Field Notes from a NYJO July (Pt 2: How to have more genuine conversations)

I am technically still in my probation period at NYJO, but in July, I attended 4 projects. On the journey home from each one - on trains and tour buses - I wrote up my field notes. Here they are in their raw, unedited form: my thoughts, feelings and reflections in-the-moment and as-it-happened. (Click here for the cooked, edited blog post version.)

PART 2

09/07/23 | 1833

NYJO Under 18s at the Regent’s Park Bandstand

I spent the best part of this afternoon in the dappled sun of the Regent’s Park Bandstand for an outing of our Under 18s Saturday groups at the park’s annual Music Festival. Their sets ran from 3 until 5pm, but I arrived a long while earlier to help set up the stage and am writing this from my Bakerloo ride home after hanging round chatting with fellow stragglers.

This seems to have been an almost universally enjoyable afternoon, not least for me. In my short stint with NYJO so far, I’ve heard the Under 18s rehearse several times in the weekly programme at our home in Woolwich Works. Two sessions take place every Saturday; the first, run by celebrated drummer Winston Clifford, focuses on aural skills, communication, and other ‘soft’ aspects of musicianship. This is the sort of (praxial) music education that is, or should be, a universal, as a mode of our everyday lives; a basic component of what it is to be human; and with huge tangible and intangible benefits across essentially every aspect of our development as children, young people, and adults. Grand words, I know, but demonstrable ones too.

The second session is run by NYJO alumna Olivia Murphy and builds on Winston’s foundation to focus on the specific skillsets needed by jazz musicians, be they fully professional, wholly amateur, or in the effervescent worlds between the two (of which all are equally valid). She works on repertoire, sight-reading, ensemble skills, and the more technical aspects of improvisation. I’ve seen these rehearsals take place and already have a deep appreciation for the way the two complement each other, helping develop extremely well-rounded young musicians and prepare them for a wide range of possible paths through music and life. I don’t know of many comparable programmes that can boast the same breadth of development in and through music.

But today was my first time seeming them perform, and my appreciation for the programme now runs even deeper. The gig was a moment in which all the musicianship being developed on Saturdays, both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’, coalesces into 2 hours of music, and this process does bring something else out of you as a musician. That frame shift from private/practice to public/performance is a significant one, itself part of a truly comprehensive music education programme, and in this case revealed a level of poise, panache, and pazazz?in the Under 18s than I had yet realised was there. Simply put, they played magnificently: from genuinely funky to genuinely swinging, with a range of creative and confident solos, and a degree of trust and communication on stage that you would expect from much more experienced ensembles.

And, crucially, they were having a fantastic time doing it. They were dancing on stage, beaming as they came off, and supporting each other through features and solos (which the whole band took). Such obvious joy brings an audience along with you, which is a large part of why the afternoon seemed to be so universally enjoyed. That’s what music does: it’s what Alan Harvey calls a “de-isolator”, the most direct way we have to connect with other human bodies. We emotionally mirror musicians we watch; music is a medium through which genuine empathy takes place. So, if you see a group of Under 18 musicians being themselves, having fun, supporting each other: we feel those things too. We feel joy, we feel care for others, we feel inspired to drop the pretences and be our-real-selves. I had several really sincere conversations today, including with some of our NYJO Friends and Supporters whom I met for the first time. It’s no coincidence that the soundtrack to those was the NYJO Under 18s jamming over Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers’ 1981 smooth jazz classic ‘Just the Two of Us’: there was joy and realness in the air, and we all felt it.

In sum: the vibes were excellent, our Under 18s are brilliant, and I had a fantastic afternoon.

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