Bay area jazz band Charged Particles came to our library to do a workshop for teens in the morning and a concert for everyone in the afternoon, so I hung out in the auditorium for most of the day, "running" the programs, which is to say, I did announcements, I welcomed people, I seated latecomers, and I sat myself for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple more in the afternoon while the performers did their thing. Not a bad way to spend a day, although being the introvert that I am, all that face time with actual people tired me out by the end!
The workshop for the teens was both a success and not a success: Jon, the band member who coordinated these programs with me, had the brilliant idea of getting in touch with all the music teachers at the Burbank middle and high schools and asking each of them to invite a couple of teens who were outstanding musicians to come specially to the program to "sit in" with the band. The music teachers all came through...but somehow, I'm afraid the idea was conveyed that the program was only for these students, when in reality it was for everyone with an interest in music! (The flyer was addressed to a general audience, but...maybe not clear to the teachers?)
So we had 10 exceptional young men (don't know where all the girl musicians were) who came, played, tried things out, learned some stuff about playing jazz, and had a great time, and other than that we had a couple more non-playing teens, and the proud families of the participating musicians, and that was it. I'm so sorry that more of our teens didn't come...but I'm also so happy for the ones who did, because they got a lot out of it. Live and learn--next time we will make sure the promotion is crystal clear!
If you'd like to see an album of photos, it's up on our Facebook page. But one way I kept myself entertained while everyone else was playing music and having fun was to do a few quick sketches.
This is Aaron, the bass player/guitarist, and Jon, the drummer. They sit so spread out that I miscalculated and couldn't get Murray, the keyboardist, into the picture (my sketchbook is square). I'll have to do another one of them from a photo so Murray isn't excluded.
And these are three of the young musicians who came to play--two alto saxophones and a trombone! I must say I'm partial to saxophone and can't imagine a jazz band without one...
These were all quick and rough, and you can tell that I have absolutely no knowledge of how these instruments are actually constructed and supposed to look! But it kept me entertained.
