If you click on one of the blue-edged images, the odds are pretty good that you will get a larger image.

ERIC ADAMS Percussion: AITDJB 2005 - 2007

Eric joined the AITDJB in 2005, and has shown great enthusiasm right from the get-go. He has an impressive list of WSMA awards to his name already, even though he's still a young whippersnapper. Eric has apparently been a drummer since birth, and shows the true percussionist's irresistible urge to beat out rhythms on things all the time.

Eric wore the big pink bowtie, and upgraded to a red tie, at our Gazebo concert on 28 July 2005. For several concerts in the 2005 season, he and Brad took turns at the set. Eric was the sole drummer on the indescribable 2005 AITDJB Homecoming Float, riding in (most of) his marching band costume with a shark on his head, and then making a valiant effort to get back to the end of the parade and join the Marching Spartans.

In the 2006-2007 academic year, Eric is the drummer at MHS, getting plenty of juicy set parts - as for example at the Homecoming pep rally, when he showed so much spirit that he knocked his inverted crash cymbal loose from its clamps.

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BRAD ANDERSON Percussion: AITDJB 2001 - 2007

Brad is a founding member of the AITDJB. Working from charts that are usually pretty sparse (and are sometimes meant, in fact, for a different instrument), he is always finding new ways to refresh and refine his performances.

His elegant, precise percussion style has made Brad much in demand as an accompanist and ensemble member, for a wide variety of musical groups. Known credits range from cabaret combos to pit orchestra work for professional musical productions. Brad is very active in music ministry, especially at the Door Creek Church. He most likely has other, secret, musical identities too.

Brad has successfully auditioned for membership in various WYSO orchestras, and in WSMA Honors Project bands and orchestras, for uncounted years, and has given distinguished performances with them all. The number of medals he has won at State WSMA contests is simply appalling; in fact, he is rumored to be the reason why MHS apparently cannot afford actually to buy medals for its S&E participants. Brad was the winner of the 2005 Louis Armstrong Jazz Award at MHS, which was excellent because Sousa is not his cup of tea.

During the 2005 - 2006 academic year, at Lawrence University, Brad was a member of the Symphonic Band (by audition), a jazz workshop (on drumset), and the Sambistas samba drumming group (which he says was "the loud Brazilian stuff").

Since the fall term of 2006 Brad has been at the UW, where he is the principal percussionist in the audition-only UW Concert Band.

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ANDREA BAKUNOWICZ Tenor sax: AITDJB 2005 - 2007

Andrea joined the AITDJB in 2005, learning tenor sax the way the cat learned to swim *. She rose to the challenge at once, and is now a solid member of the front line. In addition to being very talented, Andrea is also refreshingly pleasant and friendly.

Andrea wore the huge pink bowtie at the Gazebo concert on 28 July 2005; now that she's been blooded, she wears the red one. Her light, expressive singing voice is a staple of between-sets entertainment. As of the fall 2007 term, she is a student at the UW, so we hope to keep her around for a long while.

* Send me an e-mail if you don't understand this.

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SCOTT BIRRENKOTT Trombone: AITDJB 2005 - 2006

When Scott started band, he listed his instrument preferences as percussion, saxophone, or clarinet. He was assigned to trombone. He thinks this was because there was a "big lack of trombones", but he doesn't seem to be sorry - he looks like a guy who enjoys playing his horn. Scott has a list of band honors to his credit, including concert and jazz bands at IMMS and MHS, Solo and Ensemble (including trips to State), Honors band, etc. He says he plays in the McFarland Community Band "whenever Mr. Garvey invites me too".

Scott joined the AITDJB for a few practices toward the end of the summer of 2005, and got a good enough grip on the music to join us for a few numbers under the Big Top at the Family Festival that year. He upgraded from the BPBT to a red bow tie on 17 September 2005, and played the infamous SubZero gig with us in the spring of 2006. We look forward to making continued good use of him.

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AMANDA DEBOER Vocals: AITDJB 2001 - 2007; SB 2005 - 2006

Amanda DeBoer is a founding member of the AITDJB, and an astonishingly talented vocalist and dramatic performer. She's also witty, articulate, not too ignorant (for a teenager), attractive, opinionated, and pleasant. But we don't hold any of that against her. She brings to her music the same passion and integrity that inform everything else she does, and as a result, almost nothing she does is crap.

