MUSIC NOTES: Folsom Wins Downbeat Awards

Monday, May 10, 2010

Folsom Wins Downbeat Awards

DownBeat Magazine, one of the country’s most highly regarded jazz publications, has awarded the Folsom High School Jazz Band “I” and Jazz Choir “A” the 2010 Most Outstanding High School Performance Award. The honors will be announced in the upcoming June edition of DownBeat Magazine on newsstands soon.

DownBeat Magazine has been publishing stories about jazz music and musicians since 1934, making it the oldest and most renowned music magazines in the world. The DownBeat Student Music Awards contest is a widely-respected international competition in which schools send in recordings made during the contest year and have them judged by a panel of professional musicians. This is the 17th DownBeat award for the Folsom High School jazz program under the direction of Curtis Gaesser, who is himself a 2008 DownBeat winner of the Annual Achievement Award in Jazz Education.

The Sutter Middle School Jazz Band in Folsom, under the direction of John Zimny, also won the 2010 Best Jr. High Big Band, and Folsom Middle School, also under Zimny’s direction, was given the 2010 Outstanding Performance Award for middle schools.

Congratulations to our students and teachers!

Alumni Corner

Kelsey Iverson is a 2006 Folsom High music graduate who played trombone in Jazz Band I and sang with the Jazz Choir. Kelsey went on to play the trombone with the Sacramento State University Jazz Band A, the Sac State Orchestra, and several chamber groups. She graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Trombone Performance.

Kelsey is currently spending 3 months living in Prague and traveling throughout Europe. Kelsey said, "I am reminded of the Folsom Jazz Eurotrips in 2002 and 2006 almost every day here!" When she returns to the U.S., she plans to attend grad school, possibly at CU Boulder in Colorado. But that decision won't be made until she hears back from all of her applications. We wish you much good luck, Kelsey, from your Folsom High music supporters!

If you are in contact with former music students or are the parent of an alumnus, please submit an update to publicity@folsommusic.org and we'll post the news here. Photos are welcome too!