Agoura Bands Score Resounding Victories

Music groups at Agoura High School scored impressive victories this year in national and state competitions.

One of its jazz bands won the second-place medal at the prestigious Musicfest U.S.A. competition sponsored by Downbeat magazine. “It’s a fantastic band,” said Jim Walker, one of the judges at Musicfest, which was held this year in Oakland. Walker is leader of the Los Angeles-based jazz group Free Flight and the coordinator of flute studies at USC.

“They have a strong ensemble sound, but several other groups have that,” he continued. “The key ingredient that distinguishes them is the maturity of their soloists, their ability to improvise. It’s a sign of good training.”

Indeed, two of the players in the band were named “Downbeat All-Stars” at the competition. What’s more the Agoura High wind ensemble won a third place at Musicfest and earlier this year the school’s band won first place in both the parade and concert competitions at the Northern California Band Festival in Fairfield.

Because schools in California have been going through a music education crisis in recent years due to cutbacks and shifting priorities, these awards are all the more impressive. But what makes these victories truly extraordinary is that they were all won by groups and individuals at one school.

“I guess it just clicked for us,” said Michael Botsford, principal of Agoura High. “We have a feeder school, Lindero Canyon Middle School, with a great music program sending us students. We have a terrific booster group raising funds. And we could never have this kind of program without John Mosley.”

Mosley, or just plain “Mose,” as the students usually refer to him, is the conductor of all the award-winning groups. He is one of those “Goodbye Mr. Chips” kind of teachers who students practically worship.

“It’s all because of Mr. Mosley,” said Ronnie Young, 18, a saxophone-playing senior, as the young musicians gathered after a rehearsal. Young even moved in with his uncle, who lives in the Agoura area, so that he could go to this school and be in Mosley’s ensembles. “He is the best; he is my model,” said Mike Stone, 20, a graduate of Mosley’s program and now a music major at Cal State Northridge. Occasionally, Stone comes back to assist Mosley, at no pay, with preparations with the band. “I would follow him anywhere.”

Nearby, carved into one of the lockers that line the back of the drab rehearsal room, is the ungrammatical but heartfelt, “Thanks Mose, for we will never be the same without your help.”

When Mosley, who also teaches a course in consumer math, arrived at Agoura High four years ago, the marching band had only 23 members, the wind ensemble and jazz bands each 10. Now, the band has 90 musicians; the wind ensemble, 40. There are two jazz bands with 19 players each and a nine-piece jazz combo.

Mosley does not seem charismatic as he ascends the podium to conduct the wind ensemble. A slightly pudgy man, dressed in a white shirt and dark trousers, Mosley leads the group with calm gestures and an absence of histrionics. When he stops for a correction, he often says nothing. Just a withering look, followed by a smile and a little laugh directed at the offending section seems to get his point across.

“Listen carefully with your ears,” is as harsh as his admonishments get.

But Mosley has fashioned a group that sounds more like college musicians than high school students. Although there are a few ragged entrances and slightly out-of-tune notes during the quiet passages, the overall ensemble sound is solid and impressive as it rehearses a medley from “Phantom of the Opera.”

Taking a break while a student tries his hand at conducting the ensemble, Mosley displays the same easygoing, friendly manner in conversation as he has on the podium. But in no uncertain terms he expresses his beliefs on how a music program should be run. “During most of the school year we play nothing but classical music,” said Mosley, who is in his 30s (he doesn’t want his students to know his exact age). “We play 15 performances a year and I never, never allow them to repeat anything. I want them to play through as much of the challenging repertoire as possible.”

That repertoire includes strategically placed crowd-pleasers, which explains why they are rehearsing the “Phantom of the Opera.”

“This is the finale concert, the one the parents come to,” Mosley said with a little laugh. “We wanted to pick things the parents are familiar with.”

Mosley places primary importance on challenging the students with serious music. “At some schools where I worked, all they cared about was marching band for the football games,” said Mosley, who has degrees from Occidental College and Cal State Los Angeles. He taught at three other high schools before coming to Agoura.

“They would say, ‘Why do you need a wind ensemble? Why do you need a marching band?’ ” Mosley said. “I told them I could give them just a marching band, but that’s not a music program.”

Mosley drills the students in the standard repertoire, whether in classical or jazz, to give them a foundation in music and heighten their interest. “They have their own music at home, rock and Top 40, so they don’t walk in here with an interest in anything serious. In fact, they are predisposed to hate it.

“But if you challenge them with the music, make them into dynamite players, then they have so much pride in what they are doing, they love how they sound. The bands start getting a good reputation all over school and the whole music program starts to take off.”

In the late morning, the school’s most exclusive music outfit, the “A” jazz band, set up to rehearse. Several students hanging around the music room quietly took seats to watch.

With the first few notes, the band’s award-winning form was apparent. The sound was tight and powerful, even though these 19 young musicians were playing contemporary jazz pieces, complete with complex time signatures, solos and improvisations. Students who were watching shook their heads and smiled at the sound.

After rehearsal Mosley went off to teach his math class--a task he obviously takes on with little relish--and along the way talked a bit more about the band of which he is obviously proud. “There are people in schools everywhere who say that music is dying. Well, that’s true if you don’t have support of an administration and don’t rearrange priorities. It can be done, and it’s a lot of fun for everyone.”

The year-end concerts by the jazz bands and combo will be at 7:30 p.m. June 1 at Agoura High School, 28545 W. Driver Ave., Agoura. Admission is $3. For information, call (818) 889-1262.