While most students have enough on their plates with school, sports and other extracurriculars, Park freshman Alex Peterson takes his extracurricular musical passions above and beyond what most others do.

According to Peterson, a trumpet player, he and senior bass player Owen Shoger played with a high school ensemble called the North Metro Honor Jazz band from mid-March to mid-May. The group performed at Famous Dave’s on May 19.

Peterson said he feels the group was a nice way to be able to make music with a variety of high schoolers.

“People came from all over the Twin Cities to be a part of it, especially Spring Lake Park, where our group practices were,” Peterson said. “It was nice to be around a lot of people who like jazz and were willing to put forth a lot of effort (in playing).”

To be successful in the group, players had to practice the music independently, which was important for preparing the group for the concert, Peterson said.

“We had two hours of rehearsal as a group every week, but the music was tough so you needed to work on it on your own,” Peterson said. “Our concert went pretty well because people had put in a lot of time with the music.”

Overall, Peterson said he enjoyed the experience and looks forward to similar opportunities in the future.

“This was the first time I had done something like this (outside of school) and I plan to try to do this sort of thing again because I enjoyed this and I really like playing jazz.”

While the Honor Band is done playing for this year, students with interest in involvement with the group can try out for the North Metro Honor Jazz Band next year by submitting an audition tape.