Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
Ouch!
I just went to a middle school concert. My daughter is in the chorus, and they did ok, but I have to say I was really quite impressed with the small "jazz band," particularly their rendition of "Jammin' with Charlie" as arranged by Sorenson/Pearson (evidently a staple of middle school jazz bands, to judge by the google search results). No fewer than five instrumental solos, each with plenty of personality, and the director was able to simply walk away from the podium and let the kids play, for the most part. It was cool.  |
Yes Neko, it is wonderful to be a part of that. When my second-youngest daughter was in middle school we rented a tenor sax for her and she joined the school band. Within a few weeks she was in the jazz band too. We were proud!
That year the band director decided the jazz band should take a shot at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow Idaho. Most of the band piled into a school bus and a cloud of proud parents followed in SUVs through the winter bluster.
The band had a real asset in the person of Mike Allen -- the grandson of Steve Allen. He was outstanding. The band had some flashy numbers like "Killer Joe" and "Round Midnight". The band had never competed before anywhere, but to our surprise and delight they came in second place. The winning school was a magnet school for young musicians -- Washington Middle School.
Soon we realized Mike would move on to high school. We had had a taste of glory and didn't want to give it up. We needed another strong piano player. Along came a young fellow that worked very hard, though he hadn't played piano before. His mother was very involved in the band and in her son's musical education. They hired Seattle jazz musicians to come to our island to teach young Aaron.
Soon Aaron would move on, as would my daughter and our great band director. Aaron Parks went on to the University of Washington at 14, became a National Merit Scholar at 15, and transferred to the Manhattan School of Music at 16 to study under piano great, Kenny Barron. He records under
Keynote. One never knows.
