Valparaiso University’s annual Jazz Festival gives high school students a chance to learn from the pros as well as to perform onstage.
Hebron High School Jazz Ensemble brass section players perform during the Valparaiso University Jazz Festival on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Each night, the festival gives two or three area high schools a chance to perform onstage somewhere besides their own school. Before the professional musicians perform, the pros lead the younger players in a workshop, giving them some pointers they might not get from their own band instructors. Jesse Rayburn, a VU freshman from Mount Prospect, Illinois, is a mechanical engineering major. He plays trumpet with the VU Jazz Ensemble, which is playing Friday night. “It’s just good music. It’s so freeing, so different from everything else,” he said.
A member of the Washington Township High School performs on the xylophone during the Valparaiso University Jazz Festival on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. “A lot of the people in jazz just seem to be laid back and relaxed,” he said. When that first drumbeat hits to start the concert, though, it’s time to set the joking aside and get down to business.
Tickets for the professionals’ performance are $15, with VU employees, staff and students admitted free. There’s no charge to see the high school students perform. For more information, go to www.valpo.edu/music/performances/jazz-festival/.
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