Rather than rushing to the bleachers on Pickert Field, students rushed to fill the new auditorium Diller Hall in the Center for Creative Arts and Technology (CCAT) on the night of December 10th. As Jazz Combos performed the pieces they had been practicing for months, the seats were finally packed with their peers when they looked out into the audience.
With the opening of the CCAT, Head of School Charles Franklin encouraged Upper School students to show the same support they give sports to performing arts. To kick start this initiative, Mr. Franklin challenged the Upper School: if 100 students attended the Jazz Combos concert, a “No Homework Weekend” would be given in January.
This challenge created an incentive for many students to attend the concert, an event that typically doesn’t have a high attendance. “This was my first jazz performance that I have attended at Hackley, so I thought it was very cool to be able to see my classmates perform,” said senior India Davis-Hanessian.
Meeting three times a cycle, the Jazz Combos class on the Hilltop is taught by performing arts teacher Rafi Malkiel. At the beginning of the year, each Jazz Combos class will try various songs: jazz pieces Dr. Malkiel recommends as well as non-jazz songs that students recommend.
“Dr. Malkiel is very encouraging if you don’t know what you’re doing or you do something wrong; he encourages us to do improvised solos every recital. He’s a great teacher because he knows so much about music and music theory, he has so much experience, so he teaches us a lot,” said senior bass player Zora Blu’ Teacher.
From modern songs like “From The Start” by Laufey to classic songs like “In A Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington, the three different Jazz Combo groups performed songs over a wide range of genres and eras. A highlight of the night was when Jazz Combos Three played an original song named “Iguana in the Sun,” written by sophomore Michael Baez.
In addition to allowing students to hear their peers perform in a new space, this performance provided musicians a new performing experience as they had been in Zetkov previously.
“I thought Diller Hall really added to the performance and made the ambiance better. My friend Philip Mahamedi was one of the main soloists, and I was very proud of his colorful performance,” said senior Dylan Firooznia.
Before the performance began, Mr. Franklin had each student in the audience sign in as a way to keep count of how many students came to support their peers. Following the recital, Mr. Franklin announced that only 95 upper school students were in attendance. However, since his initial proposal did not specify which kinds of Hackley students needed to be there, the seven lower and middle school students in the audience counted toward the 100 that were needed for the no-homework Weekend. The no-homework weekend was awarded for the weekend of January 17th upon returning from winter break.
