Trevor Grenier on keyboard, Nick Drown, playing sax, bassist Gabe LaSalle, guitarist Ryan Johnson and Peter Coleman on drums make up the band called Seaside Boulevard. Three of them, Grenier, Drown and Johnson, all Old Orchard Beach High School seniors, are performing in the Maine All-State Jazz Festival. Courtesy Photo

OLD ORCHARD BEACH — People who love music and like to see young people perform will be able to watch that happening in the days following the online Maine Music Educators Association All- State Jazz Festival on Friday, Feb. 5, and Saturday, Feb. 6. The festival, online this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, held its first session on Jan. 29.

Locally, music lovers will be able to see performances by Old Orchard Beach High School seniors Nick Drown, Trevor Grenier, and Ryan Johnson.

Student-musicians earn seats in All-State Jazz Festival bands through an audition process that includes interpreting and improvising over a classic jazz standard and mastering a challenging jazz etude.

Drown will perform in an All-State ensemble for an extremely rare fourth time, said Old Orchard Beach High School Music Director Mark Manduca in a news release. For the second year in a row, Drown will join Maine’s elite high school jazz musicians in the Honors Jazz Combo, playing alto sax. He played lead alto sax in the Honors Jazz Ensemble his freshman and sophomore years. Johnson will play piano in the Honors Jazz Combo. Grenier will sing in the Jazz Choir

Besides playing in the school’s concert, jazz, and marching bands, Johnson, Drown, and Grenier, along with Gabe LaSalle and Peter Coleman, make up Seaside Boulevard, a popular band that plays classic rock covers. As well, Grenier plays dates around southern Maine as the lead singer and keyboardist of Trevor and Company. LaSalle plays drums for The Folding Faces, an indie rock band with original music on Spotify. Violinist Cormac Quinlan, Lasalle, and Drown play in selective youth ensembles at the University of Southern Maine. Besides playing in groups, many of these musicians compose, arrange and record music, Manduca said.

“We all started together in fifth grade on our respective instruments, and all branched off into our own styles that we enjoy and play well in,” said Drown. “It’s been challenging whenever someone suggests a piece in a style I’m not familiar with, but because we all know each other really well – personally and musically — we’ve been able to support and challenge each other as we’ve all gotten better.”

“Growing up with everyone in our group has been pretty cool, as we’ve all improved as musicians and grown as people together,” said Quinlan. “We’ve all grown into our roles and developed to complement each other.”

Old Orchard Beach High School has a long history of launching the careers of young musicians who go on to become band directors, music teachers, composers, concert performers, and studio musicians, said Manduca.

“Old Orchard is a town that has always been heavily invested in its music program,” Manduca explained. “This current group of seniors has been highly motivated all along, and have become outstanding performers and role models for younger players. They have a level of musical maturity not often seen at their age. As a teacher it’s really fun when your students are more like colleagues.”

Unable to rehearse and perform in large ensembles due to COVID-19 restrictions, the musicians work with Manduca at school and through teleconferencing software on small ensemble projects. Manduca also incorporates lessons in music history and digital music production into the mix of musical activities.

“We’re extremely grateful for the quality of education Mr. Manduca and [Loranger Memorial School band director] Mr. [Trevor] Lavenbein have given us,” said Drown.

The pandemic has transformed school-sponsored performance opportunities, but it hasn’t put a stop to the development of these young  musicians.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work on my own, from learning how to navigate recording software and microphones, to working on saxophone with teachers over video call,” said Drown. ” It’s been pretty tough keeping up a practice schedule with nothing to practice for, but I’ve been able to improve a lot over the time I spent at home.”

“During lockdown I focused on recording,” said Johnson.” I made a few impulse Amazon/Reverb purchases and started to practice making recordings of myself playing guitar, bass, drums, keys, and trumpet and mixing them all on my own.”

Johnson plans to attend Berklee School of Music or the University of Southern Maine Music School next year. Drown, who has released an album of original music and been a contributing artist on albums by The Folding Faces and The Garages, plans to hone his music performance and recording skills during a gap year and then attend a music school in or around New York City. LaSalle intends to study music education at the University of Southern Maine. Quinlan plans to attend the University of Southern Maine.

Manduca said that the Maine Music Educators Association and Maine Band Directors Association are currently making plans to host some winter and spring events in virtual formats.

Recordings of the students’ virtual performances will be available on the Maine Music Educators Association YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4vYHBPCrqA89bAJ3QlJW4w  after the festival winds down.