The End of an Era

For the past few years, we have traveled to Logan on Valentine’s Day weekend to attend Daniel’s jazz band performance at Elite Hall. This is the one that is first and foremost a community dance. It has been fun to hear the music and watch all the couples, who range in age from teenagers to elderly, dance with their sweethearts in traditional ballroom styles of dancing rather than the free-for-all-move-however-you-want kind of dancing that has been the style for decades now. There are elderly couples that we see every year, and honestly, I think it is so sweet that they still take the time to keep up their dancing skills in a society that doesn’t seem to value such pastimes much anymore. But for them, it is obviously an important and treasured part of their life stories. 

Anyway, as today is Valentine’s Day, last night found us in Logan once again. We took all the kids to dinner before scattering to our various locations. Daniel headed straight to the dance, Nathan headed to the university as he was interpreting for a theater department production of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” and the rest of us headed to Daniel and Tawni’s apartment so she could take a quick shower before driving out to hear Daniel play. She came to dinner straight from work, and as her job necessarily involves a lot of dirt and hard work, she really wanted to freshen up a bit. Once she felt a bit more put together, we headed over to the dance. 

Daniel graduates this spring, so this was his last Elite Hall performance. And while he is so incredibly ready to be done with school, I think that he is really going to miss the jazz band portion of his educational journey. The music is a huge part of his life and one of his happy places, so as he sees the end coming, things are bittersweet. I hope that wherever he and Tawni end up, he can find somewhere to play. Playing alone at home is all good and fine, but it can’t really compare to the joy that comes from being a part of a group that works together to create something amazing. And the opportunity to perform for an audience comes with an adrenaline rush beyond compare. So, while I know Daniel will be stepping farther into the world that is adulthood, I hope that somewhere along the way he can find a way to continue to create the music he loves so much. 

Strike Up the Band

May is always busy with all the end of year performances and events, but with Matthew being a senior, it has been extra busy this year. This past week has been particularly busy. Starting with Malia’s choir concert last Tuesday, we have had a concert or performance of some sort on 6 of the past 8 evenings. I already shared thoughts about Matthew’s vocal jazz performance, so now I’m going to wax poetic on all his band concerts. Of which there have been many.

But first, let me mention one other anomaly we’ve had. Last week Wednesday was the annual Spring Showcase, a theater department performance. Each year the students in the Theater 3 class write a ten-minute one act play. The Theater 4 students direct the plays. And anyone student in the school who wants to can audition to be in one of the plays. Matthew has auditioned and been cast every year that he has been in high school. In fact, this year he had people tell him they needed him for their shows, so it was pretty much certain that he would be participating. 😂 The first year we attended the showcase the shows were pretty entertaining, a good mix of humor, mystery, and drama. Last year it felt like every play was about or written from deep within the wellspring of some kind of mental illness, which made it a less pleasant event. And this year, there seemed to be a focus on a twist at the end of the story, some humorous, some more of the mystery variety. It was a fun change of pace and Matthew, who pretty much adlibbed his entire performance, was the one performer who got some actual laughs from the audience.

And now, the band begins to play…

Last Thursday was the end of year band concert. Matthew only played with the wind symphony for this one as the jazz bands had their own separate performance this time around. The concert theme was video game music which was actually the theme of the first concert of Matthew’s sophomore year, the first concert our current band teacher held at this school. I’m not into video games and as such, none of the music was familiar or even that interesting to me. Frankly, I was a bit bored. But it wasn’t just me. None of the kids cared either. For some it was a “been there done that” kind of thing. For others, they just didn’t care about the music. And I’m sure the apathy of the band director over the past month has not helped. But no matter the reason, the kids, Matthew included, just didn’t have any enthusiasm about this concert. They performed well and all that, but there was no excitement for the pieces they were playing, and it was evident in the lack of energy. Oh, well. At least this is the last one for Matthew. And he’s actually totally ok with that.

Last Saturday Matthew had a jazz gig in Sandy. They got invited to participate in a multi-high school concert held at the Sandy Amphitheater and Kevin was in attendance to support Matthew. Matthew felt like it wasn’t a stellar performance, and the big news of the night was the rain, which completely soaked the audience, and the lightning, which shut down the concert right after Matthew’s group played. 

