Buzzing with life, students piled together into the west patio of the Center of Arts on Thursday, entranced by the musical stylings of PCC’s jazz and guitar ensemble.
The ensemble is made up of both music majors and non-majors who have a passion for music and performing. These student ensembles give students the opportunity to perform in front of fellow peers on campus grounds every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-1 p.m.
“We do these performances as a learning opportunity for the students to perform in public,” said the manager for Center for the Arts events, Zak Graff. “That’s also why we do them for free. We make this music available to all of our students throughout the campus, so it provides a nice backdrop. Like how today we have Thirsty Thursdays, so we kind of co-programmed with our friends at the office of Student Affairs to put together events that we provide a soundtrack to, so that all of our students are aware of, not just the music program, but other programs we have in the full campus environment here at PCC.”
Student music ensembles at PCC are part of the performance aspect of music classes here on campus. While most music ensembles on campus are mainly instrument-based, there are also vocal jazz choir shows.
“The Vocal Jazz Choir is coming up in a little bit, as well as jazz combos […] we have two sections of jazz combos that we’ll be performing: our Lancer Jazz Big Band, and also our Latin Jazz Ensemble and some other groups that are upcoming,” said Graff. “All of those are classes that are available to any student. They are in the music program, but you don’t have to be a music major to enroll in those classes.”
Olivia Johnson is a 20 year old music composition major at PCC and plays the bass in PCC’s jazz and guitar ensemble. Johnson has been playing piano since she was four and has been playing bass for around nine years. Johnson explains how much she loves PCC’s music program and has succeeded with the help of PCC’s music faculty.
“I love it so much,” said Johnson. “I’ll always be eternally thankful for the music program here. I think it’s an amazing place to learn jazz and to learn music. The music professors here are just such an amazing faculty, and they’re just so connected with the students. Honestly, I went to another community college before PCC and their music program wasn’t nearly as good. PCC blows that out of the park.”
Adrian Rodriguez is a 26 year old PCC music major who says that PCC’s ensemble performances give him an opportunity to perform and that these performances provide something special to musicians.
“It gives me something to get feedback on compared to just having no one to kinda bounce my energy off of…but at the end of the day, it’s just like you’re getting down to your craft and being happy with what you could do,” said Rodriguez.
The next performance will be on Oct. 5 at 12 p.m. in the west patio of the Center of the Arts. These free performances will continue every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-1 p.m. until Thanksgiving. Click here to find a full schedule of the outdoor concert series.
Latest posts by Katherine Poling (see all)
