CANTON HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ ENSEMBLE

Canton Central School is located in very upstate New York about four hours north of Albany, and one hour south of Ottawa, Canada. As the county seat and home of St. Lawrence University, the community enjoys a pleasant degree of culture in a very rural setting. Total enrollment of the public school system is 1500 students for Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade. The Music Department consists of 4.5 faculty members.

Instrumental music lessons begin in 5th grade. There is a 5th Grade Band, a 6 th Grade Band, a 7-8 Band, and a 9-12 Concert Band. This year's Canton Jazz Band is made up of 20 of these high school students who auditioned last June. The ensemble rehearses every other day. On opposite days, the Jazz Combo (a subset of the Jazz Band) rehearses. Junior Jazz, consisting of 7th and 8th grade instrumentalists, rehearses Friday mornings.

For the past four years the high school Jazz Band has embarked on overnight performance tours which have included Music In Our Schools Month concerts at the Empire Plaza in Albany, participation in the Oneida Jazz Festival, attendance at the 2002 NYSBDA Symposium where the students were inspired and propelled forward during a magnificent performance by the Williamsville East Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Stephen Shewan, and most recently a 4-day and 3-night stay in New York City to take in the Essentially Ellington Festival, Blue Man Group, and the ever-present street musicians. Best efforts thus far at NYSSMA Majors have produced Level 4 Gold with Distinction ratings.

TIM SAVAGE is a native of Malone, New York. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Masters in Music Education from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam. He currently resides in Canton with his wife, Jill and two daughters, Kate and Abbie. Tim began his formal teaching career in 1990 with temporary music faculty assignments in Malone, Watertown, and Carthage, New York. From July 1992 through August 1998, he was the Director of Instrumental Music at Heuvelton Central School. He is currently the Grade 7-12 Band Director at Canton Central School.

Throughout the 1980's, Tim performed professionally in a variety of musical projects in the Albany and Syracuse, New York markets. He currently plays brass and woodwind instruments as needed in musical productions throughout the North Country including gigs with the Wally Siebel Big Band, the Frank Sacci Big Band, and the Don Washington Blues Band.

In the past 15 years, Tim has conducted a number of All-District, All-County, and Area All-State Bands. He has been on the jazz faculty for Crane Youth Music for six summers. Tim is currently vice-president of the St. Lawrence County Music Educators Association, treasurer of the Crane School of Music Alumni Association, and band chairperson for the New York State Band Directors Association High School Honor Band.