Old News
(May 13, 2006) Down Beat Magazine has just listed Bloomington North's Piano Trio as a winner in their 29th Annual Student Music Awards competition. Congratulations to Julian Bransby, Nick Romy, and Ben Lumsdaine!
(May 13, 2006) Sophomore flautist Weronika Balewski auditioned and has been accepted into the National Flute Choir which convenes in Pennsylvania this coming August. Congratulations Weronika!
(Apr 30, 2006) Both Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble earned solid Gold Ratings in Group I at the ISSMA State Qualifications Event on Saturday. Congratulations to all of the students on their fine achievements in music-making.
In addition, Symphonic Band qualified for the Sweet 16 State Finals to be held at Lawrence Central High School next Saturday. We drew a performance time of 3:05. Buses will leave the high school at noon, and a complete itinerary will be available by Tuesday.
This is the 20th time in the 22-year history of State Concert Band Finals that Bloomington North has qualified. Way to keep the tradition alive! And it is also commendable that our school's 2nd concert band earned such high marks.
Parents, PLEASE do your utmost to attend next Saturday's event...your presence will make a positive difference in the students' performance. Oh, and a very special thank you to Mr. & Mrs. Pratt, for making a mad dash back to BHSN to retrieve the "misplaced" symphonic band percussion music. You are our "Heroes of the Lost and Forgotten....."
(Apr 26, 2006) Couger Band Registrations and deposts are due by May 1. The registration form is available in both pdf format and doc format.
(Apr 20, 2006) The band site is now hosted by a new internet service provider (ISP), having outgrown our previous arrangements as a guest of StaffingTools.com. Many thanks to the folks at StaffingTools.com for contributing web space for at least the last six years, and especially to Marco Bartholomew for providing timely support.
Please let us know if you find something missing or broken.
(Apr 20, 2006) On Saturday, April 29th Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will be performing at the ISSMA State Concert Organization Qualifications Contest, located at Perry Merridian High School south of Indinapolis. If either group ends up with a score that places them in the top 16 groups, they will advance to the ISSMA State Finals in Indianapolis on May 6th. Be sure your son or daughter keeps May 6th open. The draw for times takes place on Sunday, April 30th, and performance times range from 8:45am to 6:45pm on May 6th.
An itinerary and map for the 29th have been posted. Parents are encouraged to attend, and admission is free. Perry Meridian High School is about an hour drive from Bloomington.
(Mar 21, 2006) The Jazz Ambassadors (United States Army Field Band based in Washington DC) will present a free concert in North's auditorium this coming Sunday, March 26th at 3:00 pm. Three members of North's Advanced Jazz Band have been invited to sit in on one of the tunes: Ben Hutt, Jason Wray, and Alex Akers.
A ticket is needed for pre-seating. Contact Janis Stockhouse if you are interested in one. The doors will be open to non-ticket holders at 2:50, and there should be extra seats available.
(Mar 21, 2006) Tonight's board meeting has been cancelled.
(Mar 7, 2006) Yearbook ad sales have begun. Please visit the yearbook page for more information.
(Feb 20, 2006) On Tuesday, February 28th, 8 pm, at BHSN, "Fat Tuesday Jazz" will feature trumpeter Dominic Spera with the Advanced Jazz Band. Dominic has written a big band tune for us that we will premiere, along with some other selections that will be real crowd pleasers. We will also play a couple of our Berklee numbers. (View press release.)
(Feb 20, 2006) This past Saturday, Bloomington North had two big bands and three combos perform at the Indiana State University Jazz Festival. Once again, our students walked away with several of the top awards.
The 1st and 2nd place combo awards went to North.
Advanced Jazz was named an Honor Band in the #1 band hall as was Intermediate Jazz in the #2 band hall.
North's combo 3 turned in a nice performance as well.
Out of 40 participating groups, two overall student soloists were called up at the Awards Ceremony. Our bassist Nick Romy was one, and he was presented with a summer music jazz clinic scholarship. Way to go, Nick!
