Musicians at Ponderosa Middle School and Klamath Union High School were left puzzled but inspired after the professional group, Quarteto Nuevo, visited them for a performance and clinic.
Quarteto Nuevo is in Klamath Falls for a performance they will be having at 7:30 p.m. Friday, January 12 at the Ross Ragland Theater but wanted to take a moment to encourage the young musicians at Ponderosa and Klamath Union.
The group is made up of four musicians, Damon Zick, who plays soprano saxophone and woodwinds, Kenton Youngstrom, the group’s acoustic guitar player, Jacob Szekely, who plays cello and Felipe Fraga on percussion.
From left to right, Kenton Youngstrom, Felipe Fraga, Jacob Szekely and Damon Zick, members of Quarteto Nuevo, who performed and hosted a music clinic Friday, January 12 at Ponderosa Middle School.
Education Director at the Ross Ragland Theater, Dawn Loew, helped bring the group of four to Klamath Falls City Schools, and started their day at Ponderosa.
KFCS music instructors Allen Haugh, Drew Langley and Brent Hakanson, brought their classes to the school’s gymnasium for a performance and clinic to help students understand likely a new style of music they have not heard before.
Quarteto Nuevo is based in Los Angeles, and is a world chamber jazz ensemble. Ponderosa students were filled with the sound of music as the group played several selections.
After its second song was performed, the group began to interact with the many middle school students and enlightened them with basic and complex music theory.
Zick introduced a song he wrote, named Hector, Desmond and Titus, which, to many, would sound familiar for the style of song and the specific melody played throughout the arrangement.
“What part of the world do you think this song came from? Would you agree, it comes from something off, Aladdin,” Zick said.
Throughout the performance, Zick and the rest of his band members stressed the importance which any young musician surely has heard from their band director, which is the importance of learning musical scales.
In music, a scale refers to a collection of notes which makes the song you are listening to. The song Zick composed has a particular sound and could easily be thought to have come from an Aladdin movie and played in parts of Central Asia to modern China.
Zick used Hector, Desmond and Titus to teach Ponderosa musicians something new but vital in their growth as a musician.
“If we play Hector, Desmond and Titus in a major scale, you will see how much different the song will sound when the song is originally a mode of the harmonic minor scale,” Zick said. "To change the sound, all you have to do is, in the major scale, make the third note a half step lower and the sixth note a half step lower."
Quarteto Nuevo also shared to the group about playing in different time signatures during a song and took a moment to answer question from the middle schoolers.
“It was really great to see a percussionist perform in a non-conducted band. I really, really like percussion. I have been doing it since I was seven and I am trying to continue doing it until maybe college,” Ponderosa eighth grader, Marcail Muno, said.
Ponderosa eighth grader, Marcail Muno, left, speaks with Quarteto Nuevo percussionist, Felipe Fraga during a musical clinic Friday, January 12 at Ponderosa Middle School.
The music group then drove to Klamath Union to perform in the school’s band room, filled with the school’s top orchestra and band classes. Some of the musicians who had their instruments in hand had the opportunity to play alongside the group and learn a brief lesson from Szekely.
Szekely, who has spent time traveling and playing cello for recording artists Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake, took a moment to improvise with seven students on their instrument under his direction.
As a demonstration, Szekely drew a line on the board which gradually grew or trickled down. Each student played according to a different diagram, which each student interpreted in their own way and improvised in a solo.
“I want you to not even think of counting or a scale or the mathematical part of this but use the language part of your brain,” Szekely said.
“It got me thinking in a different way. When I was called on to do it, I was in a bit of panic at the first part but then you get into what works and what doesn’t. You then see if you build off something new or you continue with what you had in mind," Klamath Union 10th grader, Nathaniel Soriano, said.
Klamath Union 10th grader, Nathaniel Soriano (trombone player) performs a solo playing alongside the group Quarteto Nuevo during a musical clinic Friday, January 12 at Klamath Union High School.
Klamath Union senior, Miles McCalister, also a cello player, had the difficult task of playing for Szekely. McCalister also plays in the Klamath Symphony Orchestra and along with Soriano, has ambitions of possibly majoring or minoring in music.
“What I was left with most was to kind of break away from what classical musicians kind of think of as music and think in a different mindset when it comes to improvising and music," McCalister said. "This absolutely inspires me. It is my goal to be that good."
Klamath Union senior, Miles McCalister, right, plays a solo alongside the group Quarteto Nuevo during a musical clinic Friday, January 12 at Klamath Union High School.
Music by Quarteto Nuevo can be found on Spotify. The group has been composing new movements of its Jazz Road Suite for each state the group visits. The song called The Journey, written by Fraga after time spent in Oregon, will be played for the first time ever Friday at the Ross Ragland Theater.
For a full gallery from the visit from Quarteto Nuevo at KFCS, visit the district Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Klamath.Falls.City.Schools
