During the summer students and community members can be a part of the UNC Summer Jazz Workshop. In this workshop, participants have a choice to take a workshop with a Jazz Journalism/History route or the performance route. Participants of the performing route will collaborate with one another and learn from the best, which includes Stephen Anderson, Juan Alamo, Rahsaan Barber, and many more!
I got an opportunity to interview Will Jung, who is a former UNC student and participating as a performer.
Background on William Jung:
- Former UNC student
- Currently a band director
- Hometown: Fayetteville, NC
- Instrument: Trumpet
I asked Jung what brought him to this workshop, and he responded: “I always wanted to learn improv better and never got the results that I wanted from independent studying.” He also mentioned that he is a band director at a school in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where he wants his students to develop improvisation skills, which he didn’t have. In order to help his students to get to that point, he decided to improve his own improvisational skills at this workshop. He knew about this summer workshop, as a former student, but was very busy during the summer, but decided to participate this year.
I asked, “By the end of this workshop, what do you want to get out of it?” Jung replied: “[To have] more knowledge of how to improv more efficiently. It’s not about just getting better, but how do I get better. … How should I use these chords and these notes?”
Jung says there’s a spiritual aspect in music to being surrounded by many other talented musicians, that “it is very fulfilling” and would like to pass down what he learns here to his students back in South Carolina.
When talking about the workshop, Jung says that there “was never a dull moment” and that it is strategically well thought out with the pacing for the participants, given the short amount of time spent together. “They are having us apply what they are teaching,” he said.
As my final question, I asked for any words that would like to share with someone who would like to join the summer jazz program or learn jazz in general. He replied by saying, “You are never too old to learn … reach out to your resources … and never be afraid.”