Her McFarland credits include a wide range of roles in MHS musical theater productions, including quite a dazzling rendition of Eliza in the 2004 production of "My Fair Lady". She also graced with her presence pretty much every vocal group available at MHS, and has a plethora of S&E medals to her credit.

Starting with the fall term of 2005, Amanda is a student at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. In addition to the usual brew of college activities, she successfully auditioned into the prestigious Carleton Knightingales, a higher-pitched answer to the Carleton Singing Knights. She also sings with the Carleton Choir and with the Carleton Singers - the Singers are alos by-audition-only - her voice is now even more lovely and flexible than ever.

Amanda is a former member of the Old Dragons Odyssey of the Mind team; she has worked with Quinn on some project or another since 1993 but keeps coming back. Since most of the arrangements the AITDJB plays make no provision for a vocalist, Amanda generally gets tossed a dog-eared piano part, often in a different key than the band is using. Then, with helpful direction from Quinn ("Just listen to the band, and figure out where some words might fit, and sing them"), she brings the lyric to life.

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REBECCA FUNK Alto sax: WitR 2003 - 2006

Becca has talents in many directions; if you believed in the dippy "multiple intelligences" hypothesis currently running amok in our schools, you'd have to admit that she's a prime example of both "multiple" and "intelligence". She is intellecutally acute, has a good sense of humor, and is able to appreciate Charlie Chaplin. Furthermore, she is a dedicated musician, allegedly getting up (willingly!) before sunrise to play her sax.

Becca was a founding member of the McFarland Musketeers Destination Imagination team, which took first place in the Instant Challenge competition at the 2003 Global Finals. As part of that group she had worked with Quinn Leonard for more than half her life, yet she was enthusiastic when he founded the Wind in the Reeds trio for the 2003 holiday season. The trio has benefited greatly from her dedication, musicianship, and rich fruity laugh.

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NORA HICKEY Violin and bassoon: SS 2004 - 2007; WitR 2005 - 2006

The one and only Nora is an incredibly intense young woman, willing and able to play anything written for violin or bassoon (a combination of talents that's not as arcane as you might think). She has the startling ability to read things written for either of her instruments on the other one. Nora plays bassoon in the top WYSO group, and has "done (WSMA) Honors Band a lot and other stuff like that". She is a regular at State S&E. Recently, she shone as the Fiddler on the Roof; her skill set now includes playing violin while balancing on a prop roofline.

Nora is a bassoon advocate who feels the AITDJB could use "more" bassoons (see About the Band for a complete listing of bassoons currently with the group). As part of her effort to bring the big woodwinds to jazz, she has played bassoon with IMMS and MHS jazz ensembles, sometimes reading a trombone part and sometimes reading the E flat bari sax part while faking the key signature. She describes herself as a "bassoonist civil rights leader", agitating for their acceptance as a marching instrument: "There are little bassoons in the key of F that we could learn to play." She likes there to be lots of good bassoon parts, even if it means stealing them from other instruments. Nora is a member of the UBM (United Bassoons of Madison).

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AUTUMN LEONARD Trombone, euphonium, banjo, and vocals AITDJB 2001 - 2007, SB 2001 - 2006

By day a mild-mannered librarian, by night a raging trombone player and passable vocalist, Autumn either has character or is one. He performed in all the instrumental groups available at MHS, and now plays in the McFarland Community Band summers and in a U-Band the rest of the time. During his stint at MHS he successfully auditioned into WSMA Honors Bands many times, often playing first chair eupho. He has a very large collection of State S&E medals, though not quite as large as his friend Brad's. In 2005, Autumn won the John Phillip Sousa Band Award jointly with Becky Schultz.

When he opens his mouth (this is frequent), Autumn can also present larger-than-life roles in MHS dramsa musical theatre productions. His turn as a frighteningly accurate Higgins in "My Fair Lady" is legendary, as is his pantsless scene in "Anything Goes".

Autumn is a founding member of the AITDJB and of the Solstice Brass, and was an Old Dragon forever. He is remarkably tolerant of being in groups that his parents mentor. In the AITDJB his talents at sightreading, and at performing well with few rehearsals, are key.

