Halfway through conducting the Summit Winds ensemble performance at the state championships on May 13, Summit High School music director Dan Judd began to smile.

The student band had neared the end of the first of three pieces of music they would perform for the audience and three judges, and they were nailing it.

“There is no feeling like it,” Judd said of the performance that clinched the win in the Oregon State Activities Association 5A Band Division. “When all the pieces come together, when the kids have developed a passion for the music and they’re exuding that love… there’s a euphoria you feel.”

The significance of Judd’s mid-performance grin was not lost on his musicians.

“(Judd’s smile) was an indication we were all in the zone,” recalled Michael Cook, a senior saxophone player and band president who sometimes conducts in Judd’s absence. “All the tension was gone; there was nothing holding us back from playing at our highest potential. We were all there making beautiful music.”

A powerhouse program

Summit High School is home to numerous programs that consistently podium — if not win — at state championships. Exemplary of such dominion is the Summit Winds ensemble — which is the school band’s varsity-like team — clinching its fifth state championship in six years.

Judd, who has directed Summit’s music program since 2006, welcomed these laurels offhandedly. After all, he said, his focus has always been, first and foremost, on making the music as wonderful as possible.

“We’re not trophy-conscious, we’re music-conscious,” Judd said.

While the number varies, this year the Summit Winds comprises 42 student musicians. Wind instruments — such as flutes, tubas and trumpets — feature prominently, a six-person percussion section and a sole upright bass player anchor the band’s sound.

The winning musical performance lasted 20 minutes and consisted of three musical movements: The brooding “Tanczi-Three Russian Dances,” by Jan Van der Roost; the opulent “Salvation Is Created” by Tschesnokoff; and the brassy “Sevens” by Sam Hazo that Judd said made the group sound like a “big ol’ jazz band.” (You can view the performance in its entirety at http://bit.ly/1U0i7l9.)

A contest halved

The state band championships happens in two parts. The first is the aforementioned stage performance, where three judges assign a score according to a 100-point scale. Afterward, each of the competing bands — there were 11 this year — are ushered to a room backstage where they perform a sight-reading evaluation with a piece of music revealed to them on the spot. This component allows judges to evaluate how quick a band is on its feet. In the stage performance, the Summit Winds scored 271 points, tying with Redmond’s Ridgeview High School; it was the sight-reading where the Summit Winds nosed ahead, scoring 57 of 60 possible points, which beat Ridgeview by three points at 328-325.

Zeta Gesme, a senior percussion player who also placed fifth in the solo cello competition and is Central Oregon Symphony music director Michael Gesme’s daughter, said the championship performances felt really good — but music is not about competition.

“It’s hard to objectively judge music; it’s not like a sport where you count how many times you get a ball in a hoop,” she said. “It’s about touching the audience.”

Despite the close victory, Judd is adamant his program’s devotion to excellence doesn’t preclude an inter-school goodwill. This lack of cut-throat competitiveness is something Judd said may be unique to the music world, and was evident when students and instructors from the two schools congratulated each other and mugged for group photos. Many knew each other from the year before, when Summit and Ridgeview finished one-two, respectively. Judd said he values the warm mutual respect he shares with Ridgeview’s music program.

Band director Dave Sime, echoed the sentiment. After all, he knows the hard work that goes into high achievement. In the first two years since Ridgeview opened as a 4A school in 2012, Sime led his band to first and second place state finishes; in 2015, when Ridgeview competed in the 5A classification, not only did they find themselves playing the same venues as Summit, but they shared the state podium with them.

After Summit’s stage performance this year, Ridgeview students and faculty gave them a standing ovation. “We love what they do and we love how they play,” Sime said, noting how Summit returned the gesture after Ridgeview’s performance.

“That mutual respect is kind of rare,” said Sime, who is retiring this month after a 30-year career teaching music.

Changing of the guard

After the Summit Winds plays the school’s graduation ceremony, Judd will look to the most-improved players — who round out the school’s concert band (akin to the band’s junior varsity) — to audition for the 16 seats being vacated by graduating seniors. Gesme, 18, has played in the Summit Winds since her freshman year; she has experienced the thrill of winning the state championships three times. The Summit Winds have won state every year since 2011 except in 2014, when they placed fourth. In the fall, Gesme will attend the University of British Columbia where she will study cello performance and economics. She said she wants to play music her whole life, but she doesn’t wish to pursue music professionally because she doesn’t want to taint her enjoyment of it.

Cook, also 18, will attend the University of Puget Sound where he has received music scholarships. When asked about Judd, his mentor, Cook shot up in his seat.

“That man right there is a legend,” he said, pointing across the band room. “With him, we can do things we could never do. He helps us to be better people, to better our work ethics. Everyone in the band will tell you he’s an excellent and amazing man.”

Judd, 63, said he, like the teachers who once inspired him, is sparse with praise. “I’ve found with kids, when you set the standard high, they’re more than capable of meeting it,” he said. “They learn there is a special joy that comes with that hard work and in achieving high goals.”

This attitude permeates the program; a lot of the expectations are now set by the students themselves, he said. Judd enjoys hearing from graduates down the road. It gratifies him when they keep music in their lives, regardless of their professional pursuits. That said, Judd does not talk students out of careers in music.

“I chuckle and tell them an old geezer like me can’t do this forever; there’s got to be another crop of folks coming along,” he said with a laugh. “It’s been a wonderful career for me. Working with kids and watching their musical interest grow is a terrific way to spend a day, a life, a career.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7816, pmadsen@bendbulletin.com