The Shades of Blue Quartet, featuring University of Mississippi students (from left) Dekylan Jones, Parker Lofton, Martin Hinchey and Logan Sinquefield, have recorded an album of chamber music appropriate for high school musicians and recently completed a tour of six Mississippi high schools to promote chamber music. The group used a Stamps Impact Prize to fund their recording and tour. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
Quartet uses Stamps Impact Prize to record chamber music album, perform in high schools
Four University of Mississippi students are on a mission to share their love for the saxophone and turn high school students across the state on to chamber music.
Performing as the Shades of Blue Quartet, the group used a Stamps Impact Prize to record an album and conduct a concert tour to six Mississippi high schools.
The students applied for the Stamps award in consultation with Adam Estes, Ole Miss professor of music.
“I’ve discovered a lot of benefits from playing chamber music,” said Sinquefield, of Senatobia. “Chamber music has allowed me to develop my score study abilities a lot more.
“Since it (the ensemble) is so student-led, a lot of the music is stuff that we personally really enjoy, and because of that I’ve found myself to be much more interested in listening to professional recordings, studying the scores and using both of those to inform how we want to shape the music.”
Studying chamber music has also helped Sinquefield learn to listen to all the instruments in an ensemble, rather than just his own.
“But most of all, it has just been one of the most enjoyable ensembles I’ve ever played in, and I wanted to encourage others to get involved too so that they can hopefully fall more in love with music like I did,” he said.
Besides Sinquefield, the Shades of Blue Quartet includes three other juniors:
- Deklyan Jones, a music education major from Ripley, Tennessee
- Martin Hinchey, a music performance major from Sumrall
- Parker Lofton, an accountancy major from Canton.
The quartet began the project by recording, editing, and publishing Let the Funk Out! an album of chamber music appropriate for high school-level musicians. They recorded the album at Taproot Audio in Oxford, where they worked with founder and producer-engineer Jeffrey Reed to record, edit, mix, and master the project.
“The recording process was very tedious, but ultimately so worthwhile,” said Jones, who plays soprano and alto saxophone. “Recording professionally is very different; we were recording multiple takes at one time.
“Collaborating with a sound engineer gave us the chance to see what it was like to work with audio tracks as well as how it all works together. I’m very proud of the EP we released.”
The process also helped the students learn about recording technology and tools to make finished recordings sound more professional, Hinchey said.
“For me, the ‘aha’ moment in the editing process was seeing just how detailed Jeffrey’s work could be,” he said. “Any little thing we heard that we wanted to make a change to, Jeffrey had a tool to do it.”
CD Baby published Let the Funk Out! The music is available on many major streaming platforms.
The second phase of the project took the group from north Mississippi to the Gulf Coast, where they performed and presented to high school bands on the benefits and opportunities of studying chamber music. The tour included:
- Olive Branch High School
- Senatobia High School
- Germantown High School, Madison
- Northwest Rankin High School, Flowood
- Oak Grove High School
- Ocean Springs High School.
“Being able to teach and talk to high school band students across Mississippi about the importance of chamber music was something really special,” said Lofton, who plays alto saxophone. “As I was once in their shoes, it was very awesome and special to be on the other side where I get to show them a little of what music means to me.”
Estes said he was impressed with the professionalism and talent the group displayed on the tour.
“With each presentation, they grew in confidence and matured in their public speaking and performance skills,” he said. “I’m grateful that the Stamps Impact Prize exists on our campus and affords students at the University of Mississippi, including undergraduate students, the opportunity to take part in meaningful creative projects like this.”
Although the work funded by the Stamps Impact Prize is completed, the group hopes to use their experience to continue inspiring musicians across Mississippi, Hinchey said.
“Our group’s next plans are still being decided, but there has been discussion of continuing our outreach and even collaborating with other chamber groups at the university to offer similar experiences in the future,” he said.
By Andrea Drummond
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