Pianist entertains academically too

pianoman042: Pianist entertains academically tooHighland High School senior Jason Batten apparently does not know the meaning of “enough is enough.” Batten will compete all day with the Highland team during the Feb. 7 Kern County Academic Decathlon at Bakersfield College. Then, when it is all over, he will get on stage, seat himself at the piano and entertain students, parents, educators and other guests during the awards ceremony.

Batten earned the honor of entertaining by winning the Academic Decathlon’s “Super Talent” category. For six minutes, Batten’s concentration will have to be as razor sharp as his mind the day of the Decathlon. He will be playing Chopin’s “Fantasie Impromptu,” a piece that requires his right hand to play rhythm in sets of four, while his left hand is producing rhythm in sets of threes.

Those on the selection committee who picked Batten know he can handle it because they witnessed his near flawless performance of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” as a guest soloist with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra at the Academic Decathlon Concert, on October 29. The concert prepares students for the music portion of the Decathlon through lecture and live performances of works listed in their study guides. Batten said “Rhapsody in Blue” is a much tougher piece to play.

Pat Rice, chairperson of the selection committee, was at that performance. “That is a difficult piece to play but describing his performance is easy,” said Rice. “It was spectacular. He is a gifted musician.”

“Tough” doesn’t really seem to be a word in Batten’s vocabulary. He talks calmly about a “two-week cramming session,” that will see him preparing for the Decathlon and awards concert on Feb. 7. But that is not the beginning. He is already rehearsing to play trombone in the orchestra for the Kern County high schools’ honor music festival known as “It’s a Grand Night for Music” on Jan. 27. And the week after Decathlon, Batten will be competing in the county Science Bowl for his Highland team.

“If ever there was a student who can handle it, it’s Jason,” said Highland’s Decathlon teacher/coach John Ball, who also coaches the Science Bowl team. “We had a practice Science Bowl match at Arvin High not long ago. There were four teams, and he was the highest scorer of all the competitors. He is also a great orator, and we are counting on him to gain some big points for us in that Decathlon category.”

In fact, the speech portion of Decathlon was held on Jan. 22. All students had to prepare a speech based on the national Decathlon theme, “The Lewis and Clark Expedition.” Batten applied the ideas of famed philosopher/writer Ayn Rand to the expedition.

“She believes anytime something great happens it is the result of one person, not an organized movement,” Batten said. “Other places in the world might have regarded Lewis and Clark as heretics for having ideas contrary to the popular feelings of the day. The reason the United States is so successful is because we are not afraid to let someone try something new.”

Batten could well be the poster spokesperson for keeping music in schools. If it weren’t for public schools, he admits he might not be playing an instrument today.

“I had never heard a concert until I heard the Chipman Junior High band play on my seventh grade orientation day,” Batten said. “I said to myself, ‘that is the best school band I have ever heard.’ It gave me an interest in the piano. I credit all my interest in music to Chipman, where I started out playing the euphonium, moved up to trombone and then the piano.”
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