Stephen Thompson, who goes by Stevie, is attending the UNC Summer Jazz Workshop this year. Stephen is from Lumberton, North Carolina, majoring in economics here at UNC-Chapel Hill.
I had the opportunity to ask Stephen some questions about his experience at the workshop and his personal journey regarding his musical interests.
Q: What brought you here to this workshop and how did you find yourself here?
A: Stephen told me that he is here mainly for the credits that this workshop gives to put toward his college degree.
“I also like jazz guitar so it was a really good match for me,” he said.
Stephen said he’s been in jazz bands throughout middle and high school and was interested in seeing what he could learn here at this camp.
Q: How did you end up playing the guitar?
A: Stephen said that his dad also played guitar, and so when he was growing up, there were always guitars around so he naturally picked on up. His dad taught him basic chord shapes, but he eventually took lessons and learned more guitar over the years.
Q: Do you listen to any other kind of music?
A: Stephen said he listens to a lot of rock and pop music so the jazz guitar fingering patterns and chord shapes aren’t foreign to him. He said his other musical interests pushed him further to attend this workshop and dive deeper into other kinds of music there are.
Q: How is your experience at this camp so far and is there anything that stuck out to you?
A: Stephen’s experience at the camp has been a very positive one. He said that although the days are long he feels that he’s learning a lot and having a lot of fun while doing it. He said he likes the jam sessions and would regularly plug in his guitar to jam with everyone else.
He also said that the Wednesday night concert was his favorite since it was the first time a guitar player performed this week.
Q: Any other takeaways from the Summer Jazz Workshop?
A: One of the takeaways that Stephen mentioned was how nice the instructors were and how into the whole experience they were. They were fully committed and passionate about jazz, and he found it very refreshing in contrast to other learning experiences he has been to.