The 2022 Summer Jazz Workshop is a course that is open to not just students, but all members of the community. This brings a group of participants that comes from various different backgrounds and experiences. This enriching week was one of the most unique and satisfying experiences that I had during my time as a UNC student. As the workshop comes to an end, here are my top 4 takeaways on why you should join as well.
1) The Jazz Workshop is very flexible.
Before this jazz workshop, I had just finished my course in summer session 1 and was debating whether or not I would take a summer session 2 course. With some events occurring, I decided that I have to take a summer 2 course. Now it was a choice of which course. With the course selection being limited in the summer semesters, I had my sights on one course, but then I stumbled upon the MUSC 364 course, through ConnectCarolina. It was first intriguing to me that there was a course that was 3 credit hours long but lasted only 1 week. As I dug deeper and researched about this workshop, I was convinced that I should take this course, from its culture of developing participants’ music skills in the form of jazz to the amazing community that is formed during its time, I knew that this is something I wanted to take part in.
That being said, I reached out to the workshop director, Stephen Anderson, to ask if it was too late for me to participate in this workshop (I joined very late into the course). He replied very kindly and told me that he would be happy if I were to join the workshop. I mentioned that I wanted to experience this workshop as a musician, but was not confident enough to perform, which brought up the option to do this course as a hybrid. The hybrid course would be that I would bring my instrument and participate in the performer classes in the morning and in the afternoon, and I would take the journalism class. I decided to take this route and never looked back.
2) The journalism assignments are fun and interactive.
On the first day of class, I didn’t know what to expect, with no experience in any form of journalism. Professor Andy Bechtel made learning fun and easy. We learned about the basics of journalism, such as understanding news values, interviewing, use of social media, and writing headlines and captions. Professor Bechtel gave many great insights from his vast experiences in journalism and made it very simple for someone like myself to learn. In conjunction with the lectures, there were assignments that made us apply the things we learned, using a website (tarheels.live/uncjazz2021) that was specifically made for this course. This consisted of writing a review of the concert, using social media (Twitter) to post live events, interviewing other participants or staff, and writing a profile about them. All these experiences were very new for me, but Professor Bechtel made it a fun and enjoyable experience.
3) Every night there is a jazz performance, and it’s a treat.
During the workshop week, every night the instructors would put together and perform a free concert that would be open to the public. Participants would experience music from professionals and witness how jazz can be performed. Each nightly performance will blow you away with how performers use dynamics, chromatics, passion, and much more to convey what they want the audience to hear. Every night I had a blast listening to the various styles and forms of jazz, and it was always a great way to end the night.
4) It is an experience that you won’t get from any other course.
Right off the bat, the course is already unique for being only a week long and 3 credit hours worth, but don’t be afraid as you probably won’t get to experience any like this from another course. In such a short period, you can learn about the history of jazz from improvising properly on your instrument to also learning how to Salsa dance. The various different ways you can get a unique experience for yourself are limitless. Since the workshop is open to students and members of the community, there is a large range of ages, backgrounds, experiences and skills, but this diversity will enrich your experience at this workshop. You get to interact and spend the majority of your time with these participants and you get to learn and experience the workshop together. There is a sense of camaraderie when entering the workshop, and the friends that you make here will always be a great memory for years to come.