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Students can express themselves in Chaney Jazz Ensemble
Chaney Jazz Ensemble sparkles and shines
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
Photo
ROBERT K. YOSAY | THE VINDICATOR...Amya Franziskakis..will eldridge and the Jazz Ensemble practice after school in the music room ..--30-...
Members of the Chaney Jazz Ensemble are like gems in a fine piece of jewelry.
Each one sparkles individually, but together, they shine.
“We’re like a family,” freshman Amya Franziskasis, 15, said. “We all have different talents, but when you mesh them together, it’s a big boom of sound.”
Unlike a chorale, which follows a piece note for note, singers in the jazz ensemble improvise, explained William Eldridge, who directs the 10-member ensemble.
“It’s freedom,” he said.
Eldridge plays a melody and points to one student after another who belts out their own tune. Each interpretation is different, but it all flows together.
“They have done a lot of work,” said the director, who also teaches piano at the school.
Some students excel at writing words or music, others have crisp, clean voices, and still others’ strengths lie in performance. Eldridge tries to allow each to showcase his or her gifts within the group.
Sophomore Tamron Lewis, 15, for example, does impressions. His Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World” is dead-on.
He’ll perform the song at the school’s “A Harlem Renaissance Experience” on Feb. 26 at the school.
“I’ve been doing it since I was really young,” Lewis said, adding that he first heard the song when he was with his grandmother.
To improvise, ensemble members pick up on each other’s style, said junior Johnea Butler, 17.
“It all comes together,” she said.
To ensure a performance is cohesive, members have to learn to trust each other too, said Makayla James, 16, a junior.
“You also have to feel the vibe of the music,” she said.
The ensemble meets after school, and Eldridge is encouraged by the students’ dedication to improvement. They’ve performed at venues throughout the community.
Those are booked through Tracy Shuler Vivo, Chaney visual and performing arts coordinator.
It’s a fairly new group, and Eldridge hopes to bolster its sound by adding more voices.
During auditions, he looks for singers who will allow the group to maintain its harmony.
Sophomore La’Rayja Hill, 15, likes the fact that jazz, unlike chorale, allows performers to put their own style on a piece of music.
James agrees.
“You can express yourself and show your talent rather than staying in that little box,” she said.
For one of the songs they perform regularly, “The Wind Beneath My Wings,” the singers and their director add embellishment.
“We add our tag,” Eldridge said.
During the prelude, the group croons, “Fly away, fly away” before the students take turns singing the different bars.
“It allows all students to experiment,” Eldridge said. “They get to show how they feel it.”
He calls it ad-libbing.
The basics remain the same from performance to performance, but sometimes they vary details, raising or lowering the pitch, and sprinkling in some “oohs” and “ahhs” throughout.
Butler believes the ensemble creates
better artists.
“You see some new members come in, and at the beginning, they’re pitchy,” she said. “By the time they leave, they’re better.”
Like her fellow performers, Butler appreciates that jazz allows her to express her creativity.
“We’re not just following someone else’s work,” she said. “We’re meeting our own expectations.”
Even if you don’t like a song, the style allows you to make it your own and to find a way to like it, said freshman Brianna James, 15.
Eldridge points out that although some members sing plain but crisp notes, others have more acrobatic voices, and they all work together to achieve one whole sound.
But senior Marckese Williams, 18, is one of the group’s most-versatile singers, he said.
Singers Rhea Dowell-Betts and Lianette Cruz, both 15 and sophomores, and eighth-grader Ke’Lynn Dean, 14, round out the group’s sound.
Eldridge credits Shuler Vivo with creating the visual and performing arts program and allowing it to grow.
“This is unique in Youngstown,” he said.
That’s a source of pride for the students.
“You don’t see this in Youngstown,” Franziskasis said. “We all have beautiful voices, but people don’t know.”
Hill said she used to think the city offered her few opportunities.
“Going around to different parts of the city, performing, there’s actually a lot here,” she said.