Personal Narrative: My First Jazz Concert

I attended the University of Indianapolis Jazz Ensemble on Wednesday, October 11, 2017. The concert was located in the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall at 7:30p.m. The band played a total of eight different songs, varying in the types of jazz. I perceived the overall mood of the whole concert as energizing, powerful, and uplifting. I was also able to apply much of the knowledge that I learned in class to the event.

On the day of the Talent Show I had back in Philadelphia, I was preparing to perform a show for the audience with a couple of classmates. I couldn’t make as many friends as I could in Puerto Rico because I forgot how the culture is in Philadelphia for over three years. I was alone, the rest of my family and friends were in Puerto Rico and I only had my Grandmother and Uncle as company. So, as I nervously walked on the stage standing in front of the whole school, I wanted to back out but I promised my classmate that I would perform with him because he needed someone that could sing. So I began to sing the lyrics of a song called “Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars” and my so called band began to play their own instruments to synchronize with the music.

The genre of jazz is one of rich history and also one that is eternally changing. With its roots in African culture and its evolution mainly in the United States, it is quite obvious that the musicians involved in the growth of this music experienced great racial barriers. From its origins in the plantations of the South during times of slavery to its current state as a popular form of music, jazz has been an important tool in the battle against black prejudice. Due to its exposure to white audiences and musicians throughout its history, its use as a weapon against Jim Crow, and its relation to the black power movement of the 1960s, jazz has helped combat racism against blacks in the United States.

One Monday night, Oliver sat up in bed reflecting over his first day of ballet class. Why is it so funny to be a boy ballet dancer? Why did the girls make fun of me? Oliver remembered the mean things the girls said to him. “Boys are bad at ballet” “Why don’t you go play baseball or football like all the other boys?” Poor Oliver thought everyone hated him. That was until he met Hazel.

It Began on a cold fall morning, Brittyn Sanders walked into class, late as usual, with a welcoming smile on her face. “Sorry I am late Amber, I brought you a bagel,” she said quickly. Brittyn is a short, dark-haired, big brown eyed girl. On the morning of the interview, she was dressed in Nike tights, a book bag that seemed to be larger than she was, and a black jacket that smelled like pumpkin spice perfume. She took a seat and explained why she was not punctual to class this morning while taking her seat. It seemed as if she was the typical college cheerleader, partying all night long with a preppy attitude, but that perception was wrong; she is actually down to earth and talented at a variety of things, other than cheer.

I have never had any sort of chance to see an orchestra or symphony play until Saturday February 6th, 2016 when I went to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and I have to say it was quite the experience. During this event, Krzysztof Urbanski conducted Music from 2001: A Space Odyssey which was a 1968 film which was popularly known for its use of classical music.

I never came to this venue for the music before, usually just for the food or conversation. Okay let’s be honest here, mainly for the food. But on Friday nights, Seven44 has jazz night and I thought to myself, why not? Worst comes to worse, I get a great meal out of it.

It was just before our winter concert of 2017, and I had my first jazz band solo ever being performed in front of my classmates, community, and family. It was in the song “The Little Drummer Boy” and I had been working for weeks trying to get this solo perfect. Everyday I would come home and work for at least an hour on it to get it perfect, but it just wasn’t happening. Eventually, the day before the concert I still didn’t have the solo perfect, so I practiced for about three hours and it had only gotten a little bit better. The day of the concert happened and I practiced the solo for two hours straight the morning of the afternoon concert. I hadn’t even thought about wearing my face out and not being able to play the solo. By now, the concert

Picture a casual day in the life of an ordinary girl: going to school in the mornings and performing her chores during the evenings. Now, reorient this to a day where she lacks of time to balance homework and sleep as pulling all-nighters is a quotidian activity where the exclusive task is to execute all her responsibilities. This vigorous alteration portrays how my life has changed in the preceding years. Antecedently, I was able to attend Orland Ballet's Summer Intensive. Challenging my daily living, I was chosen to dance with Ballet Concierto's professional dance company. Subsequent years later, I am able to face the challenges to come.

On Tuesday, June 27, I attended a jazz session at the Clarion's "Jazz in June" concerts. This being my first jazz performance I attended, I didn't know what to expect. What style of jazz would they play? Would it be a large or small ensemble? Was it formal or casual? These thoughts coursed through my head as a contemplated the concert. But all these questions were answered upon entry. The environment was very informal, with the concert actually taking place in the foyer. But this wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it felt more comfortable and relaxed, as a jazz session should. As for the size of the ensemble, the band was a trio, consisting of a guitarist, drummer, and bassist. The entire night was an homage to jazz guitarists. This was a special

After listening to segment five of prx.org the nerve Music identity, I learned that no one person listens to music the same way. Individually, infants, they are so brilliant; according to the video story “infants by twelve months of age show a bias shaping of how they hear things” (prx). Furthermore, infants select differences in a rhythm that adults cannot. The rationale is adults lose flexibility as they age. What is interesting is adults may have the potential to select differences in rhythm like infants. However, infants listen better than adults. Therefore, they can absorb more variations in rhythm. Thus, active listening remains a critical component to memory and retention of data encoded and stored in the hippocampus.

For my first arts experience I chose to attend the Marian University Department of Music Faculty Recital. This production took place on January 24th at 4 pm in the Bishop Chartrand Chapel in Marian Hall. There were 6 performers with the help of Maureen Walton as the accompanist. There were some songs that stood out more than some such as the first piece called Poem.

Aly and I have known each other since move in day of our freshman year at Bentley University, so just over two years. We have done similar activities and both active members in the theater organization on campus. This semester we are living together and have a comfortable relationship. Aly and I have also gone to concerts together and intend on going to more together. The conversation we had was on our shared taste of music and how artists relate and contrast from one another on various aspects.

Every time that the town of -------- is mentioned, my thoughts trail off to my dance recital in the year of 2010. Back then, I was a dancer at a studio called Dance Mania. My closest friend at the time, --------, and I were the only students enrolled in that class. We beamed about the recital since day one. We pondered over who would be in the audience and how we would receive this immense trophy with our names in cursive engraved on a gold strip across the bottom. I have to tell you, the costume had everything a girl in the second grade could ask for: a fluffy pink skirt lined with black sequins, all accompanied by a pink neck tie and a long sleeved shirt attached to the skirt. Just a couple weeks after the costumes were distributed, we got our pictures taken; when both of my arms were used to emphasize strong emotion to form a statuesque obtuse angle in the

York City memories in my heart, I joined the rest of the cast and reveled