The Newtown Middle School Jazz Band ventured to the University of New Hampshire, Durham, to attend the Clark Terry Jazz Festival near the start of March, and the group shared some of its experiences on March 26 during a rehearsal after school.

The NMS Jazz Band performed at the festival on March 10. This year there are 17 members of the band and more of the students attended.

"We won an honorable mention award," said Jazz Band Director Mark Mahoney.

The students all generally indicated they had fun attending the festival.

"We played really well and we had a lot of fun," said eighth grader Ethan McGinnis.

Despite the Jazz Band members being nervous, the band performed well, said fellow eighth grader Evan Keckley.

Eighth grader Nate Hoffert said the band "had a very big improvement from last year."

"We used our many skills, especially with our conductor Mr Mahoney, who helped us a lot this year," said Nate. He added later that Mr Mahoney used recordings from the band last year to help the students understand what they could improve on this year.

Mr Mahoney said the Clark Terry Jazz Festival honorable mention has been put on display on the wall in the band room at NMS.