Unlike the Penn State football team, which battles other major state universities on the field, this weekend will see a union of schools on more friendly terrain: the stage.

Penn State's premier jazz band, Centre Dimensions, will host the Towson University Jazz Band, a group from the state-associated Maryland school outside Baltimore, at 8 p.m. Saturday.

The concert will be the culmination of the Penn State Jazz Festival, which has scheduled events throughout the weekend featuring students from middle school to college, as well as professionals and professors.

Before accompanying Centre Dimensions and the Towson band Saturday, three guest players will also perform in a featured concert on Friday, in addition to teaching masterclasses throughout the weekend.

Caleb Rebarchak (junior-music education) organized the festival, which will include five collegiate jazz bands. Three are from Penn State -- Inner, Outer and Centre Dimensions -- in addition to the band from Towson and another from Seton Hill University.

Rebarchak said all the bands contribute to a weekend full of high-quality jazz music without any admission cost.

"It's a great opportunity for students and people in the community to hear great music for free," he said.

Rebarchak, vice president of the Penn State chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators, said this is his second year organizing the festival with the help of Penn State School of Music professor Dan Yoder, director of the jazz studies program.

"He's kind of the final say in what happens, so there's a lot of collaborating that goes on back and forth," Rebarchak said.

Yoder said this is the first time in the festival's eight-year history that another college has been invited to perform, adding that the visiting colleges will allow for a wide range of performances.

"My goal is to have the whole spectrum," he said.

Rebarchak and Yoder decided to invite the Towson University Jazz Band after Jim McFalls, the group's director, was a guest player last year.

"The students at the university and the music students I dealt with were great," McFalls said. "It was a great experience."

This year, McFalls will direct his 20-member jazz band alongside Centre Dimensions in the weekend's last show.

Rebarchak said each band will perform about six pieces in a similar big band style.

"It gives us a chance to see what's happening at other schools as far as jazz goes," he said. "For no cost, you can hear two top-quality jazz bands in one concert."

Before the two universities take the stage together, each of the six high school bands will perform 20-minute sets in Esber Recital Hall and will be informally judged by the guest musicians.

Richard Victor, director of the State College Area High School Jazz Band, said although the festival is not a formal competition, the students will receive constructive remarks while still onstage from the professional performers.

"What makes it really valuable is that the students have the chance to have someone besides me tell them how to make jazz better," he said. "That's where the real education happens."

The three featured guest clinicians, pianist Steve Rudolph, bassist Tom Baldwin and saxophonist Walt Weiskopf, will teach three masterclasses throughout the day on Friday.

Friday night, Rudolph, Baldwin and Weiskopf will perform an "All-Star Combo Concert."

"They're all excellent musicians," Rebarchak said. "We're very lucky that they're all coming in to perform at this festival."

Rebarchak encourages students participating in the festival, other Penn State students and community members alike to enjoy the entire weekend of jazz.

"It's always encouraging when everyone can hear each other," he said. "Just take advantage of everything that's being offered with this festival."