Miranda Gutierrez, 10, plays the hula hoop during Hayes Greenfield's interactive
family concert at the GRAMMY Museum. (photo by Susannah Snider)

Miranda Gutierrez launched herself onstage during the jazz concert.  

She was responding to the saxophonist's request for a volunteer to play an instrument called the "Beep Bop Boo Boo Boop."  Miranda recognized the strange apparatus right away.

It was a hula hoop.  

The bold 10-year-old stepped through the center of the toy and began to sway as the musicians serenaded her.

The saxophone player with the imaginative naming skills was Hayes Greenfield.  He performed his "What Is Jazz?" program Saturday as part of the GRAMMY museum's Musical Explorations family program.
   
"The guy was really nice," Miranda said after her performance.  "He looked like he knew music and he was really good."

Sporting a colorful multi-patterned shirt and disheveled, goofy hair, Greenfield educated the pre-teen audience about the intricacies of jazz, including tempo, dynamics, and improvisation.

"Forte!" Hayes yelled, encouraging the audience to repeat after him.  

"Piano," he whispered.

With his band Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz, Greenfield used call-and-response, scatting, and improvisation to teach the listeners.  "What I try to do is a show that is not about lecture demonstration but is really about trying to have a visceral experience with kids, and they can see their way into it for themselves and enjoy it," Hayes said.

For one energetic hour, Hayes improvised on the "Muffin Man," brought children (and reluctant parents) onstage to sing, and played rip-roaring saxophone solos that would have brought down the house in any jazz club.

Miranda's mother Kathy Gutierrez said her children love to sing now, but she brings them to these music events to invest in their futures.  "I would like them to have a lifelong love of music and learning in general, but specifically learning about music," she said.

This "lifelong love" is becoming increasingly difficult to develop as teacher layoffs, which often hit arts programs hardest, loom over California schools. Parents may assume that children can survive on a meager diet of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

But it was clear that the participants were eagerly devouring an important lesson during Hayes's performance. Instead of passively listening to iPods, they sang, cooperated with each other and followed complicated instructions.

"Jazz provides the creative process in which you deal with interaction, call-and-response and active listening," said Hayes.

And the participants took home a bigger lesson than an increased music vocabulary.

"I learned how to keep the beat and clap," Miranda said.  "And sometimes you can play instruments by ear and not be afraid to be yourself."