Around 2,000 central Ohio students experienced a jazz masterclass at Mershon Auditorium in Columbus from trumpet legend Wynton Marsalis and other musicians from Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The students, who were in school music programs coming from as far as Bowling Green in northwest Ohio, were treated to a 45-minute jazz performance called "Jazz for Young People," highlighting some of the staples of the genre. It was followed by a question-and-answer portion where students got to ask questions of Marsalis and the other musicians at the auditorium on North High Street at the Ohio State University campus.
Naomi Figueroa, a junior at Columbus City Schools' Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School who plays the alto saxophone and flute,
said the experience was an amazing opportunity to "hear people better than you."
"You get to see how it's supposed to sound like and just how they do it," Figueroa said. "It's amazing how good you can get at this – it's inspirational but also I need to go home and practice."
Jazz at Lincoln Center is one of the foremost jazz organizations in the world, and is headed by Marsalis, who is the artistic director for the center. In January, the legendary trumpeter and composer announced he would be stepping away from the artistic director role after 40 years with the organization. During his time at the center, he has placed a special emphasis on engaging with young people and getting them interested in the art form.
Jochen McEvoy, director of instrumental music at Fort Hayes, said the experience for himself and the students in the music program was invaluable in learning and improving as musicians. He said he plans to bring the discussion back to the classroom.
"Having world-class musicians being around them, I think, helps elevate your performance regardless," McEvoy said. "Seeing what they're doing when they're performing, how they interact with each other, what they're playing. There's so many lessons that can be learned from just being in the same room, in the same areas as these wonderful musicians."
The program was put on as a collaboration between Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Wexner Center for the Arts, which operates Mershon Auditorium, and Columbus Jazz to help engage young people with jazz.
Zach Compston, vice president of community engagement at Columbus Jazz, said connecting with "lifelong-learners" from pre-K to adults has become a key part of the organization's mission to promote a uniquely American art form.
"It was born and created right here in the United States and representative of our American experience," Compston said. "Jazz is creative, individualism with the jazz solo but also the democracy and the working together of swinging as a band."
Kathleen Felder, the interim head of music programming at the Wexner Center for the Arts who previously served as tour manager for Jazz at Lincoln Center, said that performances like this help young people broaden their perspectives.
"We often have a concept of what different genres mean, whether that's classical or jazz music, but this will help people to understand and expand that [the genre] is maybe not the idea of what we think," Felder said.
Todd Stoll, chief education officer at Jazz at Lincoln Center, who was a musical instructor and curriculum coordinator at Westerville City Schools for nearly two decades, said they want to provide "on-ramps" for people at "any level of sophistication" to become interested in jazz.
"The thing we need more of in our country, city, state, community is more humanity," Stoll said. "And humanity doesn't come from math or science – it comes from the arts, and we need a lot more arts for everybody, for every level of student. The arts puts you in touch with something greater than yourself, and that lets you find your humanity."
Cole Behrens covers K-12 education and school districts in central Ohio. Have a tip? Contact Cole at cbehrens@dispatch.com or connect with him on X at @Colebehr_report
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio music students get masterclass from Winston Marsalis, jazz legends
