Jazz band’s first after-school gig is quickly approaching and the musicians are faced with a dilemma: the set is an hour long, and the music was just passed out last week. However, this is not actually that much of a problem. In fact, it is business as usual.

“We have a show coming up on Sunday,” band teacher Carol Allen said. “It’s our first show besides pep rallies this year, and it is always exciting for the new kids especially.”

The show is part of a program called Second Sunday in the Park. It is held in a park on Young Street in Eau Gallie, across the street from St. John’s Episcopal Church. The band played there last year as well and the gig ended up being one of the members’ favorites.

“We spent the first month of school getting the new kids ready for improvising, and then preparing three songs for pep rallies, but we’re finally getting out of school and going to play,” senior Dakota Helbig said. “Now we have about 12 songs that we can play, and we just passed them out. But that’s kind of what jazz band has always done.”

The reason for the last-minute practice is because the new members of the band had to get used to the jazz style. It is not second nature to manipulate sound into jazz style, especially when classical songs have been the only style played since middle school for some students.

“It was difficult to get in the habit of swinging the beats and making the notes short, but now it’s fine,” junior Richard Klenotich  said. “Now we’re plowing through all these songs in preparation for our show Sunday. It’s a lot of fun.”

The jazz combo Daniel and the Fire Alarms will be playing as an intermission as well. The event is free to attend and will begin at 4 p.m.