In March, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra made its debut road tour—a much-anticipated event that took some doing to bring about. After much anxiety that it was not going to be scheduled, Laurie Carter (administrative director of Jazz Studies) rescued the tour and quickly made connections for us to perform in Philadelphia; Scranton, Pa; and Yonkers. Everyone in the orchestra was anticipating the three-day excursion and was anxious to be heard in new venues. Said trumpeter Dominick Farinacci, "After much hard work put into countless rehearsals each week, it's great that the band gets to play outside of Juilliard."

Out of the three performances, I felt our concert in Philadelphia was the most memorable. My bandmates are all outstanding players and bring a high level of musicianship to every gig they do. But this particular concert made the most of their outstanding character and the affable attitude they exhibited toward the audience of young high-school students.

Juilliard Jazz Orchestra members Dominick Farinacci and Justin Kisor congratulating their band-mates on a successful performance as the bus departs from Yonkers after the last concert of their tour. (Photo by Ryan Redden)

We arrived early on a cold Philly morning to play a 10 a.m. show at William Penn High School. The band members were weary from the 5 a.m. departure, and we were all wondering what was in store for us at an inner-city public school that had a part-time music teacher for a program that consisted of about 15 students. Frankly, I was wondering if we had the right place, since the performing arts school was just minutes down the street. I imagined a rowdy auditorium of disinterested kids jeering us off the stage with loud chants of "We want Jay-Z!" (The rest of the band had similar sentiments.)

Jazz history professor Loren Schoenberg (who is also one of several directors of ensembles at Juilliard) conducted the big band that day. He quickly figured out our seating arrangement in the compact auditorium, politely greeted the administration and security guards (who outnumbered those at a Madonna concert), and prepped the band. Schoenberg chose the famous Count Basie chart Swingin' in C to lead things off. The up-tempo count-off began as the students entered. The saxes filled the reverberating hall with the unison melody, leading into the roaring tenor solo by saxophonist Adam Niewood (often quoting Lester Young's solo on the original recording).

Surprisingly, the audience was warmly receptive to the band, cheering us on. In addition, Schoenberg added a unique touch to the concert by giving the audience a history lesson in jazz music, as the band's offerings spanned the eras of ragtime, swing, bebop, and more contemporary jazz pieces. It turned out to be a long concert, but definitely worthwhile to the majority of students, who were probably unfamiliar with the history and tradition of jazz music. Some of the many notable performances that day were heart-wrenching ballads by trumpeters Brandon Lee (featured on the Louis Armstrong classic, When It's Sleepy Time Down South) and Justin Kisor (who did a rendition of Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust). The two divas of the band, Jen Krupa and Erica vonKleist, had a soulful tradeoff between clarinet and trombone on Duke Ellington's The Mooche. In addition, alto saxophonist Diron Holloway's septet arrangement of Urgetsu by Art Blakey delighted the audience. There was even a competition between trumpeters Kisor and Jumaane Adeogba on who could play the longest note. (Unfortunately, the competition was called to a draw after five minutes, when Jumaane had to answer his cell phone.) Still, the students were in awe and disbelief.

After the great morning concert concluded with an ovation from the students, we were invited to a pizza party with the music students of William Penn High School. I was at first surprised to see fewer than 15 music students, in a high school whose enrollment is double that of Juilliard. But they were so grateful that we came, and some kids asked for autographs. After conversing with them for a while, I learned that these bright kids were very eager to learn music despite their deteriorating music program. I felt fortunate that my public high school had a decent program and tried to give the students a glimpse of all the wonderful experiences there are in music. As I looked around the room, I proudly saw that my fellow bandmates were making friends and encouraging the students the same way.

"We got to know each other and share stories about life and the aspects of being a musician. It was an enjoyable experience for me, and I have the feeling that we opened a door in someone's life to the world of music," said drummer Carmen Intorre. Overall, the tour was a huge success, and it felt good to travel around and play in different cities and towns. I hope we will continue to play at schools like William Penn High to enrich and inspire our youth to love music.

Ryan Redden is an Artist Diploma candidate in jazz.