1. I observed Kelly Berhdal's 7:30 jazz band in rehearsal at BHS.
2. It kind of bothered me that they didn't really start on time and it seemed to take a while to get everyone settled in and into work mode. Once they got there though I thought that they got a lot done in a small amount of time.
3. I thought that the warm-up they did was great! I was really impressed at how well all the kids did with their improvised solo and I thought it was great that they also did a call and response type of exercise to focus on ear training. The band was working on some charts for an upcoming show so they were into a polishing up stage at this point and really working on uniformity of sound, attacks, releases, and dynamics.
4. I'm not very well versed in jazz band literature. I thought they sounded good and it didn't seem too hard for them. There definitely were a few rhythmic things that had challenged them, but none of it seemed beyond them. Can we maybe discuss how to evaluate literature for a jazz band, or an ensemble that isn't our forte???
5. I thought that it really seemed like the kids were enjoying themselves and working hard at the same time. I think its really important to develop strong courses like this outside of your main concert group because it develops musical skills in a different way and also is an extra engagement for the students.
You have a good point about the late start. This is sometimes the case with before-school classes. There is a fine line between enforcing an on-time rule and encouraging kids to show-up so early for an elective. Without them, there is no band, and this is really the only time that KM has to offer jazz band.
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