Personal Narrative: Next Generation Jazz Festival

On Tuesday February 8th, thirteen high school band members represented our school at the Trailways South Conference Honors Band. It was held at Edgerton Performing Arts Center. The students who participated were Brett Miller, Josh Kupsche, Sierra Wirth, Chris Yezzi, Madison Graf, Tori Nizzi, Madeline Wenzel, Megan Karczewski, Noah Argus, Katie Woodward, Allison Reichert, Summer Manzke, and Arianna Wichman. The students rehearsed all day as a full band with Rick Kirby and performed later that night. It was a day filled with great music, collaborating, and lots of fun. The student performed four songs, “Three Colonial Moments”, “The Willows of the Winter,” “Call of The Wild,” and ‘Crown Imperial March.” The director of the honors band was

My life would be incomplete without performing music. I’ve spent time, in concert bands, in bell choirs, in school and church choirs, and singing, playing in music festivals, and in pit bands trying not to laugh my head off at the actors’ improvisations. But the art that truly speaks to my soul does not lie in creating music, it lies in dancing to it.

George Helmholtz, as the head of the music department at Lincoln High School, is very determined with his regular students and the gifted musicians of the band. Each semester and year at school he dreams of “leading as fine a band as there was on

The Solo&Ensemble event was new for me this year but I was glad to participate. The first step was to choose a song. I chose ‘‘He’s Gone Away‘‘ (American Folk song) arranged by Ruth Elaine Schram because it sounds so nice and it seemed to me that it perfectly works with my type of voice and my abillities. And my partner Amy can sing basically anything so we were all set very quickly.

I attended the Baylor University Concert Jazz Ensemble directed by Alex Parker on Tuesday, November 10th. This ensemble consisted of saxes, trombones, trumpets, drums, a piano, and bass. The concert showcased many individual talents by including solo’s or duet’s in every song. The program consisted of seven songs with no intermission. The pieces I selected were “Big Dipper” by Thad Jones and “Undecided” by Frank Mantooth.

On Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 7:00p.m. in the school auditorium, the Cypress Lake High School Center for the Arts’ vocal department held their annual vocal cabaret, which involved the audience, a few lights, and a good amount of inspired singers/musicians. Mr. Gary Stroh, head of the vocal department, let the students take over when it came to performing. He allowed his students to introduce acts, play their own instruments, and run the concessions outside of the performance area. The

On April 11th, 2017 in the Louis Armstrong Theatre, I attended the GVSU “University Band”. This up-beat ensemble lasted about 90 minutes; the talented students of GVSU’s university band joined together to perform multiple different songs ranging from a Waltz to a Dixieland Jamboree. All of the songs that the band played for the audience were all well-known, popular songs that they all enjoyed. Having the opportunity to attend this concert has opened new musical paths for myself and has allowed me to enjoy and kindly critique something that I perhaps would have never had the chance to otherwise.

On May 13, 2016, the Vocal Jazz Ensembles at Sacramento State University had their one of the last concerts before the semester ended, which was directed by our professor Gaw Vang Williams. This concert was performed by four groups and different solo, which was completely different experience from the first two concerts that I attended at Sac State. In this Vocal Jazz concert, there was packed and a lot of audiences who were friends, family and students come to support and enjoy before this semester ended. Overall, this was a good show and I found that Vocal Jazz was much more fun and enjoyable than the first two. In this concert, I enjoyed every pieces of performance and there were three pieces that caught my attention, which were “Hold On”,

Standing backstage, mentally going through every measure of music for our performance, me and the other percussionists representing Prosper were about to play our three ensembles that we prepared for the North Texas Percussion Festival. With the group before us finishing their last song, we were all mentally preparing to show the judges the best of what we had spent hours practicing for after school and late into the night. Before we went on stage to set up everything, I thought of where I was just three years ago, not knowing how to properly hold mallets or work well with a group of people.

On October 7th, I got a chance to observe Chris Watson’s middle school ensemble. This ensemble was made up of five percussion players and a trumpet player. This was his first year with this school. The year previous that class was basically a percussion class. He was telling me that he had to change a lot in this first year. It was great opportunity to observe this school because it was an experience I will not forget.

The hardest part of the whole experience was looking for parking at the venue. It already being nighttime and the venue parking being 25 dollars we decided to look for cheaper alternatives. We wasted about 45 minutes after we made it to the location looking for free parking. However, with perseverance and luck, we found a spot in a not so good-looking area but we took our chances.

My stomach ached with excitement. My hand clenched so tight my knuckles turned white. I felt as if my heart is about to burst with glitter and happiness. This is the moment I had been waiting for ever since I joined in the band. We were sitting and chatting so loud I couldn’t hear what my classmates said right next to me. I looked out the window with a big smile plastered across my face. I couldn’t stop smiling.

I just got done with hockey practice and boy was I dehydrated. It felt like I was in a desert for an hour jogging non stop. Usually I don’t fill up my water bottle at practice but I sure doubted it. I put my gear in the car and hopped in the backseat, exhausted as a person that just got done with a sprinting workout for a hour. My dad told me that my assistant coach signed us up for a little game at the Xcel Energy Center and I didn’t even know what he said because I was focusing too much on getting a drink, but he said it again and I realized that this time it was actually true.

I wish that Jason could sing with me but there was no argument when Echo told me the song only required one set of vocals. After getting lost in my worried thoughts for a minute, my mind went back to reality when the lights dimmed and the crowd got quiet. My heart raced and it took all my strength to stand still and hold back tears. "Now everyone, this is our last entry for the competition but I've heard great things from this group and am sure they will impress you. Now playing the song (song name here) is (school name here) Middle School's Junior Music Group!" The announcer said in an excited voice. My stomach sank when he basically told the crowd to have high expectations but I knew I couldn't chicken out now. The curtains started to separate and bright lights started to blind me from the large crowd, which was good in this case. I knew now that I was facing the biggest challenge of my life and that if I failed to complete this challenge, my dreams of a musician would collapse, so I didn't take this lightly. I adjusted my posture one more time and with trembling hands I signaled Tori to begin her

The jazz band performance was phenomenal! The jazz band consisted of saxophones, trumpets, tubas, pianos, guitars, basses, and percussions. The band had the audience enthused by their solo performances and their musical style. Each of the band’s performance had me inspired by the meaning and idea of the story, memorable features, and more.