The college experience, including traditional studies with a multifaceted curriculum to the educational activities outside the classroom, should provide a student a real-life experience.
It’s like the driver’s ed approach: The car simulators are great, but there’s no substitute for getting behind the wheel of a real car.
For a music student, jamming in the training room may be spectacular, and hours of theory in the classroom is equally important. But what students want is to get to the heart of their desired major.
At Fort Lewis College, that means getting on the stage of one of the nicest venues in the West and playing to a sophisticated audience eager to support local arts and kick down some money to enable the Community Concert Hall to exist.
That’s the deal with the Jazz on the Hill series at FLC, an annual event that serves as the primary fundraiser for the Russ and Bette Serzen Endowment for Concert Hall Operations. The fund operates in honor of early Concert Hall supporter and jazz lover Russ Serzen, and the annual concert and the fund continue with the organizational help of his wife, Bette.
Jazz on the Hill highlights music majors and gives them the chance to back a strong vocalist. Joyce Lyons will be featured Saturday in this year’s show. She will perform with FLC music professor, band leader and drummer Jonathan Latta, along with Lee Bartley on piano and students Spencer Church on bass, Brian Stoneback on tenor sax and Sam Kelly on alto sax.
For someone like Lyons, a returning performer who also teaches vocals, it’s an opportunity to be part of a collaborative group who do this for the music – not just the immediate satisfaction of performing, but also for sustaining the arts locally.
“One of the things that I love about Durango, Jazz on the Hill and Bette Serzen is the love for the music and that Bette, specifically, sees this as a legacy to share with future generations,” Lyons said last week from her home in Minnesota. “I’m just excited and honored to be a part of it.”
While this is a fundraiser, and an important one considering it’s a fund that could sustain the Concert Hall for years to come, it’s also a college event, and involving students early in their careers is just as important as the checks that will be written.
The stage, in this case, is the classroom. Lyons knows this is as much about the students backing her as it is a show that showcases her talent.
“I love the idea keeping Jazz on the Hill being about the next up-and-coming students,” she said. “They are young, hungry and eager, and it’s great when you come and hit it and they realize you want to play and have a good time.”
Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.
Bryant’s Best
Friday: Rock music with Couches and The Freeman Social, 10 p.m., no cover, The Olde Schoolhouse, 46778 Highway 550 north, 259-2257.
Saturday: Jazz on the Hill endowment fundraiser with Joyce Lyons, 6 p.m., $100 includes appetizers/dinner, Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, 247-7657.
