Jazz Band is starting up again. Auditions for jazz have finished up and practice started this week. Auditions for Jazz Ensemble 1 and Jazz Ensemble 2 looked different this year. For brass players, Mr. Kies decided to use the concert band auditions instead of doing another set of auditions with jazz music and scales. “By playing your concert audition, you’ve proven your technical ability, what you could do on the instrument. I can teach you how to swing. That’s the easy part. Getting you to play your instrument is like, wow is the tough,” says Mr. Kies. However, the woodwind instruments are different. Many saxophones in jazz band are actually playing their second instrument. For example, Danica Brenegen plays clarinet in wind symphony but playes tenor saxophone in Jazz Ensemble 1. Brenengen says, “I love playing tenor. For me, it’s easier than clarinet, and overall it’s a very fun instrument to play. I also prefer playing jazz rather than concert music, so that increases my enjoyment. The different musical styles in jazz are also entertaining to play.” Kies set up times for saxophone players to audition with jazz music. Any that chose not to audition were placed in Jazz Ensemble 2.

The rhythm section usually plays a secondary instrument. Maddie Holm is playing bass guitar in Jazz Ensemble 2. This is her first year playing on a bass guitar, as last year she played keyboard bass. She says, “I like the guitar, because it’s just better. It has a better sound and it’s more fun to play.” Holm likes playing bass in jazz because, “You’re the beat. You’re the pulse of the [song] along with the drums. You have more responsibility, and I feel like I can handle that. And I just think it’s also fun, too.” She says about being in jazz, “It’s really fun. You’re surrounded by people who, they just want to do it. They want to have fun.”

Something Kies remarked upon this year was the better instrumentation and balance this year in Jazz Ensemble 2. Last year, there was an overabundance of saxophones. This year, the balance is much more even because there are more brass players on trumpet and trombone. This year only one trumpet is playing in both bands, which is a big change from last year when almost the whole brass and rhythm section played in both ensembles. “I’m just excited that we have two full groups again and that there’s none of this, like, juggling around and trying to figure out how we’re going to make this work,” says Kies. Kies is looking forward to making State Solo and Ensemble with Jazz Ensemble 1 and playing new music with Jazz Ensemble 2.