NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)- The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation is looking for middle and high school brass bands to battle in this year’s Brass Got Class competition.
Scott Aiges of the Jazz and Heritage Foundation says, “It’s an attempt to both support music education in the school system and also to promote our cultural traditions.
“One of the things that we’ve learned over the years is that ironically schools in New Orleans all have marching bands with 100 kids or more, and the marching bands are an extraordinary part of our cultural traditions in so far as they are the wellsprings from which the brass band culture comes.
“The schools don’t have brass bands, which is just kind of interesting in a town — maybe the only town in the world where every 14-year-old loves The Rebirth.”
The annual brass band competition awards $30,000 in prize money.
Deadline for entries is March 7, 2016. The competition is March 20th as part of the Congo Square Rhythms Festival.
Click here for qualifying information.