Sounds of Jazz by Vocal Essence
Picture a dim lit hall, the slow bass tune, a muffled drum beat follows, getting louder with the tempo, as a trumpet joins in, the feeling, stirring that deepest sense of music. Jazz music is raw and organic, it’s an acquired taste and how often would one see children performing a repertoire of Jazz music? This is just what ‘Junior Jazz’ by the Vocal Essence School of singing will offer.
Earlier during the week, we met up with the school’schoir director Rapti Fernando. “I didn’t know how the kids would react to jazz, because for me I think it’s an acquired taste. But I was shocked at the way they loved it,” she tells us adding that the 25 kids in the choir have not shown any feeling of boredom.
Rapti believes that if children come for singing, one has to give them an all-round idea of what it is all about and about the genre they are going to sing. “Because children will probably, only listen to commercial music that’s playing. Unless you have a parent or a relative that has a lot of influence on you,” she says.
So every year Rapti and Nanga (Janaki Amarasuriya), their accompanist, try to pick a different genre for the kids to practice on. Last year the pair picked hymns for the choir to sing and this year, the school is trying to do an introduction to jazz. Their repertoire consists a mixture of songs covering Swing, Blues and Dixieland.
“I think we owe it to the kids, to give them a platform to showcase their talents,” Rapti tells us.It’s not just showcasing a song, rather it’s all about getting on stage and learning how to sing in front of a live audience. The pair believe that this could really change things around for the children.
“Sometimes they kind of find themselves and think yes this is what I really want to do. When you sing with a band it’s a fantastic feeling, it’s a huge plus, so musically we look at all those aspects. We want to ensure that our kids get the exposure that they deserve,” she says. This is not the first time they take the stage however. Earlier this month, the choir received a good reception, when they performed at ‘Jazz Unlimited’, which is held at the CR and FC grounds every first Sunday.
Furthermore in 2014, Rapti got the kids to write and perform their own music.
“Some of them wrote about shoes, some wrote about stars and they composed the music. Obviously they can’t write their own music, but they added their own tunes,” she tells us adding that Nanga and she had recorded the tunes and put it into some assemblance.
With Jazz they had to go through a visual description for the kids and Rapti adds that it’s much more difficult to teach jazz, than it is with Pop or country and western. This is because the genre is something which the kids may never have heard of at all. But practising for the show they enjoyed it all.
“In jazz there is a classic thing called scatting, so we’ve introduced that to them and they are also learning choreography for some songs as well,” she says.
Apart from the vocal lessons, the school does another project called musical theatre groups. Rapti tells us that ‘Junior Jazz’ will also feature the musical theatre group, who prepare to take on a Trinity College exam.
“This group theatre is brilliant, you have to sing dance and act, the kids absolutely love it. So I’m also going to feature the musical the theatre groups at the concert because they do all the hard work and they have nowhere to perform it,”Rapti tells us.
The programme will also include the school’s resident band, ‘Plain- T’. “I wasn’t there when they picked the name,” Rapti chuckles. Vocal Essence also conducts a band course, because a lot of kids love to play instruments. And the school believes that if they find a group that suits each other and the chemistryworks all fine, then they will go ahead with it.
“I think that’s the main problem with teenagers, you can’t find your real group. So we put this band together and they had a great time,” She says adding that the band had auditioned for ‘Centre Stage’, a competition organised by Chokolaate magazine. Later they were selected for the finals.
“I believe in giving them creative platforms, because every single person is creative. I really believe in that,” Rapti says. “
“Junior Jazz” will take the stage at the Russian Cultural Centre on October 8, starting at 7.00 p.m. Tickets for the show are priced at 1000 rupees (free seating) and could be purchased by calling Nanga 0777769644 or Rapti 0773071987.
Pix courtesy – Vocal Essence /Theewra