On March 7 and 8, the PHS Studio Band and Jazz Ensemble participated in the preliminary rounds of the New Jersey Association for Jazz Education State Festival. Across the state, 43 bands competed in different divisions, and the top nine in each division qualified for finals. Studio Band, which competed at Southern Regional High School, placed first in their division, receiving a gold rating. Jazz Ensemble, which competed at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, received a silver rating, ranking fifth place going into finals.

With all the time and dedication put into practice, Studio Band won three soloist awards, “Best Trombone Section,” and the sight-reading competition at State Prelims. Since both Studio Band and Jazz Ensemble placed in the top nine out of the 14 schools in their division, both of the bands will be competing on April 29th at Princeton High School, where all the Division II finalists are competing.

From fundraisers like Band Dances to weekly three-hour practices on Wednesday nights and weekly one-hour sectional practice, all of the players in both bands put in a great deal of effort to perfect their performances. Throughout these long practices, many of the musicians became closer with each other.

“We meet every day for three hours and have spent time working with our sections, so I’ve definitely improved. Because we spend a lot of time with our sections, I’ve definitely made friends that I otherwise would not have,” said Katherine Schorr ’26, a flute player in Jazz Ensemble.

One of the challenges that comes with performing music, especially jazz, is formulating solos on the spot. Some featured soloists in Studio Band were Kevin Huang ’23, Otto Trueman ’23, Connor Stewart ’23, Ishaan Banerjee ’24, and Alex Greenberg ’23. To ensure the solos are up to competition par, soloists practice improvising for a long time to get used to improvising mixes of rhythms and notes that will match the songs cohesively. They get acquainted with this process early on, so they are ready to perform in front of huge audiences.

“I learned how to handle myself in creative situations. At times, I was struggling to be authentic, and it was very difficult for me to find ideas. However, I was able to slowly develop a creative process that helped me get to the point I wanted to reach,” Trueman said. The musicians themselves worked hard to master each of the songs they practiced. While many songs were enjoyable to play throughout the performance, some were more difficult to master than others.

“The hardest song was definitely ‘Billie’s Bounce.’ We were all nervous getting on stage as it was many of our first times at a judged performance. It got off to a bit of a rocky start, but after a minute, we got comfortable, and things evened out. We definitely did well on ‘Have You Heard,’ our ballad. It’s an intricate and interesting Pat Metheny tune, which featured some excellent solos,” said Nate Myers ’24, the lead trumpet in Jazz Ensemble.

“For Studio Band, the hardest song was ‘Caravan,’ their closer. Jazz Ensemble’s closer was ‘La Fiesta,’ and those are really impressive competition-type songs,” said Jazz Ensemble director David Pollack. Despite all of these accomplishments, some of the players were nervous to perform on stage. Still, they were able to calm their nerves and ultimately persevere in their music, leading to great success.

“Having night rehearsals every week and weekly sectionals have given us more time to get to know each other and develop inside jokes and a fun environment while getting better. We put in a lot of individual practice, listening, and rehearsals, and we’re glad we were able to showcase our years of work. I was a bit nervous but mostly confident in the practice we put in, but it still went better than I expected,” said Studio Band member Natalie Austermann ’25.

“When you’re playing lead — especially on trumpet, in a jazz band — it’s your voice which sticks out. I had a lot of nerves getting up there, and it definitely affected my performance. I settled in after the first piece though, and I think now that I know what to expect I will be much more comfortable at future performances,” Myers said. The best way to improve at performing is by watching and learning from others. Fortunately, PHS has connections with bands across the state, and they had the opportunity to watch other bands perform throughout the night.

“We know a lot of the schools around the state because of these festivals, so it’s great to get to perform with them; schools like Scotch Plains, Fanwood, J.P. Stevens, and others. There were nine bands per night, so we got to watch the other bands when we weren’t preparing or performing,” Pollack said.

Overall, the PHS band program is held in high esteem, which is clearly shown through the band program’s output, as they are constantly pushed to improve their skills and techniques, no matter the circumstance. “All the hard work of rehearsing leads to that moment on stage,” said Pollack. “We’re really proud of both bands, and we’re only going to get better from here.”

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