Hitting all the right notes

PMEA Jazz 2024

Recently, the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) in District 5 held auditions for the Jazz Festival comprising of students from school districts in Beaver, Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties. This year, Seneca Valley had the most representatives of any participating district. Consisting of three auditioned jazz ensembles, 25 Seneca Valley band students were selected by solo audition to perform in the festival held February 16-17, at Slippery Rock University (SRU).

Guest conductors included Mike Kamuf, a Maryland-based arranger, trumpeter, and educator; Dr. David Glover, Associate Professor of Percussion at SRU; and Rob Traugh, Pittsburgh-based freelance music creator/composer and the Area Coordinator of the Composition for Media Degree at Duquesne University. The event concluded with a public concert at SRU’s Miller Auditorium.

Participants in the festival included Maya Anglero, Camden Armstrong, Paityn Armstrong, Noah Bracht, Ivan Chen, Jordan Courtney, Elora Dabravalskas, Quinn Gallagher, Isaac Hixon, Autumn Holmes, Maddy Karns, Graham Logue, Peter McHenry, Braedon McNally, Avery Rape, Riley Relich, John Rieger, Eli Scanlan, Jack Schaar, Bridget Scott, Brandon Suski, Zachary Tollerton, Kami Topf, Mackenzie Tunstall and Adrian Wrubel.

Students are led by Mr. Varden Armstrong and Mr. Robert Babick, secondary instrumental instructors.