Professional jazz musicians will perform in a free public concert and offer no-cost instruction for high school band students.
Richmond Jazz Orchestra is organizing the Wayne County Spring Jazz Fest on Saturday, March 15, at Centerville Senior High School, 507 Willow Grove Road.
Admission is free to the 7 p.m. concert, which features five professional musicians, Richmond Jazz Orchestra, jazz ensembles from Centerville and Richmond high schools, and students from various schools who are participating in a clinic earlier in the day.
The professional musicians include Mark Buselli, trumpeter and jazz studies director at Ball State University; Sophie Faught, tenor saxophonist and teacher; Steven Snyder, pianist and DePauw University music professor; Jerry Noble, Wright State University’s percussion director; and Charles Ramsey, guitar instructor at Indiana University East and Earlham College.
During the 12:30-5 p.m. clinics, students and band directors are invited to learn instrumental technique, jazz improvisation, chords reading and jazz styles.
Preregistration for the clinic and pizza dinner is required online or 765-935-2306.
No matter what school they attend, clinic participants can play in three combined pieces at the concert.
Indiana Arts Commission is funding the concert and clinic.
Richmond Jazz Orchestra performs several free concerts at area libraries, parks, churches and other venues each year. The fourth annual Big Band Saturday Night fundraiser for Riley Children’s Health is scheduled for Oct. 18.
For more information, visit richmondjazz.org.
A version of this article appeared in the March 5 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.