By Bailey Musselman '18

Dy'Anna Augustus '16 wants future jazz musicians to know that you never know where your trombone will take you. 

"I would have never thought that an instrument I was forced to play in elementary school would land me in China playing for a crowd of 1,000 people," said Augustus.

Augustus, who plays in the Knox Jazz Ensemble, was one of the Knox College jazz musicians who traveled to China over spring break. The musicians shared their music and the unique tradition of jazz with audiences who, for the most part, had never seen jazz performed live.

The Knox musicians performed in concerts at Peking University and at Northwest Polytechnical University in Xi'an, conducting workshops with student musicians at both schools, attended a Peking Opera performance in Beijing, and visited the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Tianenmen Square, the Terra Cotta Warriors of Xi'an, and the medieval city wall of Xi'an.

Knox faculty member Nikki Malley '98, associate professor of music and director of jazz studies, accompanied the students.

"I learned that jazz transcends national, cultural, and ethnic boundaries and has the power to connect with people the very first time they see it performed," she said.

Sam Waldner 16, who plays saxophone for Knox Jazz Ensemble, said he was astounded by the number of people who came to see the group perform. 

"I was most surprised at the reception we got for our concerts at the two universities where we played, especially the second concert in Xi'an. There were around 1,500 people there that came to watch us. Many people were hearing jazz for the first time, too, so it was both surprising and gratifying when the audience demanded an encore and got up to dance," said Waldner.

"After the second concert was over, hundreds of students stormed the stage and wanted their picture taken with just about everyone in the band."

Many students on the trip had never traveled internationally, and one student had never been on a plane. The trip was long and the schedule was packed, but the students were energetic and adventurous.

"I think every time a person physically travels outside of their cultural comfort zone, it is a very maturing and eye-opening experience." said Waldner. "New layers of depth are added to you as a person when you are forced to regularly interact with people who have different ideas and expectations of the world, people that speak a language you are completely unfamiliar with. But being able to travel like that is expensive and not possible for a lot of students. This trip gave them that opportunity." 

Malley said she and the band members would always treasure their experience in China. She found the trip to be "magical, life-affirming, and deeply powerful."

"Because jazz is about individual and collective expression, the sharing of jazz is also the sharing of ourselves. The payoff is amazing, and I think I can speak for the rest of the band when I say that we will treasure the experience of sharing our music in China for the rest of our lives."