CHAMPIONS! Okoboji Jazz captures third state title

Director Greg Forney speaks to an assembly outside Okoboji High School after the school's jazz band wins the 2010 championship in Class 2A.
(Photo by Russ Mitchell)

The commotion had more to do with trumpets, trombones and saxophones.

About 10 emergency vehicles escorted director Greg Forney's 24-member Okoboji Jazz Band's bus back to the high school after the band claimed the Class 2A state championship Tuesday, April 13 at the Des Moines Civic Center and Convention Complex.

Fort Dodge St. Edmonds placed second. Rock Valley, IKM Manning and Prairie Valley rounded out the top five. Spots six through eight were claimed by Roland-Story, North Polk and Cherokee.

Okoboji also captured 2A titles at the 1999 and 2000 Iowa Jazz Championships. For seniors like Matthew Ohl, Kris Kaufman and Erik Vaage, the 2010 win was especially satisfying. They saw the band just miss a title, settling for second place, near the end of their freshman year.

"We worked really hard for this and finally got it done," Ohl told a curbside student assembly as the band disembarked from the bus.

Moments after bringing their instruments into the band room, the seniors recalled feeling more tension trying to advance through preliminaries.

"When we played later that night, in the finals, I'm pretty sure we were all relaxed," Kaufman said. " We had nothing left to prove. I've told a lot of people, that was the most fun I've ever had playing my trumpet."

Ohl talked about the preparation that led to the relaxed finals performance. The band meets five times a week "pretty much all year" at 7:15 a.m., he said. Forney is in his 21st year with the Okoboji Music Department.

"The kids just kept working," the director said. "Some schools will work until they qualify for jazz championships and they'll think 'there, we're in. That's it.' "

The Pioneers took a less conventional route just to get to the the Iowa Jazz Championships. The students competed at the Northwest Iowa Bandmasters' District Jazz Festival Feb. 3 in Sioux City. The event served as the Iowa Jazz Championships NW Iowa district qualifying contest, with two qualifying spots for the Iowa Jazz Championships. Cherokee took first. The second spot came down to Rock Valley and Okoboji and the Pioneers missed the automatic berth on the third tiebreaker.

"That kind of took the wind out of our sails," Vaage said. "We had two choices. We could have given up and crumbled or we could have used that as motivation to work even harder. We worked harder and that hard work paid off in the end."

The band went on to win three designated competitions to gain "wild card" entry to the Iowa Jazz Championships. Along the way, they finished ahead of several schools that had an automatic berth in hand.

Forney credited the students for playing well at Districts, saying the program just needed additional refinement. Throughout February, the band polished its finale -- a fourth song many schools don't try to tackle. They also folded in a fifth song to give judges added variety.

"A lot of other schools will only play three songs all year and then they'll play it for state," Vaage said. "Mr. Forney really does a good job of teaching us music -- he doesn't just teach us the three songs. So, we played close to 20 songs this year, just getting prepared for jazz and the ability to read music."

One of the songs performed at those disappointing districts was aptly titled "It is What it is."

"Our next contest was February 20 in Indianola," Forney said. "We left at 4:30 in the morning. It was terrible weather and the kids were scared to death they wouldn't be able to go. Instead of grumbling about having to get on a bus at 4:30 on a Saturday morning, they were just pumped to be able to go. They were excited."

Kaufman credits the Forneys for Okoboji's ongoing jazz band success -- Greg's wife Julie is the middle school band director.

"Mrs. Forney starts getting people ready right away when they're in middle school," he said. "And Mr. Forney is just really excellent. They know how to shape us and make us really good. Plus there's a work ethic with everyone in the jazz band."

Mr. Forney is quick to credit the students for that work ethic.

"Our jazz band -- I kind of think it's like a talented and gifted part of our program because it is kids who want to work a little extra, are willing to come in for extra rehearsal," Forney said. "They have to audition to be in the jazz band, so they have to work at it a little bit more than just being in the band."

Forney rewards that by making more spots available. The Okoboji Jazz Band had 24 students competing, compared to the typical jazz band blend of 13 trumpets, trombones and saxophones.

"I've doubled some parts in the sections, for two reasons: To give more people a chance to perform because we don't have a full second jazz band this year -- we haven't for a couple of years," he said.

"Also, it's a training mechanism," he continued. "Those younger kids can come in and they can learn from the upperclassmen. So when you have upperclassmen graduate out, you have other kids who are ready to come up. A real pet peeve of mine -- I hear musical directors say this sometimes and with coaches you hear it a lot: 'Well, we have a really young group this year.' Well, every year is going to be a young group because you always graduate out your best kids. You graduate out your most experienced leaders, so the way I look at it, we're constantly grooming kids to step up and be next year's leaders."

The school is good about recognizing students no matter what they do, and Forney said the welcome home ceremony last Wednesday isn't something he wants to take for granted.

"That's really cool," he said. "I sat out there and said 'is small-town America great or what?' There are some places that wouldn't happen. You wouldn't have that support. It's a special community."