Aragon’s Jazz department collaborated with Hillsdale’s Jazz Ensemble in the production of both bands’ annual Jazz Concert on Jan. 17. The school’s bands played separately, with Aragon’s Jazz Band performing first, followed by Hillsdale’s Jazz Ensemble and finishing with Aragon’s Jazz Ensemble.
“The purpose of the concert is to show off our skills and what we’ve been learning inside Jazz Band,” said Alexandra Tonas, the tuba player for Aragon’s Jazz Band. “It’s mostly to show off jazz to the world — what we know and what we can play.”
“It’s mostly to show off jazz to the world — what we know and what we can play”
Band director Kevin Gallagher noted a particularly interesting moment in the concert regarding Hillsdale vocalists.
“The biggest surprise [of the concert] was when the Hillsdale vocalist performed with the Aragon Jazz Ensemble,” Gallagher said. “The only rehearsal time she had was the night of the concert. Aragon’s scheduled performer had to be absent from the concert unexpectedly, so Hillsdale’s vocalist volunteered to pick up the piece in her place. She learned the tune all by herself, and literally the second time she played it with us was the actual concert.”
Freshman Levi Kikuchi and sophomore Ella Tarara enjoyed the collaboration with Hillsdale for this concert.
“[The concert] was a really good time — I saw a couple of familiar faces over from Borel, and I really liked it,” Kikuchi said.
“Getting to work with Hillsdale was really fun,” said Tarara, who plays trombone for Jazz Band and Ensemble. I have a lot of friends there.”
The concert itself has been highly anticipated by Gallagher and the band members.
“We’ve been rehearsing since the beginning of the school year,” Gallagher said. “Unfortunately, some of the concerts and festivals that we’ve been planning on performing have been cancelled, due to the smoke and fires that were happening in North California, so this was our big performance.”
As the jazz students prepare for upcoming concerts, Gallagher helps assist them.
“My job is essentially to help [the students] with the notes and rhythms that they have to play, the intonation, the balance and blend, but I also have to mentally prepare them,” Gallagher said. “I need to … encourage them. I tell them about the stage and the environment, and I give them a visual of what it’ll be like to perform in that concert.”
Tonas appreciates Gallagher’s motivation throughout performances and practices.
“I feel as if [Gallagher] has really been pushing us to do our best and helping us learn how to play jazz in a correct sense,” Tonas said.
Gallagher was particularly excited for this concert because his involvement traces back before he directed at Aragon.
“This concert has been an ongoing thing for many years. I actually used to direct at Hillsdale before coming here to Aragon,” Gallagher said. “It was [Troy Davis] and I that started it. We wanted to do a combination of Aragon and Hillsdale students playing together … The point of it was just to share music with each other and share the experiences of everyone with each other.”
