VANCOUVER, Wash. — The Northwinds Homeschool Jazz 1 Band took top honors at the 58th Clark College Jazz Festival.
The annual festival hosts more than 60 middle and high school jazz ensembles for a three-day competitive festival during the last weekend of January.
The Northwinds band has 20 students under the direction of Dan Tutton.
They competed against eight A division schools from Washington, Oregon and Alaska before advancing to the finals, according to a press release.
In the final competition, during which the top three bands each play two songs to a live audience in Clark’s Gaiser Hall, the Northwinds band emerged victorious over Columbia High School and Woodland High School.
In addition to winning first place, five members of the band earned Outstanding Musician Awards for their solo performances during the competition.
The awardees were Aidan Henninger, saxophone; Ariana Burrows, trombone; Emily Smith, piano; Moriah Beglyakov, trumpet; and Sybil Finman, timbales.
The Northwinds Homeschool Band is a nonprofit band program that provides musical instruction and development to students from 9- to 19-years of age.
The program has six bands: Concert, Jazz 1, Jazz 2, Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced.
There are approximately 60 musicians currently training with the band.
For more information, visit www.northwindshomeschool.org.
