Mr. Arp had a big secret to keep from the jazz band.  On the board he decided to write, “The Day We Made IBA.”

“I’ve been dying to tell the kids,” Arp said, “but I kept my cool until I could tell them all together.”

Arp’s secret was the jazz band was the only high school band in the state to be selected for the Iowa Bandmasters Association Honor Jazz Band.

To get selected jazz bands were required to send recordings to the audition board by January 22 including a chart of their choice. City High’s recording featured Sylvia Dean ’14 on saxophone performing Duke Ellington’s “Sultry Sunset.”

On the morning the secret was revealed members of the jazz band were settling into the morning as they took out their notebooks to make comments on recent recordings.

Tension built as Arp told them not to write the date at the top of the page, but instead wrote it on the chalkboard thinking it would allow them to process this achievement.

“I wanted to make sure I told them a special way, because it’s a really big honor,” Arp said.

Some students in the band were over joyed with the news while others were confused and didn’t understand what the message meant.

The band received the honor of being the only high school jazz band selected out of countless audition tapes and bands from all over the state. South East Junior High was also awarded the honor of being one of two middle school jazz bands selected in auditions.

“You never really know how these things are going to go, but Iowa City will be well represented,” Arp said.

Both bands will perform at the Mariott in Des Moines at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference on May 15.