Jazz performance entertains all

Some people came to see friends, others came for the love of jazz, and yet some people came for their love of music in general. For whatever reason, people came to listen to the Jazz Ensemble conducted by Pat Harbison Monday night at the MAC. Almost every Monday there is a performance of an ensemble at the MAC. This was the second Jazz ensemble that has performed in the MAC, but the first time that Harbison's Ensemble has performed. \nThe concert started out with a piece called "It Could Happen to You", which was arranged by Harbison himself. This was not the original song, "It Could Happen to You," but a jazz piece composed by Burke and VanHeusen. Nine other songs were performed, ranging from jazz ballads, to pieces composed by friends and students of Harbison, and a piece by a Hoosier himself, Al Kiger.\nDuring the pieces, several members of the ensemble would come to the front of the stage and have a solo. Several soloists performed during each song. To keep the beat during the soloists, Harbison would not stand directly in front of the ensemble to conduct, instead, he stood to the side and tapped his foot. The ensemble members all either tapped their foot, or moved their bodies to keep up with Harbison's clapping hands or tapping feet. \nThe jazz ensemble consists of many brass instruments and some wind instruments that can double as jazz instruments, such as the flute. Some performers played multiple instruments, such as the alto saxophone and the flute. The trumpet players had a specific piece used to "mute" their instrument, called muters, which helped muffle the sound.\nBen Syversen, who plays the trumpet and soloed a few times said it is a necessity for music majors to play in ensembles as a part of their training.\n"The four jazz ensembles are specific university ensembles that students audition for at the beginning of the year," said conductor Pat Harbison. \nHarbison collected music from the music library and from his composer friends to select the pieces that we wanted to play.\nBut the people who came to the show were not limited to music majors or jazz performers.\n"We came because we just like music, and we play music," said junior David Cardinen who plays the drums with his friend, bass player Connor O'Sullivan. \nO'Sullivan, who is a senior, said, "We just like music and like to go to any music performance no matter what it is"