Torrance, CA (February 20, 2017): Bishop Montgomery seniors Kenneth Dixon ’17 (photo left) and Jeremiah Deomano ’17 (photo right) have been selected for El Camino College’s Jazz Band, an honor rarely bestowed on high school students. According to BMHS Music Director Eric Hankey, acceptance into the 16-member band is quite feat for a student of any age. “It is very rare for high school students to audition, let alone be selected for this band,” said Hankey. “The fact that we have two seniors who auditioned and have been selected is really impressive.”
Dixon, who plays the alto and tenor saxophone, looks forward to weekly practices at El Camino College with his new bandmates. The Monday evening practices will be in addition to his BMHS band practice, and his weekend practices and performances with Jazz America at the Musicians’ Union in Hollywood. Dixon started playing the sax during his freshmen year at Bishop Montgomery under Hankey’s guidance and has “practiced in the course of his high school career to be able to be ready for an audition [with the El Camino jazz band],” notes Hankey. The saxophonist looks forward to enrolling at El Camino in the fall and continuing with the jazz band. “I want to spend a few years at El Camino to get my GE’s out of the way, and then transfer to a four-year university with a strong engineering program,” explains Dixon. “I want to, someday, be an engineer with music as a hobby.”
Unlike Dixon, Deomano looks forward to studying music in college and pursuing a career in the industry after graduation. “I’m planning on going to a school like SDSU after Bishop, and then transferring to a larger music school, like UCLA or CSUN, after a few years... to transfer into one of their music programs." Deomano started playing the drums when he was 12 years old and a middle school student at St. Catherine Laboure School in Torrance. A combination of private lessons, membership in Bishop Montgomery’s band, and guidance through the Bill Green Mentorship program in Hollywood has helped him hone is craft. Like Dixon, Deomano spends most weekends in Hollywood learning from industry professionals, alongside other Southern California music students like himself.
Dixon and Deomano are not the only students to have seen success stem from Bishop Montgomery’s robust music program. BMHS alumnus Daniel Muncherian ’15 is currently studying Music Composition and Production at USC’s Thornton School of Music, and Rachel Quast ’14 and James Marquez ’13 are members of elite college marching bands. Quast marches in the University of Notre Dame’s Band of the Fighting Irish; Marquez marches in Westwood as a member of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band.