After years of requests, the Sr. Jazz Band was finally able to put on its very own 2-hour professional concert! Months of hard work led up to this concert, which took place at St. Dunstan’s of Canterbury Church and began at 7:30 pm on April 11th.
It all began with the band’s performance at the Scarborough Town Centre for the Scarborough Walk of Fame induction ceremonies. There, Mr. Farrow was approached by an audience member who was part of the St. Dunstan’s 25th anniversary committee. He presented the idea of having the Jazz Band perform at the church to raise money for their 25th anniversary celebrations, as well as for the Woburn Music Foundation. Mr. Farrow thought it was an excellent idea, and started pulling out (pretty much) all the jazz music we have. The end product was about 25 pieces, including 3 vocal tunes. As with most of our performances, the Jazz band was given the final list only hours before the concert!
The band met for a rehearsal at the church after school. After having dinner in the area, we came back to start warming up around 7 pm. The first half of the concert was all Ellington, and the second a variety of other composers and styles. There was a short intermission in between, during which refreshments were sold and the band had a bit of a break to revive their faces before the second half. The audience really got going when Mr. Farrow pulled his wife up to the front to swing dance with him while the band played “Jump Jive and Wail”.
The audience was on their feet after the last tune, and called out for an encore. The jazz band closed the performance with a piece called “The Opener”. It was then announced that we had raised an outstanding $1500!
Half of the proceeds will go to St. Dunstan’s, and the other half to Woburn Music. This concert was a great opportunity for the jazz band – it felt amazing to play to an audience of jazz lovers outside of the school setting. The response was great, as many of the audience members came up to personally compliment the band.
The concert went off without a hitch, even though most people were pretty nervous. We really took Mr. Farrow’s advice to heart when he said “Blow hard and have fun!” On behalf of the band, I’d like to thank Mr. Farrow for all his support and hard work that went into this concert. Can’t wait for the next one!
