Pictured here are the 6th Grade Band and 7th/8th Grade Band students from Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High School with their Division I medals they earned at the IESA Organizational Band Contest on Friday, April 28th.
This year under the new direction of Mr. Joshua Breen, the Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High bands have expanded their performances to bring back old traditions along with adding new experiences for their students to enjoy. Mr. Breen hails from Champaign and is the son of former Paxton Junior High Band Director Kimberly (Kinley) Breen. This is not his first job, as he was a band director in the Quincy Public Schools for the previous three years. Mr. Breen believes in creating a safe place for all students to enjoy the love of making music while also encouraging their musical development.
To date, the PBL JH Bands have participated in 31 community-wide events, concerts, contests, festivals, and performances, with 6 more remaining in the next three weeks.
This year one of the projects Mr. Breen took on was to create an instrument inventory and evaluate the condition of the instruments. During this process he found many old and dilapidated instruments well past their prime. With the help of the local music vendor, The Music Shoppe, he was able to put together a proposal to both replace and purchase new instruments for the program. To date, the school board has allocated $25,000 for the Junior High Bands and $25,000 for the High School Bands towards this project. Mr. Breen and all of the musicians past, present, and future thank the board and the community for their continued support of music education in the PBL schools.
This year, Mr. Breen decided to bring back an old tradition of the Paxton-Buckley-Loda Junior High Mini Band. Composed of top musicians in the Junior High Band, this group performed at the Paxton Christmas Parade, Junior High lunches, Clara Peterson Elementary lunches, for the residents at Accolade Nursing Home on Fulton, and a store-to-store performance at the winter small business gift bag sale in downtown Paxton.
For the first time in over four years, the PBL JH jazz bands traveled to local festivals and contests to perform, as well as participating in the fall and winter concerts with the concert band. The PBL JH Jazz band received 1st in their class at the Danville Jazz Festival and 3rd in their class at the Illinois State University Jazz Festival.
In addition to the regular performances by the PBL Concert Bands, in February the students participated individually in a solo and ensemble contest. Students performed solo and small group pieces for judges and received medals as well as IESA recognition for their performance. Just recently they performed at the IESA Music Organizational Contest hosted by Clifton-Nash Jr. High, both concert bands received Division 1 ratings and the 7th/8th grade band earned the Best of Day award for bands in our region.
The PBL JH Jazz Bands’ final performances for this year will be participating in the Salute to Veterans Concert hosted by the High School on Saturday, May 20th at 5:00 pm and at Jazz in Pells Park on Sunday, May 21st at 3:00 pm. The concert bands’ final performance of this year will be on Tuesday, May 16th at 6:00 pm in the Junior High Gymnasium. Mr. Breen and the students hope to see the community come out and support the bands as they finish a successful year.