Jazz Band Hits The Right Note

Photo Credit: CHEYENNE PINO

BY LOUIS DENNIN

At the end of January the CCHS Jazz Band held their first meeting of the year, ready to kick off a new season of jazz music and prepare for the Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA) festival, where the ensemble will be heard and rated by judges.

As the name implies, the Jazz Band revolves completely around jazz music. It’s a genre of music that contrasts sharply to the traditional band music the concert musicians are accustomed to.  Jazz generally has a laid back feel with strong emphasis on the style of the notes and attempts to incorporate strong emotion through music.  Jazz bands need to have good control over their volume and tempo, as hitting a note at just the right time with just the right shape of sound is the only way to create the pursued melody.

“Smooth jazz has more of a romantic feel, which gives the listener a confident feeling,” Trumpet player Sarah Jacobs said. “Faster jazz is the kind where you want to throw on some aviators and walk on cloud nine; it’s just an overall attractive genre that gives any listener a sense of self-confidence.”

Members of CCHS’s Jazz band strive to take their knowledge of music and use it to make the best absolute best “jazz sound” that they can.  They spend rehearsals reviewing proper techniques and listening to professional jazz pieces.  Jazz has a grittier tone quality than concert music as well as a more dramatic take on how notes should be interpreted.  Regular areas of emphasis are magnified, and melodies can have a huge range of styles from very up beat to a slow, relaxed flow.  This makes it challenging to master jazz music for students.

“I love the true musicianship of jazz music,” saxophone player Bryan Fisher said. “The way that you have to adapt to the feel of the music and capture the cool feeling.  Jazz is the essence of cool.”

The CCHS jazz program began holding meetings in the end of January for an hour every week.  The musicians gather in the band room and are directed by band director Christopher Schletter.  Schletter tries to teach his students how to form a quality jazz tone as well as decides what pieces they will work on and eventually perform.  It opens a door to all new concepts and helps all of it’s members grow as musicians.

“Students are learning new music that is probably more difficult than the average music you’re used to listening to,”  drummer Marco Pera said. “They’re learning how to feel each other as a group, which is equally as important.”

This year’s jazz band has a lot to live up to. The previous year was full of success and talent, as it was CCHS’s first time attending the jazz band FBA festival to be judged.  They went into this performance after meeting together only once every week and scored straight superior ratings from the judges, which are the best possible scores a band can obtain.

“While the pieces were rather simple, we still managed to stand out and give a strong show,” Fisher said.

A jazz band relies a lot on a strong composition, meaning that the instruments that make up the band blend and balance together.  Having too many of one section and too few of another section could cause ripples in the jazz tone of the band.  The CCHS group this year allows the same instruments as last year such as trumpets, trombones, and different types of saxophones and more.  Every musician is responsible for knowing what their instrument should sound like in a jazz scenario, and they will work towards making that sound themselves.  An understanding of one’s role is another important factor the band works on.

“My section is the show off section, to be honest,” Jacobs said.  “We’re here for smooth rhythms and loud melodies. But of course, the number one perk of being a trumpet player are all of the high notes. We tend to hear the phrase “take that up an octave” quite often.”

The goals for this year is to surpass the success of last year. The band takes pride in their music and wants to let that pride show by perfecting their techniques and learning new music to channel their talents.  With high hopes for the future, the Jazz band begins yet another season.

“My goal is to get myself out of my comfort zone, and become a better musician for it,” Pera said. “The style of music that I like isn’t always the most “challenging” style musically.  It’s good for a time, but nobody likes one trick ponies. I figured that if I did this, I would be able to benefit all areas of my playing in all my instruments and take all of the aspects of jazz to maybe put into my own creations.”