TEMPLE, Texas — Temple High School jazz ensemble, the Temple Highlighters, has been selected to perform in the 2022 Charles Mingus Virtual Festival. The Highlighters’ performance will be broadcast online on Saturday, February 19th, and will re-air two more times over the weekend.
The Highlighters are one of just six high school bands selected to perform in the big band category of the national festival. Only 15 total groups were selected to perform in three different categories during the festival. Those groups were chosen based on video submissions from bands across the country. The Highlighters’ performance will air between 1:45-4:00 p.m. Central Time on Saturday, February 19. Viewers can access the showcase of performances through the Mingus Institute’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/charlesmingus. The Highlighters video submission with the group performing Mingus’ “Boogie Stop Shuffle” and “Haitian Fight Song” will air during the showcase. The showcase will also be rebroadcast on the Mingus Institute Facebook page on Sunday, February 20, and Monday, February 21, with the Highlighters’ performance slated to air in that same 1:45-4:00 p.m. window each day.
“It is a very cool feeling just to be in the conversation with the other five schools that were chosen,” said Marcos Duran, director of the Temple Highlighters. “The kids are excited because it is a testament to their hard work, and it is really cool to see their efforts being recognized by people outside of the Temple area. Our students will also get a chance to hear the other performances and our kids learn so much from hearing other people play. It will also give them some confidence and reassurance to hear how they sound compared to some of the other performers.”
“It is such a surreal moment for me because I used to go to jazz band concerts and I always wanted to be in the Highlighters when I was growing up,” said sophomore trumpet player Naizyrh White. “And now, to get that opportunity and to make some history and share my expression through my instrument is something I will never forget.”
The Charles Mingus Festival is hosted by the New School Music Conservatory and the Charles Mingus Institute. The event is held in conjunction with a music workshop for participating bands and is typically held in-person. The recent spike in COVID cases forced the festival to return to a virtual format for the second straight year in 2022. That means the students will not get the chance to travel to New York, but it also means the Highlighters’ performance could be seen by a much larger audience through the Facebook broadcast.
“It is crazy to think about that,” said sophomore saxophonist Makale Edwards. “If we were in New York, maybe only that crowd would get a chance to hear us. To have it broadcast throughout the world is a big deal and hopefully our talent will be noticed by more people this way.”
The workshop portion of the festival will give the Temple students a chance to learn from professional musicians. And while the honor of being selected means a great deal to everyone in the band, there is more to the experience of being in the Highlighters. The chance to be creative and share in those musical moments with their bandmates may mean just as much to some of these students.
“Playing with this band and being in the moment, it is wonderful and amazing, honestly,” said sophomore bassist Gray Baker. “This is a way for me to get so much emotion and energy out and not all teenagers have a way to get that out. I am able to put it into my music.”
This is the second major honor received by the Temple Highlighters this school year. The 2020-2021 Highlighters were honored as a National Winner in the Mark of Excellence/National Jazz Honors Project when those awards were announced in September. The group was one of just three high school jazz ensembles to receive National Winner recognition.