Greene County High School is going to be a busy place for the next few days.

Tomorrow, the Rams are one of the host sites for the Iowa High School Music Association State Solo/Small Ensemble Contest. Band Director Wes Anderson says ten students will be performing, including eight solos and two ensembles. He enjoys this time of year to see some real growth in the students as he believes there is no better way for a student to improve their tone quality and musicianship than to tell them they need to entertain a room of people with only their instrument.

Choir Director David Heupel states that with a busy jazz choir season and preparing for the musical, he doesn’t have as many students competing in the Solo/Small Ensemble Contest as he would’ve liked. However, he thinks the students that are going to perform are doing very well when they practice. Heupel likes this contest because the students get the chance to be heard by experts in the field and an opportunity to get valuable feedback from them.

Heupel points out another large-sized activity is happening this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, as they get to host the Iowa Vocal Jazz Championships. While Ram Jive didn’t qualify for IVJC, he says it is still an amazing opportunity for everyone to see the best eight jazz choirs in all four high school classes over two days. Heupel talks about how IVJC runs itself for the most part.

“They’ll even bring Comprehensive Sound (Services) out of Greene, Iowa has been in charge of their sound for years. Rick, who owns that, he’s coming, sets everything up and runs sound for two days. Just we’ll provide some volunteers and maybe some concessions and figure out some logistics for the day, because it’ll run from about noon to 8 or 9pm.”   

Heupel invites the public to stop by during those two days to see some incredible shows as Class 1A and 2A perform on Tuesday and Class 3A and 4A are scheduled for Wednesday. Click here for more information.