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By Rafael Rodriguez / Staff Writer
By Rafael Rodriguez / Staff Writer
Hundreds of people around southern California gathered to come and listen to the music that they enjoy at Riverside City College’s Jazz Festival.
Jazz music originated in the southern United States in the early 20th century with influences from African-American communities and European music traditions.
Jazz music is interesting as it incorporates music from all sorts of genres branching out to many sub-genres of the music, and all of these genres could have been seen throughout the festival.
The event started on May 13 where vocal Jazz ensembles performed to show off for the other groups in attendance.
Although it wasn’t a competition, many of the groups tried their best to make their performances top notch.
There were no instruments played on this day. Everything was done vocally.
The performers all made noises that would simulate real world instruments to give their performances a more lively feeling.
Certainly, a lot of practice went into these performances, when asked about it, Brandon Crenk and Derrek Ferrell both stated that they practice several hours every day to prepare for events such as these.
However, Crenk doesn’t let his love of this music stop there, as he hopes to one day become a jazz music ensemble director.
This was just the beginning of the event, as it carried on to the next day.
Day two was more focused on the instrumental portion of Jazz music.
Jazz Bands from various ages flocked to RCC to perform for the attendees of the festival.
The love for the music was definitely in the air.
Everywhere guests went during the event, people could be heard talking about music, trading advice or techniques on how to achieve a certain sound while playing an instrument. Other participants were heard practicing for their performances throughout the day.
The performances themselves were really enticing as many types of jazz music would be played using various instruments ranging from saxophones to trumpets, to drums to electric guitars.
Each one was played perfectly, encompassing the feeling of the performers that were playing them; and that seemed to be the theme of the day.
“It allows us to put ourselves in our music. We could easily represent ourselves and our feelings that we are feeling into what we are playing. If we are feeling down we would play softer and quieter, or if we were happy we could express it by playing very fast and happily,” said SGMS Jazz Band, a first year jazz band.
The festival’s overall atmosphere was definitely memorable and one worth attending.
Seeing hundreds of people joined together by one single cause is one worth watching and experiencing.