This year, many groups participated a variety of exciting and educational activities for J-Term. J-Term takes place the first two weeks after winter break. Students sign up for a particular class, some of which include long distance travel, and study that subject for two weeks. The J-Term that I went on this year was called All That Jazz, and was led by Bethany’s Band instructor, Sherry Good. The J-Term dove into the different genres of Jazz, mainly focusing on the Blues. We learned about multiple different artists, the history behind the music, and the sound of the music.
The first week was spent at school. We watched several documentaries on various Jazz artists, and learned about the origins of Jazz, and how different it is from classical music. Though there are several genres of Jazz, we learned the most about the Blues. Dale Shenk, the bible teacher, even came in and played some blues on his guitar!
The second week we learned more about Jazz, but we also took a trip to Chicago. During this time we visited a Jazz club called Andy’s Place. There we got to listen to classic jazz in a very different environment. We also visited a Blues club called Buddy Guy’s Legends. We were given a tour of the place, and got to see some interesting things collected from Buddy Guy over the years.
Overall, the experience was very intriguing. As someone who loves music, the J-Term was a very good opportunity to learn more about a genre that I wasn’t very familiar with before. I learned a lot and had fun on this J-term.
~Skylar Yoder