The Ensembles are composed of standard big band instrumentation of five trumpets, four or five trombones, five woodwinds, piano, bass, guitar, drums and miscellaneous percussion. Music majors, non-music majors and students enrolled through the College of Extended Studies may participate in the Sac State Jazz Ensembles. Placement in ensembles is by audition only. Auditions for all jazz performing groups at Sacramento State will be held during the first day of class of each semester. The results from the audition are usually posted the following day. Sign-up sheets are posted on the Jazz Studies Bulletin Board (located outside the Music Recital Hall - across from M151) prior to the first week of classes. What can I expect on auditions for the jazz ensembles? HORN PLAYERS (non-jazz chairs): The sole basis for placement in bands will be sight-reading. During the sight-reading audition, consideration will be given to time, feel, range, tone, intonation and aggressiveness. Several styles, such as swing, funk, ballad and Latin, may be used in the audition. HORN PLAYERS (jazz chairs only): Those students interested in playing a jazz chair in a band and/or playing in a jazz combo will go through the sight-reading audition first. After the sight-reading, students interested in improvisation will be asked to play changes at sight with a play-a-long recording. RHYTHM SECTION PLAYERS: Each student will be asked to read a variety of jazz literature as well as just playing time. In addition, each rhythm section player will be asked to solo over changes. Drummers should know all styles of drumming including, but not limited to, up-tempo and medium swing, jazz waltz, funk, shuffle, samba, etc. The course number for Jazz Ensembles is MUSC 143J. There are three sections.
For more information please contact Steve Roach.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||