Education
(2009-04-17)
Listen Now:
DAYTON, OH
(WYSO) -
Tomorrow night Cityfolk's celebration of Dayton born pianist/composer Billy Strayhorn comes to an end. Rounding out the week long tribute will be a performance from the Stivers School for the Arts Jazz Orchestra. Next on WYSO Jerry Kenney reports on the student's at Stivers and how they're 'learning a legacy.
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(Band intro)
In a large music room crowded with chairs and music stands, practice is underway for most of the students who make up the Jazz Orchestra at Stivers School for the Arts. They've spent weeks learning the music of a man who passed away almost thirty years before they were born. Claude Thomas directs the Jazz Orchestra. He's taught at Stivers for 22 years and confesses that with his involvement in the Strayhorn Celebration the teacher became the student.
(Thomas cut 1)
Tall and slender like the alto sax he plays, student Tyrone Martin is a featured soloist on several Strayhorn tunes including It's Fine, Star Crossed Lovers and Take the A-train. He stoppped playing long enough to give us his take on the music he's learning.
(Martin cut...)
Freshman Matthew Quinn plays clarinet and baritone sax. He likes the different styles of music in the Strayhorn program but says his challenge lies in playing some of the slower pieces.
(Quinn cut ...)
George Balog teaches Jazz History at Stivers. He's excited that students are learning the music of Ellington and Strayhorn.
(Balog... )
Recently introduced to that jazz culture Balog is referring to is freshman Christine Hoy. She plays piano in the Ochestra and her trainiong up until the last year has been in classical music. In that year Hoy seems to have learned a lot about the music she's now playing, by listening to jazz musicians... and to the words of her teacher Claude Thomas.
(Hoy...)
Understanding that commanality in music styles, along with talent and a little luck should help the students in performing what Director Claude Thomas says is some very difficult music.
(Claude Thomas cut two)
The Stivers School for the Arts Jazz Orchestra performs with the Terell Stafford Quintet tomoorw night at 8 PM, in Centennial Hall © Copyright 2012, WYSO
