About 60 Lincoln Public School students took part in a Jazz Day, led by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music Associate Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies Dr. Eric Richards and members of the UNL Jazz Orchestra, at Lincoln Southeast High School on Thursday, April 2.
Bob Krueger, who directs the Lincoln Southeast Jazz Bands, said the day came together out of a conversation between Dr. Richards and himself.
“He was interested in creating some culminating event for their tour involving doing something educational for the schools in LPS,” Krueger said. “We discussed different possibilities and came up with an informal jazz day format where we would invite some LPS bands to come and perform and receive some clinic time with Dr. Richards and the UNL Jazz Orchestra students, followed by a performance by the UNL Jazz Orchestra.
“As far as I know this was a new kind of event, although I have had Dr. Richards and his students over to Southeast in previous years to work with and perform for our jazz students. This is the first time that other bands came and performed as well.”
Students from Lincoln North Star, Lincoln Southwest and Lincoln Southeast took part in the afternoon along with the 20 students from UNL.
“Dr. Richards worked on the big picture stuff -- precision, musicianship, style in performance -- while the UNL students sat in with each group and gave more instrument specific comments. Each high school band had about 50 minutes during which they would perform for about 20 minutes, and receive about a 30-minute clinic after the performance.”
After the three high school groups were finished, the UNL Jazz Orchestra played about a 45-minute set.
So is there a possibility for another day like it at Southeast and LPS in the future?
“No specific plan is in place, but everybody had such a good experience that I think it would be great to keep doing something like this, and to perhaps even expand it if possible,” Krueger said.