On December 16 & 17, 2019, the MHS Band department welcomed acclaimed jazz artist and educator Victor Goines. Mr. Goines, director of Jazz Studies at Northwestern University and a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, worked with students to help them prepare for their submissions to the Essentially Ellington Festival in New York City. Through this two-day residency, Mr. Goines provided master classes, sectionals, and improvisation workshops while also leading the Seven O'Clock Jazz Band and the Middleton Jazz Orchestra in rehearsals and recordings.

Professors Andreas Oeste and Timothy Hagen came to present a short concert that included solos and duets for our oboe and flute players (freshman-seniors) followed by separate masterclasses. Students played excerpts from pieces they were working on in front of peers in a masterclass style to gain real-time feedback and support from both professors. MHS students also asked questions ranging from advanced technique notation and embouchure to college planning. 

Students in 6 O'Clock Jazz ensemble participated and performed in the UW-MMSD Jazz Fest along with students from James Madison Memorial, Edgewood High School, Madison West High School, and the UW Jazz band. They received seminars on improvisation, sectionals with UW-Madison Jazz students, and an ensemble clinic with UW Jazz Director Johannes Wallmann and saxophonist Greg Ward. The day ended with performances from all ensembles including works written by Greg Ward.