Starting in 2005 Autumn took up the banjo, bringing to the AITDJB between-sets slots such immortal favorites as the Bumblebee Tuna jingle. Since 2006 he has been occasionally laying aside his trombone to play banjo with the band. As is usual for him, he adds a lot of color. Since the fall term of 2005 Autumn has been at the UW, where he had his opera debut in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 2006. He is active in technical theater, and is sometimes one half of Lolecule, a uke-and-voice duo with occasional outbursts of banjo. Listen for them on the UW's student radio, during the Waka Laka segment.

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ISIS LEONARD Bassoon: WitR 2003 - 2006; Violin: SS 2004 - 2007; piano and kazoo: AITDJB 2007

Isis picks up new instruments the way Bill Gates picks up new monopolies: she is rather accomplished at violin, bassoon, and piano, and is at least a noodler upon trombone, baritone, guitar, clarinet, ocarina and oboe. She likes to think about music and to experiment with it, and regularly gives in to the temptation to compose.

She got keen on bassoon partly because of a relentless campaign of hype from her friend Nora (who in turn caught the bug for the Big Pipe from Kelly Miller), and partly (I think) because no one else at home plays double reeds. Isis plays bassoon in the IMMS student band, and in the McFarland Community Band, where she is the youngest House player in about a century. Sometimes all three generations of McFarland Bassoon Gals are on hand for community band, and the sound is powerfull.

For the 2004 marching season Isis found a clarinet more congenial than a bassoon for lugging about the streets. The Solo and Ensemble contests give Isis a performance venue for several of her instruments, and in 2005 she and Nora got a "1" at State with their violin duet. In 2004, Isis successfully auditioned for membership in the WYSO Sinfonietta, where she played first chair second violin. Sinfonietta performed one of her compositions at a concert in the spring of 2005.

For the 2005 marching season Isis had a go at baritone horn, using Quinn'e old instrument. She auditioned into the WYSO Concert orchestra this year on bassoon, and after some soul-searching chose to move up to Concert even though it meant leaving behind a beloved conductor.

Isis was a Musketeer (see Becca, above), which means she had to put up with her parents as coaches for six years. Nevertheless, she chose to join the Wind in the Reeds trio, in which she plays bassoon. She is also a member of the United Bassoons of Madison.

In 2007 Isis joined the AITDJB on piano, having her Pink Bowtie Moment at the gazebo on 28 July. Starting in the fall of 2007 she moves up to the WYSO Philharmonic Orchestra.

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QUINN LEONARD tuba and baritone AITDJB 2001 - 2007, SB 2001 - 2006

I was in a Dixie ensemble in high school, and ever since have wanted my own group to dominate. Finding oodles of talent among presumably impressionable MHS students, I started the AITDJB in 2001, and have never really regretted it. It is an honor and a privilege to work with McFarland's finest musicians.

I don't read tuba notation, but believe I can fake it tolerably well by looking at a string bass part. No one in the band has disillusioned me, maybe because no one else wants to play tuba.

In addition to the AITDJB, I also ride herd on the Solstice Brass, the Wind in the Reeds Woodwind Quartet, and the Second String Violin Duo. Sort of.

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BRIA MASON Vocals: AITDJB 2002 - 2006; SB 2003

Bria is full of pazzazz. She is an outrageously talented vocalist, pianist, and dramatic performer, and is blessed with an unusually expressive face. She has intonation perhaps more perfect than anyone else I know, and her clear-water timbre is always a delight to hear. Her tastes in literature and film are pretty fair, which is to say she sometimes agrees with me. She sing scat and play the penny-whistle, a little, but so far these talents have gone unused by the AITDJB. Languages are a gift in her.

Most of the arrangements the AITDJB plays don't make provision for vocals, and often the available lyric ain't don't quite sorta fit somehow. Then the vocalist has to be flexible. Bria is dextrous at making a lyric work with only a few clues. She has twice been kind enough to perform my arrangements of Greensleeves, both times making sound better than they are.

