According to Mike Pote, director of Jazz Ensemble I, rehearsals for Jazz Ensemble, which began in late November after auditions, have started again after Winter Break.
“(Practices are) going well,” Pote said. “I mean, I’ve only heard Jazz (Ensemble) I since that’s the one that I rehearse with, but people are working hard. We’re kind of just getting started though, so it’s a lot of sight reading music.”
The first Jazz Ensemble performance, Jazz Expressions, will take place on March 22 at 7 p.m. at CHS.
To prepare for concerts, Alex Fleig, Jazz I Ensemble trumpet player and senior, said students will warm up with jazz exercises during rehearsals.

“We usually start off with building style. We have some recordings where it plays an example and we play after it,” Fleig said. “We do a lot of swing scales, and then we go into the music.”
Jazz Ensemble meets before school every day from 7 to 7:40 a.m. Every member earns one academic credit. CHS has four jazz ensembles, with Jazz Ensemble I being the most advanced. Usually each ensemble has around 25 students, but Pote said this year more students are participating.
“We have more kids playing in Jazz Ensemble this year, so sometimes when you have more kids, the quality level is a little harder to keep up,” Pote said. “So, I think our main goal is to just, (for) all those kids that decided they want to play we want them to sound just as good as the ensembles in the past years.”