Hamburg Area High School musicians and area residents were treated to a special performance on Wednesday, March 11, when Mike Eben brought his Berks Jazz Jam program to the school.
“Welcome. This is awesome. Look at all these people here tonight. This is terrific,” said Eben at the start of the evening. “I would like to thank you very much for hosting this event tonight.”
Berks Jazz Jam began in November 2006 and it has only been in the past few years that the program has started going to the schools. Eben commented that it helps to get more young musicians involved.
“I’m really excited about tonight,” said Eben.
Joining Eben for the evening was Peter Snyder with his trio. Snyder is a current Kutztown University sophomore and previous Berks Jazz Jam student.
To begin, Snyder’s trio played a song and then Eben asked for volunteers from the student musicians in the audience to come up and perform some improvisation. Even if they were a bit reluctant to volunteer to solo in front of the crowd, the students loosened up after playing with Eben and the trio and were able to belt out their own improvisation with little signs of nerves.
“I was thrilled to see our students enjoy their performance with Mike and the other musicians,” said Megan Reimer, Hamburg Area High School band director. “When I told the students that they would be working mostly on improvisation at the program, many of them were quite nervous. Mike creates such a comfortable learning environment that students jumped right into the experience and had a great time!”
Reimer received an email from one of the student musicians after the program.
The whole show of the Jazz Jam was awesome,” wrote Joey Dalton. “I like that all of us had to solo (improv.) in front of everyone.”
Reimer pointed out that often times at weekly rehearsals the students have the complete opposite reaction when she mentions improvisation. The students are still learning jazz music which is full of improvisation and Reimer herself admited that as a non-jazz musician she is still learning as well.
“I just love to watch them progress and succeed in these opportunities,” she said.
For each young musician, Eben helped to put them as ease and make them more comfortable with playing what came to mind rather than notes written out for them on their sheet music. He not only helped the students with that, but was also able to teach the audience about jazz music with his very hands on approach.
“Jazz education programs, like the Berks Jazz Jam, really give our students a firsthand experience of the elements of jazz music, particularly improvisation,” said Reimer. “They have the opportunity to meet and perform with professional musicians, and the professionals give the students great musical advice and guidance. One of our trumpet players, Joey Dalton, said that these events really help him get involved and participate with other jazz students outside of Hamburg.”
Based on how the students performed and their demeanors after, it was easy to see that they were having fun with the program and not letting nerves get in the way as they played by themselves with no direction to an auditorium with not only their peers and family, but residents of the area.
Reimer found out about Berks Jazz Jam through the Berks County Music Educator’s email lists which directed her to Eben’s website, www.mikeebenmusic.com, at which the program is advertised.
“I’m fairly new to the Berks County area, and I was fortunate to have my Hamburg colleagues bring the event to my attention. I contacted Mike and, coincidentally, ran into him at the ‘Get JazzEd Festival’ this year,” she explained. “He mentioned that the month of March was open for a school to host and we grabbed the opportunity!”
The students as well as the audience were able to enjoy an evening of great jazz music from professional musicians and those jumping at the chance to learn more about jazz and improve on their own skills.
