2019 Winter JAzz Concert

The Winter Concert was very fun and all the bands did a great job. Although I myself could have improved on some parts of the song, the overall sound of the band was very great. Because of the tearing down of the student center we had to play our concert in Trek Winery. The room we played in was very compact but it was fun to play in and seemed very friendly.

Reflection:

The 2019 Winter Jazz Concert was overall a great experience and I learned a lot. Our group played very well, but I feel like I couldn't have taken more steps to help me be more prepared and play better. One thing that I could have improved on to help me to better prepare for the concert was my skill as a conscientious learner. Even though we had been playing these songs for a few months, there were a few parts through out the songs that I did not know as well as I should have. If I had been a better conscientious learner I would have managed my time more efficiently and practiced outside of class. Although in the past weeks I have been very busy, I still could have found time to take out my music and practice my instrument, even if it was just for fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, the week before the concert, I missed two of our four rehearsals, because I had to leave school for sports. If I was able to make those rehearsals I would have felt much more comfortable when playing at the concert.

Throughout this first semester of Jazz Band, I feel as though my skills as a musician and critical thinker have very much improved. Playing an instrument requires someone to use a lot of effort and critical thinking. To play you have to focus on the notes you are playing on your instrument, read music, and keep time. Doing this just in class four days a week for one semester really helped develop my critical thinking. In the future I want to work harder to keep improving my skills as a critical thinker, hopefully translating even to other classes. This semester I especially feel as though I got better with my sight reading skills. Going into last year as a freshman, I had barely worked on my skills as I sight reader. Over the past year and a half, my skills have developed much more than I ever thought they would. I want to continue on this path for my sight reading skills, and on top of that improve other skills.

My goal for next semester would be to work on my improvisation and soloing as a jazz musician. The first thing I need to do to take a step closer to achieving this goal, is to learn all my scales by heart. Unfortunately I only have two scales fully memorized, because i have not invested enough time into practicing them. I've always made the excuse of not having enough time to practice my instrument, but now i want to push myself to practice at least thirty minutes five days a week.