|
A10—Camas-Washougal, WA Post-Record Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Camas students spread tunes and tradition ❑ J.D. Zellerbach choir celebrates Jazz Appreciation Month By Clarice Keating Post-Record staff
A group of local students is jazzing things up this April in their school and community.
The J.D. Zellerbach Elementary School choir, JDZ JAZZ!!, is celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month by studying and honoring the music form. Even Camas Mayor Paul Dennis got into the groove, officially proclaiming the month-long celebration during a recent City Council meeting. J.D. Zellerbach music teacher and choir director Natalie Wilson will spend the next few weeks educating on jazz music, musicians and terminology in her classes, providing activities and listening examples. “I believe it is important to teach our own American cultural music just as we teach multi-cultural music,” Wilson said. “It amazes me how many music educators will go out of our way to find other cultures’ music to perform but will avoid our very own —which is jazz.”
Wilson, who grew up studying the form of music, has taught vocal jazz for 24 years. Under her leadership, the elementary school choir (one of very few of that age range in the nation) earned a Downbeat Award in 2006 in the junior high division for outstanding performance, as well as a third-place award at Mt. Hood Community College’s Vocal Jazz Festival, also in 2006 “There is a lot of support for the program, and the kids love the music,” she said. “It is a great hook to keep kids in music and also to learn about our own cultural music. It is also a natural fit because elementary school students are fantastic imitators and that is how jazz music has evolved to where it is today — through the oral tradition.”
Sponsored by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History Behring Center, Jazz Appreciation Month is intended to “draw public attention to the glories of jazz as both a historical and a living treasure.” During the month, Wilson opens up her music room to all students and staff at lunchtime, hosting “Poetry JAM” on Wednesdays and showing jazz videos on Thursdays. The students said they really get down to the examples they hear in the classroom. Fourth-grader Maddie Hancock’s favorite singer is Ella Fitzgerald. Hailey Stewart, also a fourth-grader, said she enjoys listing to greats like Benny Goodman, Miles Davis and Count Basie. “It’s cool because you can express yourself,” fourth grader Amanda Lebowsky said. Several students, including fourth-graders Sierah Cain, Sierra Shuler and Brenna Larson, said their parents had never even heard of some of the musicians they learn about in school. “We find new ones every day,” Larson said. Every student at J.D. Zellerbach learns about the 12-bar blues form — even the school song features a blues tune. The JDZ JAZZ!! performed last September with the Terry Blaine Trio as part of the Camas Performing Artists Series. “We really are setting a standard for jazz education at our level as a role model for other schools in our state, region and the nation.
J.D. Zellerbach Elementary School fourth-graders Chloe Short and CeCe Svaricek celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month by participating in one of the weekly poetry jams hosted by choir director and music teacher Natalie Wilson.
|
|
J.D. Zellerbach Elementary School 841 NE 22nd Ave. Camas, WA 98607 |
|
To contact me—Natalie Wilson
Phone: 360.833.5710 ext. 2507 Fax: 360.833.5711 |
Making the News |
