Band Program

South Whidbey School District offers band as an elective for grades 6-12.  For the serious students, middle school and high school students can audition for the Jazz Bands.  For the high school students, the Jazz Band is a third period elective.  For the middle school students, the jazz band is a zero period, non-credit club.  These middle school students come an hour before school starts for class. 

Questions? Grades 6-12 Band Teacher /Director Chris Harshman - charshman@sw.wednet.edu. 

The bands perform locally in the SWHS/MS auditorium, at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts (WICA), and by invitation.  The bands have participated at the Clark College Jazz Festival (Vancouver, WA),  the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival (University of Idaho), the Kiwanis Vancouver BC Jazz Festival, Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival (New York), Monterey Jazz Festival (California),  Music in the Parks Band Festival,  Bellevue College Jazz Festival, Newport High School Jazz Festival,  the WinterFest at the Seattle Center, the Honor Band and SNOKING events at the Edmonds Performing Arts Center, and many more events throughout the year. 

These off island performances and competitions are supported by the South Whidbey Performing Arts Boosters  (PAB) through their fundraising efforts.  To join or support the PAB, click here or email swsdpab@gmail.com.

The state of Washington recognizes that the arts are an integral part of every student’s educational experience. The 2017 Arts K–12 Learning Standards for Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts provide a framework for effective K–12 arts education by setting out a coherent structure for building students’ knowledge, understanding, and skills, while also encouraging them to explore and express their own creativity. These standards include the National Core Arts Standards, along with additional content developed by K–12 educators in the arts. These educators came together from across the state to participate in the Arts Cadre, which developed “suggestions for students” and “examples” to accompany the standards, thereby providing more specificity and practical ideas for demonstrating the knowledge and skills indicated.

This link connects to the Washington State Learning Standards for the Arts.  These standards are used in a variety of classes and programs throughout the district's K-12 programs.