{"id":152,"date":"2014-02-03T04:08:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T04:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insideout.insidewp.test\/?p=152"},"modified":"2021-07-07T21:27:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T21:27:09","slug":"marching-to-our-own-jazzy-tune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abbotsfordchristian.com\/insideout\/2014\/02\/03\/marching-to-our-own-jazzy-tune\/","title":{"rendered":"Marching to Our Own Jazzy Tune"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was in high school I played in the school band and enjoyed it. I had some success and by my grade 10 year I was asked to play first chair trumpet in the senior level band.<\/p>\n

But, in grade 12, our band teacher left and a new teacher was hired. Rumour had it, he was into popular music of the day and had done some professional recording and writing.<\/p>\n

And he introduced us to jazz.<\/p>\n

At first it stretched me and my understanding of how great music could be. But then, as he warmed us up to the freedoms and the limitless capacity of the music\u2014my eyes were opened to a whole new musical world. I could play anything, anyway I wanted. He would allow for major delineations (within the context of the song we were playing) and he gave us the freedom to move well beyond anything we had ever experienced before.<\/p>\n

\u201cACS is much more like a jazz band<\/i> than a marching band.<\/i>\u201d This has been an oft-used quote around ACS during the last couple years as we\u2019ve spent time and energy zooming in on who we are and who we serve. The jazz band metaphor has been embraced by many of us here at ACS. But why do we use it?\u00a0 Where did it come from?\u00a0 Why does it resonate?<\/p>\n

Jazz of course, has its origins in the southern United States within African-American communities.\u00a0 Hallmarks of jazz music include:\u00a0 blue-notes, improvisation, syncopation, swing notes and poly-rhythms.\u00a0 Even from its earliest of days, jazz has always incorporated elements of the current days\u2019 popular music, while all along keeping true to its hallmarks of sound.<\/p>\n

In the end what you have is music that is catchy, music that is interesting, music that is not scripted, and music that just flows from the feelings and emotions of the artist performing.\u00a0<\/strong> Some would say that the music has a special relationship to time defined as swing. Others would say it contains the sonority and mannerisms that mirror the individuality of the performer. A famous jazz artist was once quoted:\u00a0 \u201cJazz is restless, it won\u2019t stay put and it never will.\u201d <\/i>(J.J. Johnson,\u00a0famous Jazz trombonist, 1988).<\/p>\n

So\u2026the question remains\u2026why is this metaphor so embraced at ACS? Why do we liken ACS to a jazz band?<\/p>\n