Although senior Jonathan Eber, a guitarist in Jazz Band, commits himself to only one instrument, he draws on the talents of the musicians around him to further his own creativity.

Eber started playing guitar in sixth grade out of a growing interest in rock music. Before picking up guitar, Eber played clarinet in the townwide band.

“I thought that there was less that someone could do on a clarinet or a saxophone,” Eber said.

“There are more instrumental skills that can be learned from the guitar, unlike the clarinet where musicians could mostly just do classical music. Now I do jazz and funk, and those kinds of instruments, like the clarinet and other horn instruments, are starting to come back.”

Assuming an independent role within Jazz Band, Eber said, has taught him greater powers of judgment as a musician.

“One of the key components that all members of the jazz band have to know is the different roles as musicians that each member gets. These roles require more self-responsibility and improvise on one another to create the best sounding music,” Eber said. “The fact is that everyone knows what they’re doing, and knows what instruments they should play, but also knows how if there is a lot relying on oneself, there is less to leave up to a composer.”

According to Jazz Band teacher Carolyn Castellano, collaboration between Jazz Band members helps bring them together.

“I am not lecturing all of the time and enjoy to see them collaborate and work by themselves,” Castellano said. “These groups always unify people, because there are so many egos, but an ensemble is a group which shares the same values, and if only one person does not want to work and collaborate, it can make the whole group sound bad.”

When Eber and the rest of the group practice, the members do not always look at the music in front of them. They point and look to each other while they have the chance in order to collaborate more.

Eber said that in jazz music, forming relationships with other ensemble members becomes especially important.

Hanging out with the people you are playing with and being friends with those people helps your musical talent, because you can kind of get into their minds, and it becomes more of a fun conversation than a formality,” Eber said.

According to Eber bonding with other ensemble members enables him to further push his creative boundaries.

“Micah Katz-Zeiger and I are into more similar types of music, and it is like a friendly competition, so I am always motivated to help him or ‘one up him,’ to do something, and that makes us both better. We understand each other and that is really fun,” Eber said. “I feel like music is something that can not be debated over. It is just something that brings a lot of people together, and I love learning from those people to better myself.”