Recently there has been an uprising in community performance among the SHS student body. With the choirs going around town caroling, and the concerts being held with the bands, music is in the air. However, there is one group that is totally student-owned: The Accidentals. The group was formed in 2022 to perform for the PAFE Gala and the Pend Oreille Winery. However, they did not regroup until the beginning of the 2023 school year.

The group is comprised of Will Clark (drums), Aidan Bates (tenor saxophone), Maddie Mitchell (piano), Keane Haesle (alto saxophone), Noah Darrin (guitar), Evan Brubaker (trombone) and Sophie Capodagli (upright bass). The Accidentals are a jazz combo, a type of chamber music group. Chamber music is music led by the musicians playing rather than one person who is in charge. In a jazz combo musicians are given what is called a “chart.” A chart has the main melody written down in the lines of the staff and then it has chord changes above the melody. The most typical way of playing this would be one player playing the melody with the rhythm section (drums, piano, bass, and guitar) playing the chord changes underneath the melody. Then the other members in the group would play over the same chord changes soloing, creating different variations of the melody or something completely different. Then to end the song it would go back to the main melody being played over the changes to the eventual end. However, this is just one of many ways that this music can be played. It is all up to interpretation. The group uses charts, and standard improvisation forms to create music, both for the pleasure of playing for themselves and the community.

The Accidentals have played at the parent-teacher conferences at SHS, and the East Bonner County Library and are setting up gigs for the future including the Festival of Hearts for the Boundary Community Hospital. Many community members have made comments on how the music in the community adds more life to mundane areas. So keep a lookout for the Accidentals!