Bands

This summer, I had the privilege of working with some of our fine jazz students, community volunteers and the Junior Jazz Foundation with the first ever Hilton Head Jazz Camp 2011.  This week-long camp met for 3 hours a day and worked on jazz improvisation, technique and learning some of the great standards.  We were featured with the article below in the Island Packet:

The jazz ensemble split in two to work on the arrangement for Herbie Hancock’s jazz standard “Cantaloupe Island.” It’s a complex arrangement, but toward the end of rehearsal, the rhythm section was close to having its funky beat down. Not bad for middle schoolers.

Last week was jazz camp at Hilton Head Christian Academy. About a dozen students brought their instruments to the school each morning to learn and play jazz, even getting to practice with some local jazz legends.

The week served as a pivotal moment for the academy’s young jazz program, as well as The Jazz Corner’s Junior Jazz Foundation that sponsored the camp.

” I love the idea of a summer jazz camp on the island,” said Bob Masteller, owner of The Jazz Corner on Hilton Head and a founder of Junior Jazz. “I think there’ll be a base of interest among students. We find that more and more they just aren’t exposed to jazz. Not all take to it, but a lot of them do.”

Junior Jazz was started five years ago to foster a love for the music in local schools. The foundation has hosted workshops, donated instruments and funded student trips to jazz camps elsewhere. Masteller had thought a camp could work on Hilton Head. But it wasn’t until Hilton Head Christian’s music director, James Berry, got involved that it became a reality.

Read more: http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/07/18/1726836/learning-to-groove.html#ixzz1VILUlxkH