The Middle School Jazz Band had a great start last week in Thatcher Hall! We were able to start playing instruments by Friday and were very pleased to record our first melody for the year.
Jazz band is an enrichment class for those in grades 6-8 who want to go further with their musicianship and spend a little more time in the band/orchestra room. For our first unit, we are reviewing many foundational concepts, fingerings, and techniques that are required to play jazz music. We are also discussing various jazz styles and jazz groups. This will help us compare and contrast the music on our own stands.
At the end of our first class with instruments we were able to play our first "head tune" with chords. We have more progress to make, but the jazz band did well for one day's rehearsal!
In the video below, the jazz band performs "Bye, Bye Blackbird." The tune was written by Ray Henderson (1896-1970) and made famous by Miles Davis (1926-1991). Due to social distancing, we were not quite able to picture all members of the jazz band in this video; however, you can hear everyone!
Our full roster includes Reese Bell, Will Bowerman, Banks Brown, Gracie Cowan, Grady Ferguson, Thomas Hargett, Heidi Holder, Whit Molnar, Javin Pandya, Jaylen Patel, Myles Twyman, and Mr. Harvey.
