The Communicator • A Student Voice

Julia Nunes, a ukulele wielding 21-year-old from upstate New York, performed at The Ark in Ann Arbor on Monday, June 7th. Nunes, who is popular on YouTube for her inventive covers and quirky original songs, rose to fame on the site in 2007 after a video of her covering Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” went viral. A few years and nearly 162,000 YouTube subscribers later, Nunes’s musical career is still a bit of a shock to her: “I’m still kind of surprised by it. It was not a tangible goal that I [thought I] could possibly achieve,” she said.

On Monday night, she and her band performed several songs — both covers and originals — Nunes has posted on her YouTube channel, as well as a pop medley featuring 3OH!3, Ke$ha and Lady Gaga. They also performed a new song written by Nunes that is not yet titled. “I think it is one of the most therapeutic things to let loose some of the emotions you have been feeling as of late,” she said.

Nunes is currently touring with her band, and will perform at Bonaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee from June 10th to 13th.

For more information about Julia Nunes and her music, visit her website, www.junumusic.com or her YouTube page, www.youtube.com/jaaaaaaa.

It is the end of an extraordinary year for CHS jazz, and the school’s maestro Jack Wagner has announced next year’s after-school advanced combos:

Standard Deviation

Kyle Morrison – Tenor Sax

Dakota Denison – Alto Sax

The Famous Jack Wagner Scissorkick

Leif Gearhart-Hall – Trumpet

Jordan Siden – Guitar

Gill Golden – Bass

Josh Fendrick – Drums

Blootrooth

John Schneider – Alto Sax

Jordan Vale – Trumpet

Ryan Shea – Guitar

Paul Smith – Piano

Adam Olszewski – Bass

Erez Levin – Drums

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On April 24th at a seemingly casual show at the B-Side, an Ann Arbor youth music venue, local pop-punk band Medic performed live after a year-long hiatus. This event was something completely unexpected by fans. “No-one was expecting us to reform as a band… not even us,” says Medic guitarist Christian Koch. “We started thinking of coming back together a few months ago, and started seriously rehearsing two months before the show,” said Koch. The night’s turnout totaled up to a whopping one hundred and sixty-seven people, one of the biggest crowds the B-Side has ever hosted.
Medic is one of those bands that combines technical yet melodic guitar playing with rock-solid basslines and brutal drumbeats. The four members are all friends, and to them, playing music is just about having a good time.
“It felt great to be up on stage with the guys again,” Koch adds with a grin. “We were all really happy to be playing our older songs but we added some new stuff too; we’ve all really grown as musicians in the last year.” It was one of Medic’s most exciting and well-attended shows of all time- not a bad way to start off a new career as a band.

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Medic is:

Alex Fuchs – Guitar and Lead Vocals
Christian Koch – Guitar and Backing Vocals
Andrew Klaver – Drums
Andy Godwin – Bass

Community High School Jazz Band Advanced I won the 2009 “Outstanding Performing Group” in Downbeat magazines 33rd annual student music awards competition. The members of the combo were Ella Campbell (Saxophone), Charlie Hack (Bass), Jordan Otto (Drums), Jack O’Connel (Guitar). The Combo was directed by Jack Wagner, CHS jazz director.

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Community has always been a school that is closely associated with art. Our school has a wonderful fine arts programs, including one of the worlds best and one of the few high school combo Jazz programs. However, This is not the only way students make music. More…

It is 5:00 on a cold, wet morning. Only the streetlights are able to reveal the first few of the Community High Advanced Jazz students, drowsily puling up in their cars to the Jazz Room door. Ranging all the way from 9th through 12th grade, more and more students arrive at the school, as musical instruments and equipment are loaded into minivans. When everyone arrives, the minivans leave, and they all depart to Kalamazoo, for the Western Michigan University Jazz Festival.

The Western Michigan University Jazz Festival took place March 13th. This was the 30th festival and it involved performances from high schools across the state. Each ensemble was seen and heard by their peers and a panel of judges, who gave the bands feedback in voice recording and in writing.

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On Thursday, March 18th a few members of the Community High Jazz Band showed how hard they practice everyday during their amazing performance at the Barnes & Noble on Washtenaw in front of the windows. Readers from the neutral zone and poetry slam poets also shared passages of their hard work to make a great performance and fundraiser for students at Ann Arbor Community High School. A small group from the cast of an upcoming play put on by the Community Ensemble Theater (CET) performed a skit from their play as a sneak peak to encourage people to come. Nat Powell, the Community High librarian said, “The performance and fundraiser went great and the manager at Barnes & Noble says she would like to do it again in the fall because the sales will be greater [and] therefore more proceeds to Community High.”

On March 30th, Wale came to a packed Power Center in downtown Ann Arbor. Big Sean, a new artist who is sure to blow up any day now, and Clipse, a more widely known duo, opened the show.

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A snowy Friday night in Ann Arbor makes going to a concert at The Ark a comfortable, exciting experience for most grownups. At a typical show here, you would expect to see a variety of Ann Arbor’s hip young adults (and when I say young, I mean 20-30 years old) mixed with a plethora of middle-aged, music-loving couples. When The Macpodz played, however, it was different: the relatively small venue was packed with high school students, music teachers young and old, parents, kids, elderly citizens, etc. The crowd displayed a great range of social diversity, with slightly withered ex-rockers, young, ambitious musicians, fun, lively, show-going ‘modern hippies’, a range of excited high school students, and even several elementary and high school teachers, all spread about the venue. Overall, the crowd sufficiently reflected the happy, beautiful, liberal mood of this town—and, with soul-driven, passionate musical fusion, that is exactly what The Macpodz did.

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Walking from place to place can become boring and tiresome. To assist those who do not know how to enjoy walking these songs may help you out. These five songs epitomize head bobbing jamz. Factors taken into account include, bass lines, length, tempo, and feel

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