Neuqua Valley students learn from Grammy winner

Whether you're attempting a double play on the baseball diamond or striving to create beautiful music, nothing is more important than mastering the fundamentals.

And for a growing musician, who better to learn those fundamentals from than a three-time Grammy Award winning musician who has toured with the likes of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, the Dave Matthews Band and his own touring group, the Mu'tet.

Saxophonist and composer Jeff Coffin and the Mu'tet swung by Neuqua Valley's Gold Campus on Wednesday afternoon and treated several dozen music students to a rather last-minute clinic, which included about 45 minutes of a live performance from the Mu'tet before their Wednesday evening performance at Jilly's in Naperville.

“Every single thing we play comes out of a basic set of fundamentals that I call the ‘Big Five,'” Coffin said. “Those are listening, understanding the tone and dynamics, differentiating rhythm and time, articulation and harmony. Of those, listening is the single most important skill you can work on.”

Listen they did, as several students were in awe of Coffin's work, including his ability to weave several different influences from New Orleans Second Line to Latin funk to jazz into his music, and his rare talent of being able to to play two saxophones at once.

Recent Neuqua Valley High School graduate Matt Hassett is heading to Purdue to study engineering but hopes to play in a jazz quartet on the side.

“I'm leaving here tonight learning that it's OK to stray from traditional music and have your own type of music,” Hassett said. “As long as you stay true to the fundamentals.”

Another 2011 Neuqua graduate, Darien Williams, called the clinic the best he's ever attended.

“I've been to clinics and concerts and jam sessions but I've never been somewhere where the group was this small and the atmosphere so open for one-on-one discussion,” Williams said. “These guys are awesome musicians and I appreciate them stopping here to talk to us.”

Coffin, a Yamaha Performing Artist/Clinician since 2000, has performed more than 200 similar clinics in schools near his performances to demonstrate his appreciation of public school music education.