Mid-Prairie jazz band gets top state rating

WELLMAN - The Mid-Prairie High School jazz band received a Division 1 rating at their only in-person jazz competition this year.

The Iowa High School Music Association Jazz Band Festival took place on Jan. 30 in Muscatine.

Band Director David Kunz said it was the only in-person competition of the year.

'We performed in front of a live audience, in an auditorium, in front of live judges, it almost felt normal,” he said. 'We felt extremely fortunate.”

For the past five years, the jazz band has received Division 1 rating. Of the 21 years Kunz has taught, there were only three or four times they have not received a Division 1 rating.

Kunz said this year there is a good mixture of grade levels.

He said the rest of the competitions for the year are virtual.

In a normal year, the students would have the Tall Corn Jazz Festival at the University of Northern Iowa and the Coe College Jazz Summit.

This year, the band sends in a recording and after it is reviewed, a time is scheduled to have a guest clinician work with the band virtually.

Kunz said he is glad the Mid-Prairie School District has allowed the students to have a mostly normal school day.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, band instructors have been creative in finding ways to practice. Kunz said the full band practices in the auditorium because there is not enough room to social distance in the band room. The jazz band is small enough they are able to practice in the band room.

He still is able to have one-on-one lessons with the students.