All That Jazz

For the past two years, the Jazz Band at our high school has done a “speakeasy” near the end of the school year. It is one of their fundraisers. They prepare a big set of music, have a space set aside for dancing, and refreshments available to purchase. It was fairly small the first year, but attendance was up last year. This year the band boosters decided to turn the speakeasy into a full-blown dinner/dance fundraiser held on Valentine’s Day. To be completely honest, I was very skeptical about how the whole thing was going to turn out. Last year a ticket to the speakeasy was $7. This year a ticket to the Jazz Gala was $70 a couple. The enormous increase in price made me certain that attendance would be way down as the price put it out of the budget of most of the high school kids. However, it was marketed mainly to adults and I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout. Kevin and I decided we should go (despite our sticker shock) since this is Daniel’s senior year and would be the last time he participated. They had dinner, dancing, a mock-tail bar, and a silent auction. There were quite a few sizeable donations for the auction and more people in attendance than I though there would be. Although they had a rough practice in school that morning (Daniel was certain things were not going to go well based on that practice), the music was great. The kids gave their all and it showed. You could see in their faces, and on the face of the band teacher, that they were all really pleased with their performance.

I’m so proud of how hard Daniel has worked over the past years. He is one of those kids that loves to practice. He will practice until 1) we tell him to stop or 2) his face hurts, whichever comes first. He can play seven different instruments and had most of those on hand this evening. Not only has he increased a lot in skill, his musicality has grown by jumps and bounds. And the joy he finds in the music is obvious to all. I’m glad we decided to go and I feel it was time well spent. I’m grateful that attendance was good and hope that translates into some sizeable funds raised for the kids. And I hope that no matter where he ends up, Daniel will never forget the joy that music brings to his life and will continue to make time for it.

It Was the Cat’s Meow!

Instead of having a tradition concert, the high school jazz band did a “speakeasy” for their final concert. They played all the numbers the ensemble has learned this year and filled in the rest of a 2-hour set list with solos and smaller ensembles the kids rehearsed and prepared on their own. The kids dressed in 1920’s style and they set up tables and chairs in the commons area. The music was fabulous and the kids were obviously enjoying themselves. There were other high school kids who dressed up and danced the night away. They had drinks for sale (although not illegal and definitely not alcoholic 😉). There were not enough seats for all those who came. It was a come and go as you want event and we hadn’t planned to stay for the entire time, but they had enough music that they didn’t need to start repeating things until long after they thought they would and we were enjoying it so much that we stayed for the entire set. It was just a super fun, successful evening and we had a great time!

They are already making plans for next year’s speakeasy and I’m looking forward to it.