An evening of Jazz

Another year has rolled by.

Was fortunate to be back here in the US in time to see Jr.'s final annual performance as part of her school Jazz band.

Given all the other finals she has, this is one thing she really enjoys doing! I for one am glad that she has music in her life. 

Videos of the songs their ensemble group played are below..

She is definitely getting more confidence as time goes by. Hope she keeps playing.. and more importantly keeps enjoying music!

The girl with the golden sax

This year, Jr. decided to play the alto saxophone at Golus instead of singing songs. She practiced the weekend before and played three or four small pieces.

She looked majestic in her half sari and the saxophone matched her dress like another jewel!

Jr. has been teaching herself these pieces. Not that confident yet on her ability to play south Indian classical music. We are all encouraging her to practice more. This year her teacher has promised to help her with understanding the complex notation as well as making it easy to play these pieces. Next year, she might play the entire songs.. 

Here is a small clip from this years Golu at a friends place..

She made us proud just for trying!

Jazz time

Jr. performed with the Kennedy Middle School Jazz band at the Folsom Jazz festival. Unfortunately I missed it because of travel.

However, we got to see her perform at CMEA at San Mateo's Aragon high school last weekend. 

The kids were amazed by the sound quality in the auditorium. They also got to experience a "clinic" where prominent Jazz band teachers came and gave them detailed feedback on the performance and tips to improve.

We had a great time watching the kids perform so well and be so enthusiastic about learning!

These kids have come a long way in such a short time. It is great that their teacher and school push them and make them challenge themselves.

My phone ran out of memory. This video got cut off. Hopefully next time will have a full video..

Jr. brings back memories

Jr. joined the Jazz band at her school. This is a group from the regular band that spends extra time practising Jazz music. They stay back after school and improve.

Last year she had a lot of other classes and refused to go audition. This year, she has more confidence in her playing and it has been an interesting ~2 months.

She asked me many times to come see her perform at an informal "Pizza Night" and I simply could not disappoint her.

It was great to watch her play so confidently and how the Jazz band did in this short a time. 

She definitely did not disappoint me. "Oye como Va" brought back so many memories from 25 years ago when I first listened to Santana's version of it. It was much later during my dancing days that I learned that the original was actually written many decades earlier. 

My sincere hope is that Jr. keeps playing the Alto Sax and enjoys it!