The largest private music school in Utah is about to grow even larger, but its name will shrink.

Crescent School of Music's new name will be The Music School, although the jazz part of its program will retain the Crescent name, said Caleb Chapman, the school's founder and executive director.

Crescent will take its new name and move into a larger building on Sept. 1.

"For the last two years we've been completely maxed out spacewise," Chapman said. "We're ready to expand into a bigger building."

The school will move just one block east and one block south of its present 4,000-square-foot building to a 12,000-square-foot building. Both are in American Fork.

With new recording studios and new equipment including Macintosh computers and Pro Tools software, the facility will provide for two new performance venues. One of them is specifically for classical music, and the other is for bands to play in. Each one will be able to seat 200 people.

"Other than the shell of the building, it's pretty much a brand-new building," Chapman said. "We're completely gutting the inside of the building, and everything will be rebuilt from scratch."

Besides being the largest private music school in Utah, Crescent is one of the 10 largest private music schools in the country, Chapman said. It has received wide recognition, especially for its jazz program.

The Crescent Super Band, the school's star high school jazz band, is leaving June 25 to play in New York and across Europe. Its grueling schedule involves 12 concerts in two weeks.

It will be the headlining act at Wynton Marsalis's Jazz Club in New York City, a club where professional musicians perform. It is very rare for a high school group to be invited to that club, Chapman said.

In Europe, the band will make a stop in the Netherlands to play in the North Sea Jazz Festival. The Crescent Super Band was one of three bands from around the world invited to play at the festival, Chapman said.

But the some 60 Crescent instructors teach all kinds of music, not just jazz. Quite a few of them have performed with orchestras, Chapman said, adding that others have recorded and toured with rock bands.

The school serves about 700 students at its American Fork campus, and another 300 at its Sandy campus. Students from all over Utah County study music at Crescent.

Chandler Copeland, a recent graduate of Timpanogos High, is from Orem and plays trumpet in a jazz ensemble at Crescent. He gives trumpet lessons to younger kids.

"Crescent school is a must for any player who wants to get better," Copeland said. "The fact that you have so many great players inside of your ensemble just inspires you to get better."

Ellen Magleby just graduated from American Fork High School and is going to study music education at BYU. She plays the tenor saxophone, and said she liked the professional musicians Crescent brought in to play and talk with the students.

"Mainly, it has shown me what I can do," Magleby said. "You play your horn, and most people just quit after high school. But there is a whole world out there of musicians and of music, and it's a real industry."

Clayton Edgerton plays the alto saxophone and will be a sophomore in the fall at Lehi High School. He said he likes taking lessons at Crescent because it's different than school band.

"It was mostly classical stuff (in band)," Edgerton said. "It wasn't as challenging as lessons."

Suzie Lind plays the trumpet at Crescent and will be a sophomore at Lone Peak High School in the fall. She said Crescent helps her improve.

"If I was just in a school band," Lind said, "I wouldn't learn half the stuff that I know now."

Pleasant Grove native Rebecca McCoy plays the alto saxophone at Crescent and will be a sophomore next year at Timpanogos High. She said she likes Crescent because of the variety of music she gets to play there.

"When you play at Crescent, it's different every time and you get to meet new people," McCoy said.

This story appeared in North County on page A4.