In December of 2015, my cooperating teacher and I took the Idaho Arts Charter Jazz Band to the District III regional jazz festival. There are many merits to taking ensembles to local competitions and festivals, one of which being the opportunity to interact with other professionals nearby and even professionals brought in from outside the region.

During this festival, we had the opportunity to listen to other ensembles in our district, including middle school jazz groups and the non-audition ensembles from a few larger high schools. As an educator, I was influenced by these ensembles because I got to experience other directors and their conducting styles, I got to see a wide variety of instrumentation among ensembles, and I was exposed to not only new music, but new interpretations of music I already knew and had performed and taught.

After our ensemble performed, I also received another learning experience as our students were offered a clinic from a well-established jazz director from Washington State University. Although the students learned much, I learned even more. The clinician confirmed much of what I had already told the students during rehearsals leading up to festival, but he also gave me new ideas on how to approach different elements of jazz. I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to participate in the professional community and to grow professionally.