.

Tonight is the All-District Jazz performance. If you are available come see our students performing in the East Central JH Jazz and both of the East Central HS Jazz Bands tomorrow December 14th, 2019 at 6:30pm in the Jefferson College theater.

To see all of our Homecoming pictures, check out our album on the De Soto Bands Facebook page.

S/o to the admin, faculty, and staff at both Vineland and Athena for making our Mobile Pep Rally at both buildings a success!

S/o to Mr. Rauls and Mrs. Rodriguez for all of their work organizing both the parade and Homecoming festivities.

S/o to the alumni that return to march the parade with us every year!  Very proud of all of you and I enjoy the chance to catch up with you guys during the parade and football game.  

Special S/o to Mina Hartwell for bringing in Hoco Cookies for the band from The Broken Rolling Pin.  Check out their Facebook page and give them a call!

And finally, thank you to the band!  Homecoming is incredibly demanding, but you all pull through incredibly well.  With some of you playing the Fight Song over 100+ times and then performing well at half time, you all are to be commended for your hard work.  Keep pushing as we work toward the end of our season.  Onward Dragons!

​Bio

The Funky Butt Brass Band was formed in 2008 by six musicians who respect and revere the New Orleans brass band tradition. The FBBB takes traditional NOLA brass tunes and adds a contemporary twist. In a typical Funky Butt show, you’ll hear plenty of Crescent City jazz, but also Chicago blues, Memphis soul, Southern rock and St. Louis R&B. 

The band has been named Best Funk/Soul Band by the Riverfront Times for the past five years. Funky Butt Brass Band has played such prestigious festivals as the King Biscuit Blues Fest (Helena, AR), Gumbo Ya Ya (Rock Island, IL), the Big Muddy Blues Festival (St. Louis, MO), Roots N Blues N BBQ (Columbia, MO) and Blissfest (Harbor Springs, MI) and have opened for some legendary Louisiana artists, including Dr. John and the Lower 911, Rebirth Brass Band, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Bonerama, the New Orleans Suspects and the Royal Southern Brotherhood. 

Funky Butt Brass Band released its debut CD, Cut The Body Loose, in the summer of 2009. A second CD, You Can Trust The Funky Butt Brass Band, entered the world in 2011. Later that year, on the heels of a successful annual holiday show, the band went into the studio and recorded a holiday EP entitled Shiny Christmas Balls. Their most recent record, Sugar Sugar Whomp Whomp was released in late 2014 and features nine funkified original songs along with three New Orleans classics.   



PRESS QUOTES

“Its razor-sharp horn section blasts out the sort of punchy stabs that have made thousands of white people dance to Tower of Power, while its unhinged rhythm section recalls the greasy funk that drips from fingers and collects in the gutters of New Orleans. But stellar musicianship and dedication to the craft aren’t the band’s only strengths — more important, the act showcases the playful side missing from many uptight jazz enthusiasts.”
– The Riverfront Times

“The CD is the total package, folks. Everything here is first class. [FBBB] proves you don’t have to be from, or living in, New Orleans to feel the funk.”
– STL Blues.net

“For members of the Funky Butt Brass Band from St. Louis, tribute takes the form of a working brass band, and they are nothing if not reverential. These cats can play, and they offer nothing but praise for the traditional brass band. The horns are the key, of course, and they perform admirably.”
– Offbeat, New Orleans’ music magazine

“The horn chops and percussion are right on the money. Without question, these guys know their way around a horn! The infectious grooves are enough to recommend this effort.”
– Blues Blast Magazine

“How did St. Louis exist so long without a true, bonafide New Orleans-style brass band? Since Funky Butt Brass Band came on the scene, it’s been impossible to miss the six-headed beast. At parades, at barbecues, at community radio festivals and especially at a certain oyster bar on Broadway, Funky Butt is a steady-gigging presence that references its Crescent City inspiration, but infuses plenty of 314-specific funkiness as well. Credit the oft-theatrical vocalizations of members Tim Halpin, Adam Hucke and Aaron Chandler for the band’s never-the-same-set-twice bravado, but recognize that “brass” is in the band name for a reason: These cats can blow.”
– The Riverfront Times