At MHS, she was frequently a featured soloist with the Blue Notes vocal jazz ensemble and with the MHS choirs. She was a mainstay of musical theater productions, bringing intelligent, emotional execution to everyting she did on stage. It's also pretty cool that, every time the AITDJB played somewhere, Bria brought a huge cheering section that danced on the tables and screamed. At Beloit College she appeared in Guys and Dolls and in a breathtaking performance of the Carmina Burana.

In 2005 Bria embarked upon a new adventure: college in the British Isles. The University of Edinburgh is a great fit for her. She is active in the Edinburgh Folk Music Society, both as a singer and now as a novice fiddler. In 2006 she took the stage in a U. of E. production of Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride. She has also performed at the Even though she's gone across the sea, we've been lucky enough to have her back as a guest artist: in 2006 she joined us for the SubZero gig, and in 2007 she and a friend gave McFarland's premiere performance of puirt-a-beul, or Scottish mouth music, as a classy 'twixt-sets act.

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ANNE NICHOLS Vocals: AITDJB 2005 - 2006

Anne Nichols, Resident Goddess of the MHS Music Department, is a performer, conductor, and teacher of the highest calibre. She's an alumnus of MHS and of the UW-Madison; instruments she admits to playing include violin, piano, trumpet (she even marches!), and oboe. In her own words she is "classified as a soprano", but those of us who've heard her gorgeous voice know that she defines the soprano tessitura rather than merely exemplifying it.

Since 1998 Anne has vibrantly directed vocal music at MHS. Her groups have presented a series of consistantly high-quality concerts that please and challenge audiences; she has presided over a string of wildly successful musical theater productions; and the WSMA Solo and Ensemble contests are always packed with her excellent students. In her hands the Blue Notes vocal jazz ensemble is a flexible, livley instrument reliably delivering pure delight.

Anne has performed at Walt Disney World's EPCOT CENTER, in area commercials, and with the All That Jazz Big Band. The AITDJB has benefitted from having her well-trained students as vocalists, and in 2005 she joined us on stage - well, on the concrete at the Gazebo - for several numbers with the band and for a memorable solo turn. Anne is also kind enough to invite the Solstice Brass to perform at her winter choral concerts.

On a personal note, Anne lists her home life as including "2 dogs, 2 sons, and 1 husband" (not in that order).

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TONYA NEUMANN Tenor sax, vocals, banjo: AITDJB 2003 - 2006

Tonya is perky but not vacant, enthusiastic about everything she does, but also displaying a fine mastery of giving fools "The Look". She is a regular on the stage in MHS musical and theatrical productions, recently appearing in Anything Goes as "Virtue", although we won't say what kind.

Tonya is rumored to have played clarinet before being transplanted to McFarland; here, she plays saxophones, adding a new species to her list each year. She is also a member of the Blue Notes vocal jazz ensemble, and has been with Almost In Time since 2003.

As of fall 2005 Tonya has moved on from MHS to the UW, where she plays sax in the UW Varisty Band and has sat in with the Red Hot Horn Dogs. She also sings in the UW Women's Chorus, appearing in their production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. She returned for the 2006 Dixie season, adding her voice to the between-sets material, and her sparkly sense of fasion to the Homecoming float.

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GLENN NIELSEN Clarinet, tenor sax: AITDJB 2001 - 2007

It would be impossible to list here even the highlights of Glenn's wide-ranging contributions to music and music education over the last several decades. He has been a gifted teacher, a tireless and successful advocate for the founding of State-wide music programs, and a featured performer in hundreds of musical groups.

Now he plays woodwinds with the AITDJB. A recent performance program listed him as a "freelance musician", which seems to mean "retired", but may be misleading. He directs the McFarland Community Band, the voice and handbell choirs at McFarland Lutheran Church (where he is also the general musical director), a swing band made up of senior citizens, and who knows what else. And he still gives private lessons.

Glenn is a founding member of the AITDJB. He is the main contributor to the group's musical direction at rehearsals.

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FRANK RANSLEY Trumpet AITDJB 2004 - 2007, SB 2003 - 2006

Frank was brave enough to join the AITDJB on trumpet in 2004, although the position appeared at that time to be cursed: no one had ever left the band except for the two trumpet players we'd used up over last three years. Frank seems pretty durable, and we hope he'll last, because he's a dedicated musician and an outstanding improvisational soloist. He has become the anchor of our strong front line. He's hot stuff.

