The Mills Jazz Band is excited to perform at the San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) Jazz Festival, hosted at Hillsdale High School on Nov. 19. This upcoming jazz festival is a gathering of all the San Mateo Union high school jazz bands to showcase pieces that they have been working on.
In preparation for the festival, the Mills jazz band prepares diligently, with morning rehearsals every day from 7:30 to 8:25 a.m., and even additional practices to reinforce technique, practice solos, and work on the dynamics and mood of their pieces.
Drummer Tiffany Siu (11) talks about the importance of jazz students engaging in frequent group rehearsals. “We have [them] every single day in the morning, and people always come in during FLEX, lunch, brunch, or even after school just to practice in small groups and get their stuff together,” Siu mentions. “Because practice makes perfect, right?”
Furthermore, trumpet section leader Caden Kim (11) speaks about leading a section and making sure that his group is well prepared. “I have to make sure that my section stays on task, and if there are any mistakes that they make, I have to point it out,” Kim notes.“ I also organize sectionals, which is like practice time, so we usually have them during FLEX or after school.”
With extra rehearsals and having to set aside time for preparation, jazz students’ time management to study for their classes is impacted.
“It is kind of stressful to balance, there’s a lot of commitment with jazz band and all my AP classes,” Siu reflects. “But I just work it out. During school, I’ll focus more on jazz band stuff since there’s people here and we can practice.” She continued, “When I get home, I can focus on school stuff, and when I’m in the car, I just listen to different jazz and Latin music to know how to play it and get the feel of it.”
In jazz band, students are exposed to many different styles and genres of music. As opposed to the classical music in orchestra, they learn to play Latin jazz, jazz waltz, jazz swing, and even rock music.
Jazz Band President Milo Stretton (12) shares his observations of the attitude that jazz students approach music with. “There’s a bit more level of dedication than the other classes,” Stretton responds. “You have to come at 7:30 in the morning. A big part of jazz is listening to the music when you’re playing and really playing the music, not just reading it.”
As the jazz band gets ready for their first festival of the year, Stretton continues describing his hopes and anticipation for the SMUHSD Jazz Festival: “We’re going into it strong … [and] we’re not going to be lazy about it. We’re going to go into it with practice and preparation behind this.” Stretton finished, “The main thing is, we’re excited to hear other bands play and see what the other high schools are doing, because that’s one of the most fun things of jazz festivals.”
