My name is Pixie Rachon. I’m a pianist, keyboardist and percussionist. I love all music. I first joined NYJO hoping to expand my playing, playing more music and working with more musicians. This is exactly what I achieved.
NYJO offers 2 brilliant sessions, one rooted in more experimental jazz pieces of music (Ensemble with Winston [Clifford]) and one more rooted in traditional Big Band jazz (Band with Olivia [Murphy]). When I first started out with NYJO, I tried out both of these groups. In both sessions, I was able to really emerge myself in jazz. Both sessions focus on jazz, which to me is based on improvisation, feeling and freedom. At the time, I was working more on my traditional jazz. I had discovered lots of old classic jazz pianists at this time so I joined Olivia’s session, and through this time I worked more on traditional piano since I thought it was my weakest jazz genre and I wanted to develop it further.
I took some time off and then rejoined NYJO recently, but this time, joining Winston’s group. It’s a place for expression. You never know what’s going to happen in these sessions. Sometimes Winston shows us some crazy piece that he wants us to play and we just listen to it and work it out by ear. By the end, all of us are playing this song, jamming, improvising and feeling the music – practically ready to perform. Other times, Winston gets us standing in a circle and we play through a percussive groove. It’s almost hypnotic. There’s something about physically moving with music that really makes you feel it. It makes me realise how much I can feel music inside me and how much I want to do it in life. I want to move with Winston, I want to clap with the people around me, I want to stomp my feet to the music.
When the session is over, I always have a rehearsal in the afternoon with other bands that I go to. But after leaving NYJO, I just feel so energised and just musically open. NYJO really has an impact on you when you don’t realise it. Some of the things I play or a solo I’ve improvised for example makes my whole week enjoyable.
There’s something so fresh and different about NYJO. I used to be a part of a different organisation which was really limited. We used to play the same pieces over and over again and even though we were playing jazz, there was no spirit involved which depressed me. Even the people I was playing with, didn’t like jazz – some of the children didn’t even want to be playing music! But when I joined NYJO those years ago, I could finally work with people who understood music to a degree. People who had musical inspirations, had ideas and were creative, was something I was longing for. My main thing in music is playing with people I like playing with, which doesn’t mean my friends, but people who I respect musically.
The main thing that I have gained from NYJO is the realisation of my passion for music. I guess with most of us at this age (teenagers), we are pushed into the belief that this “music” thing we do on the weekend is for fun, a hobby, an extra curricular thing. But really, everything I’ve been doing and NYJO has made me realise that I want to do music. It’s really promising that NYJO shows the idea of professionalism in a music workplace and shows how you can take music into a stable career. I’m very thankful for this. I’m grateful for the opportunities NYJO offers you. NYJO is truly a wonderful environment for ambitious musicians.
- Click here to find out more about the NYJO Under 18s, including how to join.