The school’s jazz band has its final concert of the year Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the auditorium.

“People should come [to the Jazz Band concert] because nobody really knows what jazz is and [there is] a lack of appreciation for it,” drum major Jessica Goodrich said. “And it’s not easy stuff either. We’ve worked really hard for this.”

And just like other fine art activities, jazz band members work on perfecting their craft.

“We practice lots of scales in many different modes to help our technique and improvisation skills,” jazz band member Sara Broughton said. “We sight read and listen to a lot of different tunes that present a challenge for our concerts.”

In jazz, there is always room for a little solo action and the jazz players are encouraged to play over the band.

“Improvisation is a big part of the concert,” Goodrich said. “Improvisation is whenever the rhythm section, which is like bass guitar or piano, plays over certain chords while the soloist improvises over it, and they make up melodies and notes. The goal is to get everybody to kind of improvise at some point because that’s really important for jazz, you have to know how to do it.”

Improvisation may be scary, but it’s just another exciting part of the jazz band.

“I have a few measures where it’s just the drums, bass, and guitar and then me “comping”, which is jazz for soloing,” jazz band member Will Viloria said. “It’s a little nerve-wracking because it’s just you out there and you’re making most of the music up as you go along. But once you get past all that it’s fun to see what you come up with.”

The opportunity to experience a new kind of music is what Tuesday’s show is about and the jazz band hopes not to disappoint.

“So, the music is interesting. It’s not perfect – it never will be perfect – but it is interesting, and it’s a new side of band that people don’t know about,” Goodrich said.