Northwest Junior High band chosen to play at Iowa Bandmasters conference

CORALVILLE — The COVID-19 pandemic set back many school music programs as singing and playing instruments were temporarily put on hold.

The eighth graders at Northwest Junior High in Coralville lost a year of large group band practices when they were in sixth grade and when they entered seventh grade, band directors Kevin Brown and Joshua Carlo had to choose some easier music.

“After the pandemic, we had to take a step back from where we normally start with seventh grade band,” Carlo said. “Now, they are playing more advanced music than we normally play with our eighth grade band. It’s been really cool to look back at how much they’ve grown.”

The band is playing so well, the Iowa Bandmasters Association chose the Northwest eighth grade band to play at the association’s annual conference in May in Des Moines. Other Corridor schools that will play at the conference are the sixth grade band at Boulder Peak Intermediate School in Marion and the Independence High School band.

Northwest will take 83 band members to perform in Des Moines. They will play a mix that includes “Fanfare for Justice,” by Richard L. Saucedo; “County Club Stomp,” by JaRod Hall; and the theme from Marvel’s “Ant Man” movie. A three-movement piece called “Starscapes,” by Brian Balmages, will feature conducting by Iowa City’s westside elementary school band teachers, said Brown, who is in his 23rd year teaching band, with 12 of those years at Northwest.

“For us, we are very careful to program a variety of styles that are exciting and introduce (students) to the styles,” Brown said. “We want them to see that anyone can be in band regardless of race, gender or orientation. We want to make sure everyone is represented in the music we choose.”

One of the reasons the Northwest eighth grade band has made such strides is because most of the students practice on their own outside of rehearsals, Brown said.

“This group, there are a lot of them that love to practice,” he said. “They want to improve every day they rehearse.”

The Bandmasters Association, formed in 1928, chooses bands to perform at its annual conference based on submitted recordings. A panel of judges listens to the submissions without knowing which schools performed the music, explained Association Director Mary Crandall, who also is co-director of bands at Waukee Middle School.

Submissions are judged based on intonation, playing in tune and playing the musical pieces in a way that is characteristic to their style, she said. Middle school bands must play for eight minutes, which usually includes from two to four songs.

“Their performance came out on top as far as meeting standards in those categories,” Crandall said of Northwest.

The conference May 11 to 13 draws most school band directors in the state for professional development and performances. This year’s conference will feature a quintet from the “President’s Own” U.S. Marine Corps band, with Col. Jason K. Fettig, the director, providing a keynote address and teaching a session on rehearsal technique, Crandall said.

“We try to have a broad spectrum of different clinics ranging from rehearsal techniques to technology to mentorship,” she said.

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