by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
St. John’s Prep sophomore Caitlin Skahen was recently selected as a member of the Minnesota Band Directors’ Association’s State Jazz Honor Band.
Skahen will participate in the Jazz Honor Band at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Music she will play includes Chiapas, The Jazz Police, Point Counterpoint, Armando’s Rumba and A Upa Nèghuino.
“Being in the honor band is a huge accomplishment for me, especially since I received the audition music about a week before auditions closed,” she said. “I think that as a musician, jazz is one of the most demanding styles to play. It takes so much emotion and you have to be constantly paying attention to how your sound is making you feel.”
Skahen plays the trumpet in the St. John’s Prep Jazz Band. Other musical instruments she plays include the guitar, piano, French horn, cello and ukulele.
She has been playing the trumpet since 2011 and said she chose to play trumpet for the jazz band mostly because it was the only instrument she felt she could play well that was a part of a jazz band.
Skahen said she began playing with her elementary school’s jazz band and grew from there, eventually falling in love with the music and developing an understanding for what it actually is.
One of her favorite pieces of jazz music is Stardust by Ella Fitzgerald.
Skahen has been practicing with the other students selected for the honor jazz band. In a news release, she said “Everyone knows their parts and already has them perfected when they walk into practice.” She said the other ninth- and 10th-grade students perform at a professional level.
Jeff Engholm, St. John’s Prep jazz band director, said in the news release that Skahen “has an ease with music that speaks of a real talent. An inborn ability to hear and feel the music like a true musician.”
He added that she is also a very talented singer.
Skahen said she enjoys playing jazz because it offers more freedom than playing other types of music. She finds it easier to express herself through jazz and enjoys listening to it compared to other types of music.
Skahen, who was previously accepted into the Honor “Concert” Band two years ago, auditioned for the Honor Jazz Band under SJP jazz band director Engholm’s direction.
Skahen’s favorite subject at school is music.
Besides being active in jazz band, orchestra, band and choir, Skahen plays on the varsity soccer team and will perform in the St. John’s Prep Theater’s performance of Godspell in March at the Paramount Center for the Arts in St. Cloud.
After graduating from St. John’s Prep, Skahen said she would like to go to a good music school and later travel and perform as much as possible.
“I would love to live in a city like New York, just because of the amount of opportunities there,” she said.
Skahen is the daughter of Jennifer and Sean Skahen of St. Joseph. She has one sister, Brenna; and three brothers – Jack, Tom and Brady.
The Skahens own Sunset Manufacturing, a sheet metal-fabrication company in St. Joseph. The company manufactures many dairy-industry products.
“We are extremely proud of Caitlin for receiving this honor, and we greatly admire her ability and desire to explore all things musical,” her mother Jennifer said.
Caitlin Skahen performs at the Wirth Center’s School of Rock at the Paramount Center for the Arts last summer. Skahen was recently selected as a member of the Minnesota Band Directors’ Association’s State Jazz Honor Band.
St. John’s Prep School sophomore Caitlin Skahen was recently selected as a member of the Minnesota Band Directors’ Association’s State Jazz Honor Band. She will participate in the Jazz Honor Band at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
