Day 5

Ola everyone!  Today, we got to play, and it was awesome. 

We started out the morning early, breakfast at 7, which we found out open at 7 means about 7:20, but we all got a great breakfast before we headed out on a bus that was sent for us by the Instituto Hatus, an after school music program for kids of all ages, whose motto is "Enhancing children and adolescents through music!"  This is a program sponsored by the Hatus Church where kids get to take lessons, perform in ensembles and learn about music.  There aren't music programs in the schools, so if parents want students to continue with music, they either have to put them in private school programs, or find a free program like the Instituto Hatus.  These kinds of institutes are funded through a cool program in Brazil, that allows corporations to give 2% of their taxes to non-profit organizations.  They have grown this program from its start with volunteers, to have over 30 paid workers, most of them, former kids in the institute.  They even have paid internships for the older students to continue their learning because these kids live in lower socioeconomic homes, they can't afford private school, and most of them need to be earning money to help support their families.  If there weren't these kinds of programs, many kids in Brazil would not be able to experience playing music. That is where we headed out to today.  But, none of that mattered when we walked in the door and were able to play music with and for these great kids. 

 Here's a fun on the bus pic!

 

 

 

The kids patiently waiting for the performance. 

 

It was packed in the church! The kids are from about kindergarten aged kids to older high school kids.  This is also the church where we are attending services and playing on Sunday. (I will let you know if they live stram services). And, even after not playing together since the end of May, the band sounded GREAT!!!

 We were in the middle of a solo section of a piece and a guy in the front row said, "Can I play one?" Now after doing this for many years, I have on more than one occasion been burned by saying yes to this request, but I looked and he was wearing an Instituto Hatus shirt under his jacket, so, I crossed my fingers and hoped I hadn't made a bad decision, and I am so glad that I did.  This guy got up and just rocked it!  The band perked up and you could see the "Woah, who is this guy!" expression on every face.  It was awesome.  He soloed and then traded with Anders and Chris.  The crowd went crazy.  I gave him the universal jazz greeting after he played (a hand grab at the thumbs, and a hug with the other arm around his back with a double tap on the back).  He knew it.  This guy is a player!  After the concert, he came up and said, you have Maria Schneider's "Hang Gliding" in the book?  I said yes (we are playing it later in the week) and he said, "I payed in her band when she did her Brazil tour!"  Ok, Maria Schneider.....multi Grammy awarding winning Maria Schneider....this guy is real deal.  It was great to have him play with the band, and I got to make the comment to the kids in the audience that I LOVE music and ESPECIALLY Jazz.  We've never met him, we don't speak the same language and we never rehearsed with him (his name is Ricardo by the way), and yet my kiddos sounded amazing playing with him.  Music is a universal language.  My band was having a blast, so was Ricardo, so was the the audience, and so was I.  We are so blessed to do what we do!

I was so thankful to have Dr. K. here to translate for me and make me sound intelligent at the first concert.

 

 

And after the concert, there was time for questions from the kids and they asked the BEST questions from "What are your rehearsals like?" to "What age did they all start playing music?" to even a comment snuck in during question time that was "I just want to say that I really like the way she (Paige) plays!" (More on this later. 

 

Like I said, more on Paige.....She was a superstar today. All of the girls were so excited to get to talk to her and hug her and shake her hand.  Move over, Taylor, Paige is taking over Brazil as the new favorite rock star!

 

 

More of the Paige fan club!

 

This young lady did not speak English, so she connected with the band by singing pop tunes with them.  Bruno Mars is her favorite, but she had quite a repertoire.

 

There were so many more kids than this, but these are the ones that are staying for our clinic in the afternoon. 

 

 

I LOVED watching my kiddos interact with these kids from the institute. Not much was understood between them, but there were so many smiles and many hands shaken and much laughter shared.  (And we found out that google translate works really well for short phrases)  This why we are here.  To connect with people, learn some things about this amazing culture, spread some joy through music, and to have moments like these.  Along the way, we get to help with community awareness about these kids of programs and this church.  

 

The institute's music teacher asked the kids, "How many of you are hearing a Jazz Big Band for the first time today?"  Every hand went up.  We are all so thankful to be able to be here to share Big Band music with these amazing people. 

After hanging with the kids, it was time for lunch.  This is another pay by the weight buffet and once again, the food was great!  This restaurant is a corporate sponsor of the institute an the lady that served us is the mom of one of kids at the institute as well.  She recorded me and Dr.K doing a commercial (or at least I think that is what was being said) for social media posts about her restaurant.  I can guarantee we are going viral!

 

The posters about our concert tomorrow.

 

 

And the food! 

Then it was back to the institute for the clinic with some of the players from all three levels of ensembles.

 

This is the pastor of the church, thanking us.

 

Then Dr. K took over and started a clinic about improvisation.   It was awesome.  So many kids improvised that had never done that before!  All of my students commented about how great it was to see their confidence grow, the more times that they played.  I have great videos, but they won't upload here, so we will put them in a box folder at the end of this trip. 

 

 

A balcony view from Dr. Taylor.

 

 

 

This is right outside the church.  They are advertising our concert there tomorrow.  It's going to be a blast.

Yes, the pic is a few years old, maybe from 2017 (we need to update our pics on the website), but once a Baylor Jazzer...always a Baylor Jazzer.  But, it's a cool poster, right?

 

Later in the week, we will be performing a concert, with the Institute as guest artists (or maybe we are their guests).  We will play a couple of their tunes as well.  It is going to be fun!

We got back to the hotel and had some down time and then it was off to dinner at an Italian restaurant this time.  I love watching how my students are taking the time to sit with different people and get to know them, Matt even made the comment to me yesterday that he was really enjoying talking to people that he didn't really get a chance to all year.  Here are some of the plates tonight:

 

Fun fact...Brazilian lasagna has ham in it!

And the laughter and serious discussions at these tables is so fun to watch and listen to:

Every night we do a recap of the day and share some observations or stories of the day.  Today's were filled with fun, laughter, inspiration provided by the kids, the seriously energetic crowd we played for, and great times that will become great memories for us all. 

The pastor at the church pulled Dr. K and me aside and speaking about the performance, the clinic and the interaction between the kids and the band he said, "The Bible talks about a time where the nations will come together and there will be no barriers between us.  That's what you are doing.  That's the good work that you are doing."  That's the good work our Baylor students are doing.

Thank you all for following us.

Thank you Baylor Missions.

Sic'em Jazz 

and

Tchau  (Chow)