Validation, parts 2A and 2B

It's been a good year so far to be a student of Kev, at least for those who are conscientious about their playing. First, four out of the five saxes in All-Region Jazz end up coming from my studio; and today I found out some of the results of yesterday's 9th Grade All-Region tryouts. I don't have the complete standings, but I do know that the first-chair alto and the first-chair tenor are mine...go me! (Not really, heh--go them! I just steer 'em in the right direction and hopefully get 'em fired up about playing.) Add that to this past Monday, when 50% of the middle-school All-City saxes were mine, despite the fact that I only had kids entered from three of the thirteen middle schools in the district, and it's been a really great week.

Anyway, I basically just wanted to brag on them and thank them for their hard work. I'm not really bragging on myself; that's not my style. After all, everyone I teach gets the same quality of information; some people just take it and run with it, while others maybe only attain a brisk trot...and some just let it go in one ear and out the other. So even as I deflect most of the credit to the take-it-and-run types, results like this still make me feel validated in what I do and the way I do it. The big test--high school All-Region--comes up in three weeks.

(UPDATE: The results keep trickling in; today I found out that the third-chair alto and the second-chair tenor--they only take two--came from the Kev World as well. Go me them some more!)

PLAYING IN THE KEVMOBILE TODAY: Marchel Ivery, Marchel Ivery Meets Joey DeFrancesco. Click over to last night's post to see why I replaced whatever was "on deck" in my car's CD player with this 1997 gem. It doesn't totally capture the energy of the live show, but it's close enough for me.