Cedarville University’s Jazz Band Swings through November concert 

By Cadence Powers 

The Cedarville University Jazz Band held their most recent concert in a room so packed that the audience had to stand. Almost two hours in length, Friday, Nov. 21 saw students, family members and community members alike gathered in the DMC recital hall. The band delivered a fantastic performance, each song ebbing and flowing with a practiced ease. It begs the question, what does it take to put a concert like this together?

First and foremost, plenty of practice. There are two Cedarville University Jazz Bands: Jazz Band 1 and Jazz Band 2. The students of Jazz Band 1 meet twice a week, and the students of Jazz Band 2 meet once for an extended rehearsal. In addition to the hours put in, each band also contains sectionals for the different instruments, where students of a certain instrument can meet to work on their music. 

The music selected for the concert comes from a variety of different influences. Due to the time of year, Christmas tunes are often included in the November set. For Jazz Band 2, Christmas songs included “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear,” “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” “Christmas Time is Here” and “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” For Jazz Band 1, Christmas tunes included, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Jingle Bells,” “We Three Kings” and “The Christmas Songs.” 

Not only Christmas music is played at the concert, but other types of Jazz pieces are also implemented into the set. Combining the two bands for the first time and performing at the Ohio Music Educator conference in January are both factors that influenced the pieces on the set. Some pieces are held over from the homecoming concert, with other parts of the repertoire kept in preparation for the upcoming event. All of these factors require that the song order of the concert is arranged with care. 

“I don’t want two things right next to each other that sound the same,” Jenkins said. “You want to have some ebb and flow. Sometimes it’s fast versus slow or sometimes it’s swing versus using a Latin Chart.” The concert’s set list certainly reflects this principle as each song felt well placed within the concert’s repertoire. 

When choosing the actual pieces, Jazz Band director Dr. Jenkins often looks for Big Band pieces, preferably ones that have been recorded. 

“Jazz is like a language,” Jenkins said “There’s a very specific pedagogical approach as it is aurally communicated, meaning you have to listen to it. Ideas like swing; you can’t really notate with clarity and it changes depending on the context of who is playing or what the tempo is.” Because of the fluidity of swing, Jenkins often chooses pieces that students are able to listen to and to get a feel for how the songs should sound. 

Jazz Band is also a collaborative space, allowing for students to learn more and to influence the pieces which are chosen. 

“Jazz is really a unique creative outlet because it allows you to improvise on the spot,” Noah Reaoch, a junior Political Science major and pianist, said. “So there are times when Dr. Jenkins will say, ‘Alright, Noah, you take this chorus,’ and I have the chords and changes on my sheet, but I’m improvising a melody; improvising runs, legs, different things like that as we go. So every time that I play a song in Jazz, it is going to sound completely different.” Each of the performances of a piece will be a little bit different; especially when there is a full audience. 

“The audience is half the fun,” Reaoch said. “So, I think the more people who are able to come out and support the Jazz Band and fill up the seats at the concerts, the more fun the band is going to have and the more fun the audience is going to have.” The turnout for the concert on Nov. 21 demonstrated this principle, as the atmosphere surrounding the concert was incredibly fun to be a part of. 

Jazz is a unique form of art that allows students to not only enjoy the pieces they perform; but also grow in their relationship with God. 

“There’s also so much beauty and art,” Joanna Herrlin, a senior social work major and a trumpet soloist said. “That when I think about it, I just know that only God could’ve been so creative and so incredible to allow music to come together in the way that it does.” 

Cadence Powers is a junior Professional Writing and Information Design Major. When not working on schoolwork, she can best be found reading or writing. 

Photos by Katlynn Rossignol