East Tennessee middle and high school band students can sharpen their music skills and learn from top jazz professionals at UT’s first annual Jazz Festival on Saturday, February 22.
Participating bands will have the opportunity to perform before clinicians who will then provide feedback to the students. Guest clinicians are members of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra and the UT jazz faculty.
The daylong festival will feature master classes for students and include sectional workshops for saxophones, brass, and rhythm led by members of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. There also will be a jazz styles workshop conducted by UT jazz faculty. The festival will be in James R. Cox Auditorium of the Alumni Memorial Building, 1408 Middle Drive.
Festival registration is $25 for small ensembles and $75 for large ensembles. Register online.
The festival will include a pizza dinner—covered under the registration fee—and tour of the new Natalie L. Haslam Music Center.
The day will culminate in a 7:15 p.m. concert featuring the UT Jazz Faculty Ensemble, a UT student small jazz ensemble, and the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. It will be in the Cox Auditorium and is free and open to the public.
“The UT School of Music has a goal of recruiting the most talented jazz students in the state into the Studio Music and Jazz degree program,” said Mark Boling, associate professor of music and coordinator of the UT Jazz program. “The UT Jazz Festival provides high school and middle school students with an opportunity to visit the campus, tour the new music building, meet and interact with the faculty, and learn more about performing jazz in a noncompetitive festival and workshop format.”
More information about the festival is available online.
To learn more about the UT School of Music, visit the website.
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CONTACTS:
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lola.alapo@tennessee.edu)
Mark Boling (865-974-3615, mboling@utk.edu)