Students find music options at County Music Festival

It’s all about flash, volume, and the “I want it all, I want it now” technology of iPods and cell phones. Kids today can have their music as loud as they want anywhere they want – classrooms, study hall, cars, computers – even the ringtones on their phones reflect their musical tastes.
And it’s not usually Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony blasting when that phone does ring.
Thanks to Joe Ostenson, however, and the support of the community, San Benito County students are finding out that music did exist before videos, and classical musical may actually be kind of cool.
More than 200 local students took part in this year’s annual County Music Festival, a performance that provides students with opportunities to play as well as learn about the different styles of music.
“It is a wonderful tool to foster music appreciation in our county,” Ostenson said. “It’s an event that is always well received. Everyone seems to enjoy it.”
The concert features a variety of performances – band, orchestra, and singing – and includes students from schools throughout the county, including the Hollister School District, San Benito High School District, and the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District. Several different types of material were played, including traditional band music and chorus selections.
Ostenson said the concert is a great opportunity for the students not only to perform, but to learn as well. While students are waiting to perform, they listen to the other groups in the festival and get an idea of what they themselves might be able to do in the future.
“Fourth and fifth grade students can watch the middle school students, and think ‘I will be doing that soon,’” he said. “The students in the sixth through eighth grade program will watch the high school students and hear what they could sound like in a few years. It really is a valuable experience.”
Another valuable experience for Ostenson and his students has been their participation in 98.5 KFOX’s “School of Rock” contest.
The contest invites all high school and middle school band and choirs to send in CDs featuring themselves playing a classic rock music song. The winning band receives a $3,000 cash donation to its school music program, an engraved gold record to display at school and the opportunity to play live on the radio’s morning broadcast.
The Rancho/Maze Middle School Band won the contest two years ago, and Ostenson is hopeful his students can regain their “title.”
“It’s just kids competing against other kids, playing classic rock, but it is fun,” he said. “We performed ‘Walk This Way’ by Aerosmith and ‘Frankenstein.’ We did it two years ago, and it is pretty neat.”
The winner of the contest was scheduled to be announced on Friday, April 13.
The first County Music Festival was held in the late 1940s. For the past four years, Ostenson has been the festival’s director, but before that, Bob Bouchard was in charge of the program for more than 40 years. Ostenson, who has taught locally for 42 years, says he is now teaching the children of some of his own students, a fact that he seems proud of.
“As long as I am around and as long as the office of education wants me to do it, I will continue directing this concert,” he said. “I think it is a very valuable tool and I hope it continues.”

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