On Mar. 14 the rock band and jazz band collectively put together a concert to showcase their different music styles to the student body in Ives Hall, which is located on the second floor of the Fine Arts building.
“Tonight we decided to put both bands together, so another teacher is the conductor of the rock band, and I’m the conductor of the jazz band,” said Jazz Band Director Leandro Lopez Varady. “What we decided to do is a joint concert so that we can bring different styles of music to different people.”
At the concert, the rock band performed four songs in the rock genre. After the rock band performed, the jazz band performed three songs within the jazz style of music.
“The reason we have less songs is because we improvise more,” said Lopez Varady. “So the songs have a tendency to be longer than in rock music.”
Members of the Rock Band include: Alexander Schedel, Brooke Willard and Yang Chen on vocals, Benjamin Johnson and Michael Arrigo on guitar, Nia Barrow on bass and McConnell on drums.
The first song the rock band performed was “Call Me” by Blondie. The second song they performed was “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin. The third song they performed was “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin. The last song they performed was “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. A nice mixture of your favorite classic rock songs mixed with some newer styles of the music genre.
After the Rock Band performed their setlist, the Jazz Band took the stage to perform their setlist. In the Jazz Band, there are a total of five members at the concert. Rock Band Director Scott McConnell filled in for the drums for both bands, due to the music department needing students who play percussion instruments. Davin Colobong played the alto saxophone, Kai Corpuz and Micah West played the trumpet, Julian Rocha played the piano and Lauren Raimbault played the electric bass.
The first song performed by the Jazz Band was “Blues In the Closet” by Oscar Pettiford. The second song performed was “Favela” by Antonio Carlos Jobin. The last song they performed was “Song for My Father” by Horace Silver.
“We’re gonna play one song that is jazz music, but we’re also gonna play bossa nova, which is Brazilian music,” said Lopez Varady. “We’re gonna also play more like an R&B type of song, so that we go over different styles of music.”
Students were encouraged to attend this event because they could be exposed to new genres of music and expand their musical horizons.
“I think that this is a great opportunity to be exposed to different types of music,” said Lopez Varady. “It’s also an opportunity to see if they want to join any of these bands because it’s open to everybody.”
The next concert for both bands will be on May 6, where both bands will collaborate and perform one song together after playing a set of songs from both of their respective genres.
Photo Credits: Katelyn Leano
