By Katherine Hatcher | Staff Writer
Through upbeat music and the blending of instruments, the School of Music at Baylor shapes their students into talented musicians through events such as the jazz swing concert held on Thursday night.
From 7:30-9:30 p.m., the Wayne Fisher Jazz Ensemble performed their annual concert, “A Moonlight Serenade,” in Jones Concert Hall.
Baylor School of Music has around over 400 concerts a year to prepare their students for post-grad life as musicians, Wayne Fisher Jazz Ensemble director Alex Parker said. This includes all the individual recitals that juniors and seniors are required to perform in.
“We’re very undergraduate driven… so our top ensembles are mostly undergrads,” Parker said. “If you go to bigger schools, their top ensembles are doctorate students and master’s students, so younger students don’t have the opportunity to play in the ensembles.”
Parker said that the school has all kinds of ensembles for both music majors and non-majors to perform in.
Plano senior Christopher Ghaffar, who plays the saxophone and performed in the swing concert, said that there are plenty of opportunities to grow in the music program if students seek them out.
“Outside of the jazz ensemble, I’m a part of the wind ensemble, chamber groups, jazz combo, pit orchestras, working up a solo recital and directing music for the Pigskin and Sing organizations, while picking up additional gigs and auditions on the side,” Ghaffar said.
Lecturer of Jazz Studies Dr. Marcelo Boccato Kuyumjian said the music program not only offers unique opportunities, but also a special sense of culture and support.
At Thursday’s concert, Kuyumjian shared that his wife heard some students waiting outside the backstage door, screaming and clapping for their friends, and that she wondered what was going on.
“Our jazz program is a smaller program, so that is really cool,” Kuyumjian said. “You could expect the students who are not in the jazz program to not be as supportive, but there were a bunch of them there, and that carries through the other programs as well.”
Kuyumjian said that unlike other music programs he has seen or been used to, Baylor’s is special because there is no intense spirit of competition.
Ghaffar agreed that the spirit of the program is special to be in as a student himself.
“The smaller size combined with an extremely supportive culture leads to more opportunities than one could imagine,” the student said.
Parker said there are many free concerts coming up, especially after October, so students may come listen to the different types of music.
Both Kuyumjian and Parker said that their faculty work hard to commit to the students and grow the program itself.
“Hopefully they walk out of here with a love of performing, teaching, whatever their chosen path and walk with music… with a love of wanting to be able to teach it and with the knowledge to be able to do so,” Parker said.
