Students and Teachers

                The Johnny Nicholas Texas All-Stars Big Band Bash's goal is to raise funds for Fredericksburg music students is the element of this fourth annual benefit most visible to the public, for whom it represents an evening of great Lone Star music entertainment. But to the students themselves, the educational aspects—both during the concert and during the workshops that Big Band members hold on campus during the rest of the year--are at least as important.

                Until this last year, most of the learning took place during the Bash rehearsals and concerts, when the students worked up-close with seasoned pros, who gave pointers on playing and arranging music and also offered insights into the life of the musician. “They mill around, we mill around, we all wind up sitting and talking,” laughs Marcia Ball. That remains crucial. But unlike in the past--when all the revenues went towards band uniforms, equipment, transportation and the like--part of the money raised at last year’s Bash was set aside to pay for workshops during the rest of the school year.  At these, such Big Band musicians as Ernie Durawa, Floyd Domino, Kaz Kazanoff and Al Gomez, as well as Austin singer-songwriter-guitarist Steve Bruton and Nicholas himself, return to Fredericksburg to work closely with small groups of students. Students and teachers alike agree that the results were impressive.

                “The whole idea of putting students together with professional musicians, at both the concert and the workshops, is to give the kids some ideas about the things that they can’t necessarily get in classes,” says Nicholas. “This is the intangibles of time, swing, feeling; these are the things that make music music, especially here in Texas, where musicians have always played with so much emphasis on improvisation, and groove. But you can’t put these things down on paper, and that’s why we try to concentrate on them; it fills a big hole in the overall picture.”

                “For the students just to be able to meet these musicians and be a part of a concert with them is just awesome,” enthuses head band director Kenny Ersch. “They get to see what these professionals are like, how they work, what they do, how they live when they’re traveling. They get to see them as real people, they can ask all the questions they want backstage, and they get to hear such great stories. Most schools can’t offer students an all-around picture of what the professional music world is like. But this event gives them at least a taste. It’s such a big shot in the arm for all of us.”

                “And it’s not just the musicians,” adds Bob Strauss, drama teacher, director and curator of the magnificent auditorium at Fredericksburg High where the Big Band Bash is held. “The theater students are doing more and more of the technical work, so they get the experience of working with top-flight pros in a really professional situation. We’ve got kids running the lights and curtains, doing the set changes. Now we’ve got students learning from professional soundmen. I hope that soon we can maybe get a real good video out of this concert.”

                The students concur. “This event is so much fun, and having someone like Al Gomez come sit in with us is really awesome,” says Jaron Kunkel, who played alto sax in last year’s high school jazz band. “We also get to hear and play some kinds of music that we don’t get exposed to a lot in school. But the biggest benefit of meeting these guys, getting to hang out with them backstage or at the band room, is we can see what the music profession is like for them, we can see ourselves if maybe we wanna do it the rest of our lives.” San Antonio trumpet man Gomez joined the student group on the Dizzy Gillespie/Chano Pozo chestnut “Manteca,” and played an unforgettable version of Perez Prado’s “Cherry Pink (Apple Blossom White)” during the Nicholas band’s set.

                “It’s so cool to see what music can do when it’s really focussed,” adds Wes Bourland, student bassist at all three previous Bashes, who also cites the growth of the event. “That first year it was a neat little thing, parents got to go see their kids play. The second year it was the equivalent of having a rock band on tour, which we never have here,” he continues, during a break in the 2001 rehearsals. “Every year I think I know what to expect and the Big Band does more than I expected. It amazes me more every year.”

                In the last year, students have received additional training via workshops and clinics funded by proceeds from the benefit concert. For Austin musician Steve Bruton, who does not play the Big Band Bash but who did conduct a three-hour songwriting workshop earlier this year, this presented a special challenge. “I still don’t know how people write songs, including me, so it’s hard to explain to them,” confesses Bruton, who once played guitar in the road band of fabled country songwriter Kris Kristofferson. “But the students became so gung-ho, even if they were a little shy at first; I just talked a little and they started asking so many questions that we just hit on subjects that resonated and took it from there. Once everyone realized they were there for the same reason, it opened up; once you see where the questions are going, you can open a dialogue.” Several students brought him songs they’d written, which he critiqued much as Kristofferson used to do on the original songs Bruton showed him. “A couple of these students had written some pretty good stuff,” Bruton notes. “Next time, they’ll be further along and there’ll be more of ‘em.”

                Pianist Floyd Domino and trumpet player Al Gomez helped lead several workshops. Generally, they would begin with the entire student band playing a piece. Then, the band would break into small (usually ten to twenty people) sections—rhythm, reeds and the like—and the pros would work with them on finer points of the piece being played. “The biggest surprise for me is how quick they pick up your ideas; they’re so receptive,” says Domino. “After we work individually with the sections, they return to play together as a full band, and you can see differences immediately from just forty-five minutes earlier.” The emphasis, Domino explains, is on “things that professional musicians take for granted, or things that older musicians can communicate to each other musically on the bandstand, but that younger musicians need to have told to them verbally. First off, the thing we talk about most, is the endless pursuit of the groove, how to find that groove and maintain it, because that doesn’t appear in any instruction books. We try to show soloists how to help the rhythm section keep the beat, and vice versa. And we try to teach them a little bit about how to pick and choose which of their ideas to use. The kids have great ideas, but maybe they haven’t developed them enough, or they have four great ideas for a solo but only time to use two. These are the ways we can really help. It’s really just passing down the tradition of how music’s played around here.”

                “We just talk shop with them. Some of this they’re told in class in a general way, but in workshops you’re not talking to the whole band; you’re talking to just a few trumpets and trombones. You’re talking about specific instruments and specific problems,” notes Gomez. “We don’t work with them much on interpreting music. We work with them on warm-up exercises, building range, how to get those long slurring tones, things they can do to keep their lips in shape. It’s a real luxury for them.”

To follow through on last year’s success with the workshops, Johnny plans an even more ambitious program this year in organizing and producing more of these “hands on” learning situations. “My goal for this year is to at least double the number of workshops and to expand their scope to include and involve students who might not be in the band or choir programs but nonetheless have s strong interest in music.”

 For more information regarding the Big Band Bash and the ensuing workshops feel free to contact any of the following infividualos: 

Hill Top Productions (Johnny Nicholas) – 830-997-9242 

Kenny Ersch or Marvin Housley (FHS band and Jazz Band directors ) – 830-997-6994 /997-7551

 Laurie Jenschke (FHS Choir and Show Choic director )  -- 830-997-7551

 Bib /strays (FHS theatre Director and curator of FHS  auditorium facility) – 831-997-7551             

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