Frank played and sang(!) with several groups at MHS and MATC in the '70s. Then there seems to have been a hiatus (his bio at this point is obscure) until 1997, except for his "running out into the street in the middle of the night playing 'On Wisconsin' after the Badgers won the Rose Bowl in '94". He joined the McFarland Community Band in 2000, and the Solstice Brass 2003 (also a cursed trumpet chair).

September, 2005: More news on Frank's mysterious disappearance from the '70s until 1997 has just come to light, in the form of this confession from the trumpeter himself. Apparently he felt he was in danger of becoming a band director (gasp!), and took drastic measures to save his soul. He writes:

"I have often joked with my friends, but it is true, that I gave up playing the trumpet for a period of time because I did not want to teach music and I was afraid I would end up in a road band living in sleazy motels, so I became a ski racer and lived in my van instead."

You heard it here first, folks.

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GENA ROISUM Clarinet: WitR 2005 - 2006, AITDJB 2007

Gena joined our Christmas ensembles as a clarinetist for the 2005 season. Her other instruments include piano and "just a pinch" of saxophone. She's capable, articulate, smart, and dignified; we are glad to have her on board.

She is a survivor of the Unit VII science pullout sections taught by Quinn in 2004 - 2005.

Gena served as the WitR's starter-upper for the 2006 Christmas season, picking tempos that were mostly pretty close to what Quinn would have chosen.

In 2007 Gena joined the AITDJB, being pretty much thrown feet-first into the fire: at her second concert, Glenn had to leave early, and she handled the second set alone - and admirably.

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BECKY SCHULTZ, ensemble piano AITDJB 2001 - 2007

Becky is best known to AITDJB fans as a pianist, but she is also an extraordinarliy gifted oboist. On that difficult instrument she has successfully auditioned for membership in several WYSO groups and in the WSMA State Honors Project Orchestra. She has also been a member of the Badger Conference Honors Band, and went on an overseas tour with the Wisconsin Ambassadors of Music. As her soloist skills have increased, so has the sensitivity and artistry of her ensemble playing; her woodwind quartet at State S&E in 2005 was as finely balanced as a Swiss watch. She is a dedicated and diligent musician, always willing to put forth even more effort. In 2005, Becky won the John Phillip Sousa Band Award jointly with Autumn Leonard.

Becky has heard all the standard oboe jokes ("How do you get two oboists to play in tune?", etc.), so when you talk to her, please try to come up with something really novel and unexpected to say about oboists. She's sure to appreciate it.

Becky is a founding member of the AITDJB and of the Old Dragons.

Starting in the fall of 2005, Becky migrated to UW-Stevens Point, where she is majoring in music education. Her oboe skills have been further honed there: she is now the principal oboist, by audition, in both the UW-SP Concert Band and the UW-SP Orchestra. She also plays in a quartet, and spends more than 120 hours per week practicing and rehearsing.

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SARA SIEGMANN, ensemble piano and accompanist piano AITDJB 2002 - 2007

Sara is an accomplished pianist, singer, actress, playwright, classicist, and mathematician, to list only a few of her attainments. On stage, she brings freshness and a sustained spontaneity of detail to every performance of every production, with an acting style so natural it appears effortless. She is a responsive and helpful accompanist, always able to provide a floundering singer with just the oomph needed at the moment.

Sara has performed with the AITDJB since 2002, sometimes as ensemle pianist and sometimes accompanying 'twixt-sets material.

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ZACH STASZEWSKI Vocals, AITDJB 2005 - 2007

Zach is a perky chap with a bright eye and a flair for character acting; during his stay at MHS he brought an inimitable style to stage productions there, and he has happily brought that style to the band, as well. we look forward to the inimitable style he's sure to bring with him to upcoming MHS productions. He wrote this about himself in the summer of 2005:

"I have been in a total of 10 dramatic productions including: 4 Playtime Productions (including The Reluctant Dragon, The Princess and the Pea, WWW.OZ, and Ali Baba), 1 Middle School play (Fiddler on the Roof), 1 Pickel play (Robin Hood), and 4 High School productions (Anything Goes, We Found Love..., My Fair Lady, and Arsenic and Old Lace). I'm also in band and choir, and also in Blue Notes Vocal Jazz. I'm involved in Newspaper, Model UN, Ambassadors, Yearbook, Track, and Basketball. I've never won any major awards, but one day I hope to."