Last night was a two-event evening, only one of which was band-related. Our new ward has a BBQ for all the graduating seniors each year and takes a minute to recognize each senior and present them with their last emblem of belonging for the youth program, which is a small glass ornament with the Christus etched inside. As parents, we had the opportunity to take a minute to share a bit about our youth and then the bishop presented the statues. Bishop knew Matthew was double booked, so he had us go first and then we immediately dashed over to the park for Matthew’s last high school band concert ever.

Last night’s concert was advertised as the Herriman Jazz Festival and was another multi-school jazz band event. Several of the local middle schools and the other high school in Herriman performed as well as the vocal jazz group and the two jazz bands from our high school. Matthew has been lobbying for this particular event for three years and has been looking forward to it for just as long. The first such event in our little city was the year Nathan was a senior. He sang with the vocal jazz group that year and the jazz band played. Last year the concert was supposed to happen, but due to some scheduling snafus and an outright stealing of the idea by another high school who scheduled theirs for the night before ours was supposed to be, the venue was changed at the last minute and the whole jazz in the park thing didn’t happen. This year that issue was solved by making it a multi-school concert.

Knowing that this concert was Matthew’s big senior swan song and that it meant a lot to him, Daniel, Tawni and Nathan all came down to be in attendance. They took Malia, and our camp chairs, to the park and staked out a spot while Kevin, Matthew and I attended the ward BBQ. We arrived just in time for a necessary thirty-minute intermission. A bunch of the kids in vocal jazz are also in madrigals and they were double booked last night as well, so they had to dash from one performance to another, building in enough time to change and set up. They sang a variety of the group numbers we heard at the full concert last Friday as well as several of my favorite solos from the previous event. And it all went great. 

Matthew’s jazz band was the last group on the program, the culmination of the festival, and Matthew’s last ever high school band concert. Unfortunately, the performance did not go anywhere near as well as he had hoped and he was equal parts crushed, angry, frustrated, and incredibly disappointed. As I have already said, Matthew has been looking forward to this particular concert for three years. We didn’t feel like it went as poorly as he did, but he is his own worst critic first of all, and second, the jazz band this year is just nowhere near as good as last year’s ensemble, and he knows it. So, he does everything he can, and as lead trumpet he has felt a good deal of responsibility for the band this year. But when no one else cares as much as he does, there is only so much he can do. He is likely going to need some time to being able to put this particular let down behind him, but there were two tender mercies this evening. First, Daniel, who is a well-seasoned jazz band member himself and the sibling that is closest to Matthew, was there to support him and talk him through it. Second, our high school band director actually took the time to acknowledge all the hard work Matthew has put into the band program for these past three years and tell Matthew how grateful he is for everything Matthew has done. So, while Matthew has frequently been frustrated and irritated with the lack of planning and the changeable nature of the band teacher, all his effort has been noticed and appreciated. So, kudos to his teacher for taking the time to thank him. Matthew needed that.

Malia feels a bit bad about saying it, but she is tired of all the band concerts. And honestly, I’m a little bit over it as well. There have been a lot of them packed into a very short amount of time and while we both love Matthew and want to support him, we are both glad that the next concert will be a choir concert!

Swing!

Last week he attended Matthew’s big Valentine’s Day shindig. Last night, we attended Daniel’s. The USU jazz bands have held an annual dinner/dance at a nearby city social hall for the past twenty years. We have been in attendance for the past three or four years, missing I think only the first one that Daniel played for. We always skip the dinner part and eat in advance so that at least Malia can eat out with us, and that was the plan again this year. This is the first time that we have gone on actual Valentine’s Day, and it was good that Kevin had the afternoon off and we left plenty early because we had a longer than normal wait at the restaurant before our table was ready. Because pretty much everybody and their sweeties were at the Olive Garden this evening. No surprise there. The kitchen was totally overwhelmed due to a larger than normal number of take-out orders in addition to the multitude of in person diners, so there was a point when we thought Daniel might need to leave and eat his dinner for leftovers at a later time. But the food arrived just in time for him to eat and be on his way.

