This Saturday is our Swing Swing Swing extravaganza! It is our first Crescendo event of the season and I will be in the Fuldner lounge prior to the concert to welcome you all. There will be a Jazz combo for your pre-concert entertainment and of course fine food, drink and company. On Thursday we will be at Borders starting at 5:30pm and our special guest is Jazz Vocalist Nancy Kelly who will talk about her career as a Jazz singer. Find out if there's anything behind singing the blues! It is not too late to join Crescendo. Just call 864 6683!
For the next few days I will preview my program notes in sections. Part 1:
Although I spend most of my time now in the realm of Classical music, it certainly didn’t start that way. When I started playing the Trumpet at 7 years old, initially I didn’t learn to read music, I learnt everything by ear. I believe this gave me my instincts for music as I wasn’t working things out by reading, but instead I was feeling, listening and watching. The first musical group I joined was my school Jazz band in the 5th grade, and I didn’t join an orchestra until two years after that. Jazz essentially is where I got my start and it holds a special place for me still. When 2 years ago I was on Dr. Nietzel’s round table radio show on KSMU discussing the arts, one of the questions was: what is missing from the arts scene in Springfield? Without hesitation, I said a vibrant jazz scene. There was certainly more than a little surprise from the other participants that I the Symphony music director would say that, but Dr. Nietzel agreed and it is a credit to him that more Jazz is appearing on campus being lead by one of our soloists tonight, Missouri State Music faculty member and master Saxophonist Randy Hamm.
Ron Spigelman
