Goshen College’s Lavender Jazz band hit the stage with a show-stopping performance on Friday, Nov. 15, in Sauder Concert Hall. With a set list of six different songs, the band captivated the audience and ended with an encore for their grand finale. 

Greg Smucker, who has served as the director of Lavender Jazz for the past six years, spoke highly of the group when talking about the decisions that went into choosing the setlist for the concert: “This band is very accomplished, as far as musicians, and so as soon as I knew the band — they were all returning from last year — I knew that I would need to select some difficult, challenging music so that I could keep them interested.” 

This semester, the group has been putting a lot of focus on improvisation and soloing, which are major elements of jazz music and performance. Kate Roth, a sophomore music education major, said, “Orchestra and choir are really fun but there’s nothing you can really do to bring in your personality to it and so, in jazz, you can do whatever you want with your solo. If you want it to be one note, you can make it sound good on one note, you can do scales upon scales … and it’s just so fun.”

The group is currently made up of only 12 people, which has led Smucker to call on members of the community, some recent graduates, to fill in on various parts. Roth spoke about working with community members, saying, “[they] bring a level of excellence, honestly, to it that we all kind of go along with and that’s really fun. We all know each other really well and so we all just come in and we’re all just ready to make music.”

The preparations for this concert have been no easy feat, however. Alongside difficulty with recruitment, the band had to pull together when Smucker was out for nine weeks with an injury. Thankfully, Isaac Bontrager, a senior music and biology double major, was able to step into leadership during that time, guiding rehearsals as well as stepping in for one of their concerts. Bontrager was honored at the concert for his dedication to the band and commitment to its leadership. 

Regarding the challenges of learning difficult music and lacking a director through many stages of the process, Smucker said, “It was the right semester to do it, when you have good students — even though it’s a little scary, they have the skills to do it, and then it just becomes a matter of rehearsal and work outside of rehearsal.”

In spite of everything, all of the challenges may have made the concert all the more rewarding in the end. Griffin Eash, a sophomore graphic design major, said, “I really just like playing the music to the best of my ability. When we put on a good concert and play all the music great, it’s just very satisfying.” 

Smucker was proud of the performance, saying, “I was really excited for the band, just how they connected with the audience, the interaction and communication. That’s important both ways: when the band is communicating well through the music, but also when they move and the audience responds back, it can just feed on itself as a relationship.” 

The unity between the band and the audience was definitely felt through this electric performance. Claire Troyer, a sophomore elementary education major, said, “I just love supporting people I care about, and ultimately it’s just fun to watch all these people make music.”