The following students earned Outstanding Soloist Citations for their performances with the Big Band: Alex Akers, Ben Hutt, Lewis Rogers, Nick Romy, Hannah Clendening, Jonathan Esarey, SooYeon Yoo, Andrew Pickel, and Lewis again.
And earning soloist citations in the Combo Room: Ben Hutt, Lewis Rogers, Jack Stewart, Nick Romy, SooYeon Yoo, Hannah Clendening, Jonathan Esarey, David Kim, Eric Anderson, Peter Haralovich, Alex Akers, John Valdez, and another one for Lewis.
(Feb 15, 2006) The Cougar Band has been accepted to perform in the 2006 Philadephia Thanksgiving Day Parade! The trip will likely run from Sunday, November 19 through Friday, November 24. More details will follow.
(Feb 15, 2006) The following North students have been chosen for the 2006 Indiana All-State Bands: Jackie Paul (1st flute in Honor Band), Marlene Tai (harp in Honor Band), Elizabeth Carter (trombone in All-State), and Ben Schrodt (bass clarinet in All-State). It was quite a rigorous audition process, so a big congratulations goes out to these hard-working and accomplished musicians.
Alternates from BHSN include: Emily Hess (bassoon), Erika Anderson (oboe), and Annie Walters (alto saxophone).
The Indiana All-State Band Concert will take place here in Bloomington on Sunday, March 12th at 2:30 pm in the Musical Arts Center. If you are in town, you might want to check it out. This concert is free and open to the public.
(Feb 15, 2006) A huge congratulations to Nick Romy and Julian Bransby for being named outstanding soloists at the 38th Annual Berklee Jazz Festival. Both young main were called to the main stage during the final awards ceremony and presented with nifty trophies. The combo of Romy, Bransby, Ben Hutt and Ben Lumsdaine received the Honorable Mention Award from their combo room as did Jazz Band 1 from their room.
(Jan 26, 2006) The Bloomington High School North Band Boosters will have a fundraiser for new band uniforms on Saturday, February 11 from 9am to 11pm at Barnes & Noble Booksellers. The funds will help us replace our 10+ year old uniforms with new ones. All you need to do is go into the store with a bookfair voucher and give it to the cashier when you check out. The only items not included are any food purchased from the Cafe and gift cards. Since Valentine's Day is on the following Tuesday, think about the great gift possibilities: books, CDs, DVD's and Godiva Chocolates. Please spread the vouchers to others you know!
(Jan 25, 2006) The jazz bands and combos from Bloomington North more or less dominated the Purdue Jazz Festival last Saturday!
Studio Jazz was named Honor Band (1st place) in the hall of large high school 2nd bands (CONGRATULATIONS!!); Advanced Jazz was named Runner Up in Loeb Playhouse (we'll take that...); Intermediate Jazz was in a non-competitive hall but earned the very special "Judges' Choice" trophy that only goes to one band per site for the day.
The combo comprised of Julian Bransby, Nick Romy and Ben Lumsdaine was named Honor Combo in the main combo room, and our combo of Ben Hutt, Lewis Rogers, Nick Romy, and Jack Stewart was named Honor Combo in the upstairs combo room! Julian, Nick, and Ben were also cited as the outstanding rhythm section players of the entire festival (over 175 bands and combos) and were invited to play a number on the main stage during the Saturday night concert. They also recevied 2 scholarships each from the IU Summer Music Clinic and from the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop.
Several other North musicians were honored with Outstanding Soloist Citations. From Jazz 1: David Kim, John Valdez, Nick Romy, Julian Bransby. From Jazz 2: Ben Sturrock, Andrew Meyer, Grant Myers, Kevin Hinnefeld, Rich Notter. From Jazz 3: Jonathan Esarey, Andrew Pickel, Galen VanHorn, Hannah Clendening, Matt Sutton, Tommy Whiteman, Brandon Anderson, Sooyeon Yoo, Ian Ottinger. From Combo 2: David Kim, Julian Bransby, Eric Anderson, Peter Haralovich, John Valdez. From Combo 3: Ben Hutt, Nick Romy, Lewis Rogers, Jack Stewart. From Combo 4: Taiske Kasza, Jake Kowalczyk, Alex Arnold, Kevin Hinnefeld, Jason Wray, Jack Stewart. From Combo 5: Ben Hutt, Julian Bransby (sitting in for Sooyeon Yoo).
