Page 4
March 7, 2018
School Band on a Lifeline
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lack of funding. The Sounds of
Jefferson had about 14 mem-
bers last year, but this year the
number has dropped to five.
Little hopes that more funding
can get more kids to join up
and encourage more parental
and staff support.
But there’s more to the sto-
ry. After several years at Jef-
ferson, Little went on to head
the music program at Portland
Community College’s Cas-
cade Campus. He then moved
to California to work in the
music industry and started a
performing band for young
people, the Heatwave Jazz and
Show Band, which toured reg-
ularly and in 2016, and even
performed at the Newport Jazz
Festival.
The Heatwave band per-
formed at Jefferson about four
years ago at the invitation of
Vice Principal Ricky Allen,
and about a year later Little
started a Portland chapter, the
Pacific Northwest Heatwave
Show Band, based at Jefferson.
Then he re-started the Sounds
of Jefferson at the school.
The 15 members of Heat-
wave come from all over the
Portland metro area, and al-
though the Heatwave organi-
zation is nonprofit, there is still
a $75 monthly charge for high
school students. Graduates are
welcome for free. But Little
wants to keep the Sounds of
Jefferson free for all kids.
The problem is lack of mon-
ey. Fundraisers and a gofund-
me campaign last year raised
only about half the $10,000
needed annually, so Heatwave
has been underwriting Sounds
of Jefferson.
But Heatwave is going into
debt as a result even though re-
sources are shared, said Sounds
of Jefferson Director Estefania
Tapia. To raise funds to help
keep both programs alive, a
gofundme account has been
set up at gofundme.com/heat-
wavemusicproject.
“We feel like if we get the
funding it would get the Jeffer-
son band off the ground,” she
said. “And if we had a general
startup to fund both bands, it
would benefit everyone.”
Money raised would be used
for instruments and repairs, in-
structor’s salaries, funding for
Pacific Northwest Heatwave to
go on tour this spring, and to
start funding for Sounds of Jef-
ferson to tour in 2019, she said.
The program is also good for
students because they can learn
and perform music as an ex-
tracurricular without affecting
their academic standards.
Little said many who went
through the earlier Jefferson
music program went on to suc-
cessful careers in music, and
two members of last year’s
Sounds of Jefferson band are
now majoring in music at the
University of Oregon.
Tyler Barcos, who graduated
from the Vancouver School of
Arts and Academics last year,
said being involved with both
Sounds of Jefferson and Heat-
wave is also helping him pur-
sue his dreams. He has a little
studio in his room where he
composes and records, he plays
trombone and trumpet, and he
like jazz and funk.
“I’m one of the more senior
people, so I can help others,”
he said. “My ultimate goal is to
start working on the technical
side of the music industry, pro-
ducing and being a sound tech-
nician, and still composing,”
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he said.
Jefferson High junior Daria
Stallions, who plays flute and
saxophone, came out of a clas-
sical music background at Hos-
ford Middle School in north
Portland and is a member of
Sounds of Jefferson. Although
she’s not planning a career in
music, she said the benefits are
far reaching for other fields.
“Just the experience of per-
forming and gigs and setting
things up and taking them
apart, you develop skills to
know how to do that, and it
helps you in life,” she said.
Little said the experience
the kids get performing and
practicing can have similar end
results to that all-time favor-
ite extracurricular activity —
sports.
“It’s like athletics. If you
want to get any kind of base-
ball scholarship, or basket-
ball, or girls’ volleyball ball
or swimming, you have to be
on a traveling team,” he said.
“I’ve seen other (after school)
music programs that are unbe-
lievable successful, throughout
the country.”
The gofundme campaign is
just part of fundraising, and
Heatwave will present a show-
case fundraiser at Jefferson on
Saturday, March 10.
A dress rehearsal at the
school auditorium proved that
the band is performance ready.
As an R&B cover band, the
flawless performance rivaled
any Las Vegas show band, with
Tapia belting it out as one of
the vocalists.
There were only a dozen or
so folks in the audience, but
if the performance had been
before a packed auditorium,
the applause would have been
deafening for outstanding ren-
ditions of classics like “Proud
Mary” and “Signed, Sealed,
Delivered” as well songs from
Bruno Mars and Tower of
Power.
When Pacific Northwest
Heatwave hits the road next
month for a March 29 through
April 3 tour, they’ll perform
mostly in schools, but will
also have a recording session
at EastWest Studio in Holly-
wood. Their biggest event will
be a performance at the famed
Whisky A Go Go in Los Ange-
les, Little said.
“It’s a huge rock and roll
venue and we’re a R&B cover
band, so we’re really excited to
get that gig,” he said.