SYMPHONY of sounds

By Sophia Nguyen

Less than a mile away from Yerba Buena High School, there’s another school there called Bridges Academy; a middle school with seventh and eighth graders. There’s a Jazz Music Program there: near the band class and the basketball courts inside the school. The program usually opens every week from Monday to Thursday at 2:45pm to 5:30pm, occasionally 6:00pm as well. Since there are many music programs around, another name for them is Progressions.

I found out the program existed when I entered summer school to get ready for eighth grade in Bridges, you could say I’ve known them for a while. There’s two teachers there, Mr. Tri and Mr. Rey. Mr. Tri was the first teacher I’ve met during summer school a while back, back then I barely knew how to play any instruments. Mr. Rey was unavailable at that time.

Mr. Rey is another teacher in Progressions, basically a secondary teacher. He was known to be very playful and energetic, making the classroom more enjoyable and entertaining. Mr. Rey also teaches, but he mostly just acts playful with the students. Personally, I’m happy he’s here. We can have fun but also learn something new, that’s why I enjoy this program a lot. He’s very amazing at the guitar, he’s known as the lead guitarist in the band. And he was a former student here at Yerba Buena as well.

Mr. Tri would pick me up every week at a certain time during summer school class. Mr. Rey wasn’t there at that time but he did teach me how to play the guitar. That made me want to get my own electric guitar, so I did. He would teach me the basics like what the strings' letters are called, how to use the pickups, and how to tune, etc. That’s when I realized they’re a program, which immediately got me interested because I never knew it existed there in Bridges.

Mr. Tri: What’s up Sophie, I’m Mr. Tri. I’m the lead instructor here at San Jose Jazz Progressions at our Middle School Bridges Academy. 

I remembered when I was first introduced to the program, Mr. Tri remembered how I was extremely shy and not as talkative. Now that I’m a freshman, I’m more chaotic myself and pretty much a gremlin like how he described me. They were like my second family, a community where I can be myself and get more comfortable. They truly made me feel like I belong there in this amazing program.

Since then, I started to get more attached to that program during eighth grade and even now in my freshman year. It made me wonder where it came from, how it was created. 

Basically it started a couple years back under the direction of Mr. Hego Garcia by hiring the different Franklin Mckinley district team to introduce music to students. Making music programs is a great idea for students who are interested in music when there are no official music classes in school. Most schools have music classes anyways, but it can still be really fun.

Mr. Tri: This is a special place to share the creative process for my students.

Even the two teachers would throw a party. It happens at least six or seven times a year: after performances, which is around two to three performances a year. Before Fall break, Winter break, Spring break, and Summer break.

Mr. Tri wanted to instill self-confidence in students, and learning new stuff with instruments is a great way to get self confidence since instruments can be a bit difficult and confusing. It is pretty useful and helpful for that kind of stuff. 

Mr. Tri’s inspiration was from his teacher when he was a kid in middle school, his teacher was his mentor who taught him about music a lot. He started playing music when he was around thirteen to fourteen years old and now he’s twenty five years old, teaching kids about music. All of that transferred over to Bridges so he can do the same. 

Mr. Tri: Through lots of practicing, lots of failures, I tried to instill self-confidence, picking yourself up. And these skills are gonna be infinitely useful when you're out in the adult world.

He found out about the program when he was still a student in a university, it was a great opportunity to supplement that during his tenth year in university. He was pretty young, though Mr. Rey is younger since he’s nineteen years old. He was still in school while he was working in Progressions and he also has another job of teaching in another school. Mr. Rey only comes over during Tuesdays and Thursdays now like last year.

A typical music program has a maximum of two performances, but this one is kind of different. They usually perform twice in Bridges Academy and occasionally in public as well. Mainly twice in Downtown, so that's pretty much a lot for a single year. Last year, we couldn't perform much in public, now we are. It was a huge upgrade and I’m proud of them. They were even gaining more students this year.

Mr. Tri: Everytime a student's eyes light up when they are able to play a riff after struggling so much, it really brings joy to my heart to see them build their confidence and their joy in playing music.

Mr. Tri loved this job, he loved seeing his students build confidence in themselves. He didn’t regret choosing to teach other students in this program, despite most of them being very chaotic. 

I’ve been there for a long time, it was truly chaotic but I’m very fond of the memories. During the times in that program, it has been such a wonderful experience. I’ve met so many new people, made so many new friends, I get to watch people show off their skills in music and it truly makes me feel joy. I still come there during High School because this program means a lot to me, they were like family and I wouldn't have it any other way. I even got to build my self-confidence and play advanced guitar and bass guitar riffs. I improved so much in such a short amount of time.