(Dec 11, 2005) Congratulations to the following students for auditioning and making it into the various Indiana All-State groups which will perform at the upcoming Indiana Music Educator Convention in early January.
Orchestra: Weronika Balewski (principal flute), Jackie Paul (2nd flute), Abby Pratt & Amy Rubinger (violin 1)
Jazz Ensemble: Jason Wray (trombone), Peter Haralovich (bass), John Valdez (drums)
Honor Band: Elizabeth Carter (trombone 1), Emily Hess (bassoon)
(Dec 11, 2005) The following students earned Outstanding Soloist Citations from the adjudicators this past Saturday at the Bloomington Jazz Festival:
Julian Bransby, Nick Romy, Ben Lumsdaine, Lewis Rogers, Peter Haralovich, Ben Hutt, John Valdez, Jack Stewart, David Kim, Alex Akers, Eric Anderson, Soo Yoo, Logan Fox, Brandon Anderson, Hannah Clendening, Sam Hutt, Matthew Sutton.
The following received Outstanding Musicianship Trophies:
Julian Bransby, Nick Romy, David Kim, Peter Haralovich, Hannah Clendening.
Julian was so impressive that the adjudicators called him the "unofficial best soloist of the festival" but that he is BEYOND needing any IAJE scholarship to attend a summer jazz camp....
(Nov 8, 2005) The band program is holding a quilt drawing as a fundraiser to help pay for the cost of new marching band uniforms!
(Nov 4, 2005) Minutes from the October 26 boosters board meeting have been posted.
(Oct 19, 2005) North students Jackie Paul, Anna Isaacson, Hannah Clendening, Nathan Pratt, Kari Musgrave, Jason Wray, David Whitaker, Abraxas Segundo, and Deanna Korn have been selected for this year's IBA All-District Honor Band. This band will rehearse on Saturday, November 12th (here at North) and then present a concert on Sunday afternoon the 13th. Congratulations!
(Oct 16, 2005) The marching band received a Gold rating in yesterday's regional competition at ISU but narrowly missed qualifying for state. Congratulations on another great season!
(Oct 8, 2005) Congratulations to the marching band, which placed 3rd behind two perennial favorites (Greenwood and Jasper) at the Center Grove Invitational this afternoon then packed up and headed to Greenfield Central, where they took 1st place and were recognized for Best Percussion.
Be sure to head over to ISU next Saturday for the regional competition. With a good effort and strong support in the stands, the band has a great shot at qualifying for the state competition.
(Oct 1, 2005) The marching band received a Gold rating in today's district competition at Columbus East, qualifying them for the regional competition at ISU in two weeks. They were also recognized for best marching and best general effect. Way to go!
(Sep 25, 2005) The marching band swept all class B awards at the Sound of Brownsburg Invitational on Saturday, with 1st place overall and best percussion, auxiliary, marching, music, and general effect. Great job!
(Sep 23, 2005) The September 14 boosters board meeting minutes have been posted on the boosters page.
(Sep 20, 2005) An updated list of private lesson instructors has been posted on the general information page.
(Sep 20, 2005) Congratulations to the Cougar Marching Band for wins the last two weeks at Westfield and New Palestine! At Westfield, North placed first overall and was awarded best percussion, best drum major, and best pit crew. At New Palestine, North again placed first overall and was awarded best visual, best general effect, and best pit crew.
(Aug 1, 2005) Marching band season starts next week for the full band. (The guard and percussion sections started a long, long time ago.) The fall schedule, as we know it, is posted on the schedule page.
(Aug 1, 2005) Welcome to the new and improved BHSN Bands Web Site! It has undergone a complete overhaul. Please let us know if you find something missing or broken.
(Aug 1, 2005) We need pictures! If you have any candidates to rotate through the home page, please send them to us. We're especially interested in recent pictures of the full marching band, concert bands, and jazz bands in action.