Turns out the West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival float (photos here) wasn’t the only West Seattle winner in last weekend’s biggest regional parade – Denny International Middle School‘s band brought home awards too. With a month to go in the school year, its director Marcus Pimpleton shares several big updates about not only Denny’s musicians, but also the band members he guides at Chief Sealth International High School:

I just wanted to take a quick second to brag on my amazing middle and high school band students.

The Denny International Middle School Marching Band traveled to Port Townsend to participate in the Rhododendron parade this past Saturday May 15th. The band took first place in the middle school band division which included bands from five different middle schools around Washington State. In addition to taking 1st in the middle school band division, they were also awarded second place in the middle/junior high drill category (which tells me they must’ve scored the drum majors in the drill category). Pictures from the event are available at www.dennymusic.org

On Monday, both the Chief Sealth High School and Denny Bands participated in the Syttende Mai Parade in Ballard. The Chief Sealth Band took third place behind Columbia River High School in Vancouver and the Shorewood High School Marching Band in the band division which consisted of at least 8 bands from around the region including Ballard and Interlake High Schools who have dominated the event in recent years.

Both have big gigs ahead, too – read on for that news, plus word of a big grant:

The director’s report continues:

On Friday, the Chief Sealth High School Band will be performing live at 10:30 am on FM 90.3 KEXP as part of their Hood to Hood contest. . Then on Saturday they will be traveling to Victoria to participate in the Victoria Days festivities including the Monday morning Victoria Day Parade.

The week following, the Denny Middle School Band will be traveling to Vancouver B.C. to participate in the Heritage Music Festival and the Hyack Parade in Westminster B.C.

The Denny band is also celebrating being the beneficiaries of a $45,000 grant from the Clowes Foundation which will be funding private lessons and group instruction for several members of the jazz ensemble. The grant application was a joint enterprise of the Denny Music Department and the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra’s Jazz Scholars Program, which coordinates the lessons at the school.