By: Bianca Pando, Staff Writer
Happening on January 27, 2024, the Mills High School Jazz band, directed by music teacher David Greorick, will perform in the Folsom Jazz Festival.
Starting over 35 years ago, the Folsom Jazz Festival has continued to support high schools around the bay area. This event is hosted by the Folsom High School Music Boosters, a non-profit organization aimed to up-lift and improve greatness found within music education. They do this by highlighting the effort and talents found around California and Nevada.
Allowing High School bands perform gives a chance for young musicians to showcase the work they have been practicing and also see how other schools are playing. Within this, our own band will be able to receive new input and different ways to improve future performances.
The Mills Jazz Band is planning to perform 3 songs: a jazz standard titled “There Will Never Be Another You”, “Crystal Silence” written by Chick Corea, and finally a song from a friend of Mr. G’s called, “Aardvark Soup.”
Over the past weeks, the band has been taking extra time to practice. “Everything is about learning and being able to convey what the music composer is trying to display in their piece.” added Mr. G. while talking about Crystal Silence, he expresses how it is not only important to have the rhythm of the song, but also being able to create a tone similar to how it would be to move through not only time, but space itself. While as for the two other songs, Mr. G aims to go in the direction of a more camp-based tone, following the style of Neil Hefti.
Of course, with a lot of work there is always something to look forward to in the event itself. “I think it is a good time to see our school’s band. They get good feedback from professional musicians and they get a chance to play in an exciting situation.” The chance to re-perform that event provides them a chance to not only to see other schools, but for other schools to see what the Mills High School Jazz band is capable of.
Although not an adjudicator for the Folsom Jazz Festival, Greg Brown came two days ago to help advise the band and talk about what he judges. “So, the most important thing is that the music is expressed authentically and I feel the emotion in the players…As soon as I hear that, I feel happy. Every human being craves to have their feelings activated, and when it is, they feel the song.” Brown also added that in the technical side of his judging.“ I’ll give specific instructions about how I would fix the issue if I think something is not right.” After teaching music for around 40 years, he feels like he knows the right thing to say, and knows what to listen for. His belief is when playing music, one must learn all the techniques that are shown, and then they must be able to feel what they are playing, in order for others to feel the same way.
With the event coming up next weekend, the high school musicians have many emotions running through them. The Saxophone leader, Lana Levinson(12), remarked “I’m excited for all the underclassmen to have their first experience going to the festival.” Levinson believes that by going to a competition makes them more aware of how they play, inspiring them to be better. Adding further, Trumpet leader, Ethan Chu(12), commented “I think it was pretty fun and also inspiring to watch other bands. Bands that are better than us and bands that we could see how we could improve by watching.”
With the Folsom Jazz Festival nearby, this not only becomes a great chance to show what Mills High School band has been working on, and how other schools are doing, but also a wonderful opportunity to improve what they do in the future. In every way, this competition will be enjoyable not only for the listeners, but also for the musicians.
