This past Wednesday, we held a “Meet the Masters” class for local Philadelphia students before our monthly Sittin’ In live session. Hosted by this month’s Sittin’ In artist Jonathan Finlayson and his band, the performers explained their backgrounds in jazz performance, why they chose the genre, and played a song together. Students were then invited to participate in a live jam session!
Playing with the band, students hummed the rhythms for the first few bars of a piece, and looped it, until they had learned an entire piece together. To conclude the class, Finlayson asked students what it was like being inside the music, with one student noting that she “couldn’t count the rhythms, but instead had to feel the piece.”
