CRLS World Jazz Ensemble Students Traveling to the Panama Jazz Festival

CRLS World Jazz Ensemble Students Traveling to the Panama Jazz Festival
Posted on 01/12/2016
WJEThe CRLS World Jazz Ensemble has been invited back to participate in the Panama Jazz Festival (PJF) January 11th - 16th, 2016. The students are heading to Panama City, Panama on Monday, January 11th!

The Festival's mission is educational. It offers music classes, clinics and workshops. I first taught at the PJF in 2010 and I observed then first-hand the high level of the educators who teach there. The students spend a big part of the day (9:00 am - 4:00 pm) attending music classes taught by faculty from the most prestigious music colleges in the country, including New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and the Conservatorio de Puerto Rico. Students are also encouraged to teach and to share their knowledge of American jazz.

When CRLS music students attended the Festival in 2012, festival Executive Director Ms. Patricia Zarate was extremely complimentary. In fact, two of the Senior students that year were invited back to volunteer at the Festival in 2013.

It is well-known how music affects a persons life and helps academically with math and science, as well as with the development of managerial skills. When our students perform in a real jazz Festival like the PJF, that experience enhances their performance skills but also helps them acquire music and event production and organizational skills.

The Panama Jazz Festival has a strong commitment to teach students with limited financial resources. It gives scholarships and reduced tuition to students coming to the festival from Latin and Central America. It provides a unique music education experience to Panamanian students who converge into Panama City from several states in the country to participate.

The Festivals Artistic Director is pianist Danilo Perez. Mr. Perez, is also Director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute at Berklee College of Music and has been a member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet for the last thirteen years. His own foundation offers music classes to young Panamanian students regardless of their socio-economic background.

WJEThe Panama Jazz Festival is a life changing experience. Students are exposed to a new culture and an array of musical experiences that includes taking classes, performing alongside other students and musicians, and attending concerts offered by well-known international artists.   At the Panama Jazz Festival, music is everywhere! For a week, students live amid the sound of a new language – Spanish! – and new Afro-Caribbean rhythms and melodies. The spirit and joy of music are contagious!
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