Jazz Day

International Jazz Day is in April, so that is when we decided to celebrate and explore jazz!

We started by discussing jazz and the history of jazz, then we had some performances by professional jazz musicians (a jazz combo). Students who registered for jazz lessons had the opportunity to play with the jazz combo (improvising, comping and responding to the other musicians). Then, students not taking jazz lessons each took turns playing solo pieces in a jazzy-style.

Students were exposed to improvisation, and prepared pieces with complex harmonies, swung rhythm and groove. For students studying jazz, the opportunity to improvise in front of an audience and to perform with a jazz combo of professional musicians was a wonderful way to apply everything being learned in private lessons.