Historic tours, public performances and alligators were all on the itinerary as Hutchinson High School band and choir students took a recent trip into the heart of American jazz and blues.
The weeklong trip took the students, their teachers and chaperones to Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The programs take a similar trip every three years with grades 10 through 12.
“It’s to do some performing outside of the Hutchinson area, kind of like an ambassadors for Hutchinson kind of thing,” said band director Kevin Kleindl. “We also learned about the music history of a different region.”
Students performed for professors at the University of Memphis as part of a clinic experience. They also visited music venues on Beale Street, a place famous for its blues music.
In New Orleans, the band played in front of the historic Steamboat Natchez for people visiting the city’s French Quarter by the river. The choir performed outside the National World War II Museum. There was also more time for tourism, including a visit to Jackson Square. On one tour, students learned how the city buries the dead above ground due to the water level.
“It was a very interesting history lesson,” Kleindl said.
