Frontier Jazz Fest

     Hi there :)

   Today I went to the Frontier Jazz Fest. It was for jazz band. I played an improvised solo on Birth of a Band (composed by Quincy Adam Jones) in the key of B flat. We played an arrangement of my favorite jazz piece by FAR, Autumn Leaves. A rockin' sax soli blew the judges away. I mean, who DOESN'T like a well accented group of woodwind instruments playing real music? Oh yeah, that's right... Most of the kids in America. It's really unfortunate that 'hot bands' like LMFAO get more views on you tube than the good stuff like Miles and Charlie. Anyway, I guess instead of competing against others, I was competing against myself so I can grow as a musician and plainly just improve my sound... I am in love with Adderley's tone and just his all around sound. You hear him playing, and it's like you're literally hit in the head with a 'cannonball.' Haha! I literally fall out of my chair and go "Woah, that's Adderley on sax..." Okay my point is, I want a sound like that. I want people to turn on the radio, and say, "Yep, that sounds like Webster on alto."  

   When I listened to the other bands at the festival I saw ways our band could improve, and ways we were excelling other bands. I listened to the other alto sax solos especially. I mean, some of these kids were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Seriously. Like some of those older kids? Woah. Like this kid from another school, I think his name was David. His tone was really good. He sort of had a Charlie Parker style to him. I mean, he seriously has the potential to get that good! I think his solos were written though.

   I have to admit that I typically dislike written solos. It's like, how can someone put their feelings into a written piece of music? How can someone have fun with a blues scale and 'scream' what they have to say in a written solo? That's why I'm an improv kind of girl. I like it because it's totally free. There's rules, but it's not like you're grounded. 

   Improvising is like yelling your feelings. If you're mad, don't freak out at someone. Just pick up your sax, and scream it. There's less profanity in the language of jazz, anyway. ;)

   "Jazz is a language, it has a vocabulary, an accent. A vocabulary is the things you have to say. But... if you don't have an accent, it's boring. Accent your vocabulary."

       -Byron Stripling

By the way, check out Stripling on you tube  He's an AMAZING trumpet player. In fact, he performed at Frontier Jazz Fest and I saw him live. Click the link below and check out my video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FobVaGGZ4kQ

-Katie :)

    

A Teacher to Remember

I fell in love with music in 6th grade. I had always liked it before, but nothing like this. The first day of 6th grade, I walked in to the band room holding my clarinet. And that’s where it all began.  I met my favorite teacher ever, Mr. Ray. He was a new teacher to our school, and I know that must have been really hard for him, because the teacher before was quite popular and well loved. Mr. Ray had big shoes to fill. He reminds me of an awesome, quirky uncle. He’s funny, smart, and has a unique way of making band concerts come alive.

I started playing clarinet in 5th grade. I loved it, but I guess I didn't fully understand it, until Mr. Ray showed me how. I had decided to sign up for band again in 6th grade, and that is when I heard a school jazz band for the first time. When I heard them, I realized that I wasn’t all about the classical pieces I’d normally play. That isn’t what I wanted to play. I wanted to play jazz. I love how it sounded so free. That’s how I’d describe jazz. Free. I was inspired by how Mr. Ray could get the band to play a whole song, with barely any conducting. I could see it- it was actually the music that conducted itself. The beat, the rhythms, and cues all came at a specific time that everyone in the band knew. And that’s when I decided I wanted to play alto saxophone.

When I finally switched in early June 2012, I started practicing for jazz band tryouts. When I tried out in the fall, I didn’t make it. When that happened, I realized that it wasn’t just my sound that mattered, or my improvisation, but it was also my concert band skills, like sight reading. Especially sight reading. And that opened my eyes. Every night I would practice my sight reading, flipping to a random page in a sheet music book and attempting to play it for the first time. I know all of this happened for a reason. Not getting into jazz band, so I could get better. And I think Mr. Ray knew I could do it the whole time. In January, I was asked to fill in for Jack, an 8th grader who had dropped out of jazz band. I was thrilled. A second chance, to show everyone what I was really made of.

On my first day, I loved it. I still practiced more than ever. I would even go to Boxley’s (a jazz club) with my neighbor to learn new techniques and ideas for improv solos. I still do, when I can. I’d sit in jazz band every morning (except Thursday) and play with the rest of the band.

I’d feel that free feeling. Every morning. It was so... awesome.

What really caught my attention was when one morning Mr. Ray had said: “Jazz is caught, not taught.”  And I understood that. I experienced that. I still do, every second of my life.

I still had so much to say. But I said it. I said it in an improv solo, which to me, was real... Free. It’s like I didn’t need a diary anymore... I told everyone what I had to say right then. I got it all out. Through my saxophone. Through jazz. I lived it.

“Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn.”      

-Charlie Parker

So what I’m trying to say, is that I found what I love more than anything else in the whole entire universe. Jazz, music, living it. Being free. Letting everything out through my music. I owe it all to Mr. Ray, the teacher I will always remember. Everyday he inspires me, doing the job that I want to do when I grow up. I hope that maybe someday I can give people inspiration like Mr. Ray does. Maybe I’ll even get to change a student’s life, like how he changed mine. Before Mr. Ray, I was just a kid who could play clarinet. Mr. Ray turned me into jazz musician. And without him, I wouldn’t be the player I am today.

Joining Jazz Band

Hi!

I haven't written in a long time.

I know that. Sorry about that. I kept thinking. I didn't know what on earth to write. I thought I had run out of topics. I also went through some tough band stuff and it got to the point where I didn't want to post any details at all. However, things are improving more and more everyday as my confidence in my playing increases, as well as my skill in sight reading. 

  Anyway, I recently started jazz band, where since then I have been purely stoked when receiving a couple of lead alto parts. That's pretty exciting, I will admit. But that's nothing compared to how much I truly love jazz band. When I joined, I met many new people as well as joined friends in it.  Everyone is immensely nice and inviting. There are tons of instruments in the band. Tenor saxes, alto saxes, baritone saxes, trumpets, trombones, jazz clarinets, piano, marimba, string bass, bass guitar, and of course the triangle. Ugh. I forgot a few. :) 

    There are so many things I'm learning in jazz band that I never even thought about before. Like different styles such as Half Time Funk Feel or Bossa Nova. (I hope I spelled that right) There's also the sheet music that to my surprise is played a lot looser than classical pieces. Don't get me wrong, you MUST practice. I'm talking about adding accents, etc. For example, you can add slurs and staccatos if you'd like to experiment a little.

   Improv solos scare me but I love them so much. It's an interesting relationship. (Ha ha) When I'll try playing one in class, I'll get a little nervous. That's normal though. It's mainly the fear of messing up. If I decide to volunteer, I have a lot of fun. It's like when there's something on my mind, maybe grades, or a test that may scare me a little, I can stand up and it just all comes out through my music. It sounds a little weird, I know! Like, how can a test influence so much soul??? I'm not sure how it works. I'll get back to you on that. :)

    My fellow jazz-band peeps are immensely talented. It's unbelievable how funny they are as well as how well they can play. I knew the second that I walked in on my first day that the bar was being raised. I'm practicing more than ever, and taking as many tips as I can get. Maybe I should write a guide. Not a bad idea actually. Ha ha. I'll keep you updated on that as well. 

  I could write you a VERY long book about jazz band. Don't even get me started on Marching Band Camp. That's another story. :)

Until next time, 
                                      Katie