Cathy Dobson
Teachers and students will showcase all jazz at the 3rd annual LKDSB Jazz Festival this month at Great Lakes Secondary School.
“We hope it becomes a tradition,” says Jessica McKay, head of the music department at LCCVI in Petrolia.
“I think the community is in for a wonderful treat, experiencing some of the joys the kids are experiencing.”
McKay is working with music teachers from across the Lambton Kent District School Board to present the festival to the public in the 850-seat Great Lakes auditorium on April 11.
About 200 students in Grades 9-12 make up the jazz bands and jazz choirs set to perform. They attend Great Lakes and Northern in Sarnia, LCCVI, North Lambton Secondary in Forest, Chatham-Kent Secondary and Tilbury District High School.
Jazz is a big part of the school music programs, McKay said.
“We always get kids in Grade 9 who have parents who listen to jazz music, or the kids have dug into it themselves.”
That love of jazz extends beyond the classroom at most area high schools, according to McKay.
The Jazz Attack in Petrolia features 20 singers who pursue jazz as an extra curricular. The choir offers four-part harmony with a full rhythm section performing genre standards.
“There’s always been a longstanding interest in jazz,” said McKay. “Some students just don’t know that they love it yet. The ones who haven’t been exposed to it before get really fired up.”
The festival has two components, starting with a workshop the day of the concert for all the participating musicians and singers. This year, guests from the University of Western’s jazz ensemble are leading the workshop at Great Lakes.
The concert starts at 7 p.m. and features individual performances from the six high schools and possibly a group number.
“Part of our job as music educators is to expose the kids to all kinds of music,” McKay said. “It’s a chance for them to learn some scat singing or an improvised solo.
“For us, it’s a showcase of all the fantastic things the students are doing and sharing them with the community.”
This isn’t the first time a jazz festival has been staged in Sarnia-Lambton. Area high schools did an annual jazz show at the Victoria Playhouse in Petrolia for about a decade, but it folded in 2012. McKay said music teachers were sorry to see it go and decided it was time to bring back the jazz.
IF YOU GO:
WHAT: 3rd annual LKDSB Jazz Festival
WHEN: Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Great Lakes Secondary School auditorium
TICKETS: $5 each at the door.