One of the big differences between these Valentine’s events and the boys’ normal concerts is the kind of jazz they play. The rest of their concerts generally comprise newer jazz, a lot of which is a bit too dissonant for me and not much to my liking. But for Valentine’s Day, all the bands select more traditional jazz standards, the kind that were popular in the 40’s and 50’s and the kind that I love the most. These are the songs you can dance to. And I particularly love the ones where I can sing along to!

It has been fun attending these events that our boys have been a part of. With Matthew graduating this year and Daniel planning to graduate next spring, we know that we won’t be attending many more, at least until Matthew gets to Utah State after his mission. He is already looking forward to being able to play for Jazz Night at Elite Hall. And then, Daniel will get to experience the event from in front of the band stand!

Tapping Our Toes for Valentine’s Day

Last night was the annual Valentune’s Gala at the high school. This year Matthew is a member of both the jazz band and the vocal jazz choir, so he was doubly invested. Due to the popularity of this event for the past two years, they scheduled and sold out two night’s worth of tickets. Matthew said Friday night’s performance was pretty rough, but last night everything was fantastic!

We had a big group attend with us this year. Kevin, Malia and I were there, of course. Daniel, Tawni (his girlfriend), and Nathan came down from Logan. My parents came. Kev’s mom and her sister Gayla were there as well as Cory and his entire family including Roland, Michelle’s dad. In total, we had seventeen people who were there to support Matthew. And like I said before, it was fantastic! He did an amazing job on both sides of the performance. His vocal numbers were amazing and his trumpet pieces, including all his high, tricky parts, were spot on. I think this is one of the most important performances for him during the school year, and although he wasn’t particularly pleased with how the first night went, he was pleased as punch with how everything went last night.

Our family has kind of been key in the development of the Valentune’s Gala. Nathan was in vocal jazz his senior year in high school which was the second year the school was open. That year they did a combined vocal jazz/jazz band performance at the bandstand in a nearby city park. The band boosters were on hand, frying burgers and offering other concessions and it was a big hit. Two years later, when Matthew was a sophomore and the current band teacher was in his first year at the school, the event was changed to a more formal dinner and a show event. Matthew was the one who coined the phrase "Valentune’s Gala,” and it has stuck. So even though he will be graduating this year, he has left his mark at the high school.

Last night was likely the last time we will attend Valentune’s, which is a little bittersweet. It has been one of my favorite events since its inception. That is, unless Malia decides she wants to be in vocal jazz when she gets that far. But we’ll see. She still has a few years to go.

Oh, and as a sidenote, they served crème brulee for dessert. That means I got to make crème brulee yesterday so that Matthew and Malia could have some as well. And I got to use my new kitchen torch. Allow me to say that playing with fire has never been so delicious. 😊

Back in the Bands

It’s a new school year and that means Daniel is back in jazz band. In fact, he’s in both USU jazz bands this year. He auditioned into the jazz orchestra, the upper-level jazz band, and was begged to please, please, pretty please play in the other jazz band as well. So, he’s all jazz all the time. But as he enjoys it, it’s all good. At one of his concerts in June, I’m assuming it was the one right before they left for Italy since Daniel wasn’t actually going to school in June, they had a professional photographer come in and take some pics. Daniel shared them recently, so for posterity, here is Daniel living the jazz life!

Performance High

It’s the end of the school year which means our calendar has been full of year end concerts and activities. This evening was the last of the performances. Matthew’s wind symphony concert was last week, and this evening was his end of year jazz band concert. It was originally scheduled for just over a week ago, which would have been during the time that both Daniel and Nathan were here, but there was a scheduling snafu and the date and location needed to change. As such, Nathan was unable to attend tonight, but Daniel was able to drive down. Kevin’s parents also came, as well as Corynn and Aliese, two of Kevin’s nieces. 

Matthew’s heart is in the jazz music. This is his second year as lead trumpet, and he takes that role very seriously. Not only has been put in the practice time to get his playing where he wants it to be, but he has worked with his section all year and things have really gelled for them, as evidenced by their “best trumpet section” award at the Essentially Ellington competition back in February. All their work was evident this evening. The kids did a great job. I didn’t necessarily love all the music as sometimes modern jazz is too atonal for my liking, but they performed it well. Matthew came away with that performance high, the one that comes when your adrenaline gets pumping, you give it your all, and you are pleased with how you performed. It was good to see.

