Students Find Their Musical Voice in the Youth Jazz Lab
By Rachel Azbell, Jazz Academy Coordinator For the past 8 Sundays, 32 students have gathered in the Jazz Academy as part of our Columbus Youth Jazz Lab program. The Lab was created in the Fall of 2014 as a tuition-free component of the CYJ program for 7-12 grade instrumentalists at all experience levels. Unlike a more traditional big band
read moreA Transformative Summer with YMCA of Central Ohio
By Zach Compston, Director of Education and Community Outreach I hate bullying because it makes people so sad, I cry, cry, cry – Why do people have to be so bad? A young 5th grader wrote these lyrics during an exercise in which students learned about how to write their own blues song at Gahanna YMCA. We recited
read moreA Reflection of the Jazz Academy Summer Camp Programming
By: Rachel Azbell, Jazz Academy Coordinator The past few weeks, Jazz Arts Group hosted three different summer camps: “Jazz Cats” Half-Day Camp, Camp Blues, and the Columbus Youth Jazz Summer Workshop. Dozens of students came through the Jazz Academy for three weeks of intense, fun-filled music-making. The energy I felt in the Academy can be described as vibrant and
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