Naturally he did - win an award, that is. He was the recipient of the 2007 National Choral Award at MHS.

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SHERRY WEGNER French horn SB 2005 - 2006

We were very happy to welcome Sherry Wegner to the Solstice Brass for the 2005 season. An accomplished hornist, She is a member of the Lake Geneva Community Orchestra, the Lakeshore Symphonic Band, and the Four Chicks with Horns French horn quartet. She also plays a natural (unvalved) horn in the Heritage Musick and Daunce Society, a Revolutionary War band. She joins us from a galaxy far, far away.

Unlike some other musicians in these groups, Sherry comes with her own pencil. Like the others, she also comes with opinions.

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Some of our honored alumni:

JONATHAN ALDEN, Trumpet AITDJB 2001 - 2002, SB 2001

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DANIELLE MEISSEN, French horn and trumpet: SB 2003 - 2004

Danielle is a talented and reliable brass performer: once you chip away at her natural modesty and get her to join your group, she has much to contribute. She was at first reticent to be put forward as a soloist, but since she is also too polite to complain when given solo parts, we are able to use her to good effect. Of all the people in the music groups on this site, Danielle is possibly the easiest to get along with.

Danielle joined the Solstice Brass in 2003, bringing us from a trio to a quartet. Beyond the added richness of a fourth voice, she also considerably improved the appearance of the otherwise somewhat scruffy group.

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NICK SCHLEICHER, Trumpet SB 2002

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STEVE THORSON, tenor sax and clarinet AITDJB 2001 - 2004

Steve is irrepressible. He's also - No; that's the word for it: irrepressible. Or maybe incorrigible. His saxophone is rampant, and he's no slouch on the clarinet, either. A gifted jazz soloist, he is always prepared to take eight bars of chords in a direction no one expects - or sixteen bars, if the next soloist misses a cue. He has been a member of more bands in McFarland and Madison than he admits to.

Steve's sordid past in McFarland includes many musical theater productions, in which he has portrayed a long string of unsavory characters with startling accuracy - his Wolf in Into The Woods seemed too perfect to be quite healthy. In what passes for his real life, Steve is an engineering student at the UW-Madison. Applause helps keep him stable.

Steve is a founding member of the AITDJB, and has the second-largest collection of its sheet music. Possibly, first-largest.

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DAVID WILSON, Trumpet AITDJB 2003

MELISSA WILKOSZS Clarinet WitR 2003 - 2004

Melissa is an intense, excitable clarinet player with inexhaustible wilingness to try things outside her musical reach - with the result that her reach keeps expanding. She was a Musketeer (see Rebecca Funk, above). Melissa is an original member of the Wind in the Reeds trio.

In 2004 Melissa turned to the Dark Side - that is, she became an alto sax player. Her basketball schedule keeps her from playing Christmas music now, but we wish her well with the new horn.

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Scheduling summer rehearsals for even eight people is a bit like juggling live cats: there are always conflicts. To rehearse at full strength each week, we have often been able to find wonderful musicians to sit in with us. Several of these have performed with us at concerts and auditions. It has been a pleasure playing with each of them, and we are very grateful, especially to those who put in the effort of rehearsal but didn't get the glory of public performance. We want to thank:

Jonathan Alden (AITDJB 2001-2002; SB 2001)
Michael Bauer (rehearsals)
Matt Hamilton (rehearsals)
Katie Hepler (2002 concert)
Lars-Erik Larson (rehearsals)
Kathy Leonard (Accompaniment pianist 2002)
Kelsey Livingston (rehearsals)
Tyler Mackey (Sombrero Dude 2004)
Trevor Murray (rehearsals)
Tonya Neumann (2003 Talent Showcase; 2004 church picnic; 2004 Homecoming float; 2004 Talent Showcase)
David Olson (2001 audition)
Nick Schleicher (SB 2002)
Jamie Sercombe (2002 concert)
David Wilson (AITDJB 2003)