Three of the five members of Matthew’s section are graduating this year, and he has concerns about how next year will go. Hopefully with some time together he will be able to help the newbies come together like his section has this year. In the meantime, he has a few months to play for joy before marching band kicks up again later in the summer.

All Jazzed Up

Last year a number of professional jazz musicians established the Jazz Mentors Foundation based in Salt Lake City. The purpose of this new non-profit is to encourage jr. high, high school, and university band students to appreciate and learn to play jazz music, to encourage the appreciation of jazz music in the community, and to provide student musicians with opportunities to participate in free clinics so they can learn from a variety of nationally recognized jazz musicians. After each clinic, there is a concert held and students who participate can attend the concert free of charge. There have been a number of clinics held throughout the school year and Matthew has attended all of them, finding some more helpful than others depending on who the visiting clinician is and what instrument is their specialty. 

This evening’s clinic and concert is one Matthew has long anticipated as the visiting musician was Benny Benack, a trumpet player and vocalist who happens to be Matthew’s favorite jazz musician at this point. He was extra excited because his jazz band was invited to provide the lobby music for the event. Not only did Matthew get to show off his skills a bit, but he also participated in the clinic, got to meet Benny and got to play with him. He was super excited about the whole thing and came home grinning from ear to ear!

Diverse Interests

Matthew had another concert this evening, this time the one to showcase the numbers the kids will play in all their festivals over the next month. Daniel was able to come down for the performance and Matthew was so, so pleased. Daniel has never heard Matthew play with his ensembles because Daniel lives just far enough away that it can be hard to arrange the travel time around his own school and work responsibilities. But his schedule was amenable tonight, and we are all so glad he was able to come.

This was a big night for Matthew because, after a year and a half of expressing his desires, he was given an opportunity to sing as well as play his trumpet. One of the numbers the jazz band played is “Children of Sanchez,” a jazz number that features an acoustic guitar and a lengthy vocal section at the beginning. They played the second part of the number at the Valentunes Gala a few weeks ago, but tonight was the first performance including the guitar/vocal solo at the beginning. Matthew did a great job. Seriously, he is a pretty talented kid, and his interests are very diverse which can make choosing hard. He loves jazz band but also wants to sing in the jazz choir next year. He also loves stage tech and the theater teacher would love to have him in the musical theater class as well. So, there are three teachers that would love to call Matthew their own and frankly, they will have to share. Matthew will pick and choose what he wants to do and since he has limited hours in the day and a mighty great need to graduate, he won’t be doing everything all the teachers want him to do. But hopefully he will be able to do his top three-jazz band, jazz choir (auditions are coming up next week), and stage tech. 

It has always been fun to watch our children learn and grow and this evening was another opportunity to see the results of all the time and effort Matthew has put in to improving his talents and skills. He finds joy in his music, and I hope that he will continue to do so for many years yet to come. Sometimes the stress of being overscheduled, the social drama that accompanies any high school anything, or the expectations or choices of teachers can take that joy away. (We definitely saw that happen with Nathan and it made me so, so sad.) But my own personal experiences are that the joy found in the music can overshadow all the negatives. I hope that Matthew’s experiences will also fall into that category.

Essentially Outstanding

Today was another long day for Matthew. He started off the morning with yet another last-minute musical rehearsal. He did get to duck out early though, because he had a previous commitment involving the jazz band. Today was the Essentially Ellington Jazz Festival at BYU. It is an opportunity for high school jazz bands to perform, be judged, and have clinics with some experienced musicians. Matthew came home glowing because his section won the outstanding trumpet section award. And from what he was told, it wasn’t even a hard decision. As lead trumpet, Matthew is also the section leader, and he was so very pleased with the way everyone performed today. And Matthew had a great day himself. He took yesterday off so he wouldn’t be too fatigued today and everything about his playing today was spot on. His above the staff notes were all strong and he felt great afterwards. He got high compliments from the guy running their post-performance clinic and it was a good confirmation to Matthew that all his hard work has paid off. Matthew also said that he felt like their performance today included some of the best run-throughs they have ever had. So, it was a long day, but definitely a good one!