General News: Cornwall Shines in All-County Jazz
|
| Steve Kessler puts the CCMS jazz band through its paces. |
|
| You can hear Matthew Suckling, Emerson Benn and Dan Storer at the All-County Jazz Band concert on Saturday. |
February 26, 2009
Jazz is becoming a tradition in the Cornwall school system, thanks in part to the music program that puts young musicians on the road to success starting at the Cornwall middle school. That’s where music teacher Steve Kessler has been directing the jazz band and the smaller jazz combo for the past several years. He’s worked with talented students to hone their ability to explore the tunes played by jazz greats and his rigorous program has turned out an impressive number of players who can compete with the best in the region.
At the high school, music teacher Victor Esposito picks up the work, developing the jazz talents of students there.
This year, nine Cornwall students were picked to take part in the All-County Jazz Bands, which have one public concert this Saturday, February 28, at 3 p.m. at the Minisink Valley Middle School. The students were selected for the junior high and high school bands after auditioning with their peers from across the county.
Marcy Noble, whose son, Emerson Benn will be playing first tenor sax on Saturday in the All-County Junior High School Jazz band, says that the large proportion of Cornwall students speaks to the high-quality of the jazz program, where students often get a chance to improvise in the jazz combo. In the larger middle school jazz band, students are also encouraged to explore their creativity and at Thursday’s rehearsal one student was distributing a musical score that he had composed.
Emerson, who is in the 8th grade, will be playing on Saturday with two seventh graders, Dan Storer and Matthew Suckling. Ninth-grade students Max Finkelstein, Eric Stein and Ryan Gagnon also made the cut. The All-County High School Jazz band will include Cornwall students Jack Storer, Mike Heredia and Colin Kelly.
Comments:
No comments have been posted.
Add a Comment:
Please signup or login to add a comment.
|
 |
|
