The Tucson Jazz Society
The Tucson Jazz Society presents Jazz Appreciation Month · April 2027

Where As, Jazz Is

The Healthy Ambassadors Challenge & Youth International Jazz Day Showcase

The Showcase
April 2027
date & venue to be announced
Open to
Grades 6–12, Southern Arizona
Cost to schools
Free to enter and play

An invitation to school music directors, club advisors and district fine-arts coordinators. Your students play a four-level jazz challenge through the winter. The ones who want the stage finish it in front of a live audience in April 2027, Jazz Appreciation Month — alongside working Tucson musicians.

International Jazz Day is a UNESCO observance with the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz

Why you're reading this

Tucson is Arizona's International Jazz Day city. We would like your students on that stage.

Tucson represents Arizona for International Jazz Day — the UNESCO and Herbie Hancock Institute observance held every April 30. The Tucson Jazz Society has marked it for years with professional musicians. In 2027 we are opening it to students.

Where As, Jazz Is is the road to that stage: a free, self-paced challenge your students can run inside a class project, a music elective, or an after-school club. It teaches jazz as history, science and human story — then asks them to perform one piece and say why it matters. No prior jazz experience is required of the students, and no new curriculum is required of you.

What students actually do

Four levels — Learn It, Live It, Share It

Each level stands alone. A club can play one; a class can run all four across a semester. Everything works on a phone, a tablet or a Chromebook.

Level 1 · Learn It

The Listening Lab

One song, eight ways. Students hear a single anthem re-cut across eight jazz traditions and learn what each one changed and why.

Earns: Journey Through Genres badge
Level 2 · Learn It

History Qwest

Six categories of five on the legends, the eras and the instruments — playable solo or projected for the whole room in Class Mode.

Earns: team points, playable as a class
Level 3 · Live It

Cross the Categories

The health connection. Students reach up, out and down — mentors, peers and younger students — carrying what they've learned into their own community.

Earns: school points on the standings
Level 4 · Share It

Perform Your Why

The one that leads to the Showcase. A student or ensemble performs a piece and tells the audience, in their own words, why that music matters to them.

Earns: a submission to the Showcase
Big BandNew OrleansBebopCool LatinSoulSmoothBlues
The Force for Health® Network · Reality Health Games™

Where As, Jazz Is

The Specialty Series behind the Challenge — gifted to The Tucson Jazz Society.

Try it before you commit

The Challenge is already live — go play it

Nothing here is a promise about something we are going to build. Open any of these on your phone right now. No account, no sign-up, nothing to install.

Start hereWhere As, Jazz Is — the hubThe four-level explainer, the East-vs-West map and the legacy story. Learn ItThe Legends CourseTen lessons on the players who built the music, with a certificate at the end. Learn ItHistory QwestSix categories of five. Class Mode projects it for the whole room. Live ItThe Wingtapper CubeReach up, out and down — mentors, peers and the students coming up behind. ArcadeAdvance the GrooveSix jazz eras, one arcade run. The one students play without being asked.

Built by The Force for Health® Network as part of Reality Health Games™. Free to schools, permanently.

The finale

The Youth International Jazz Day Showcase

April is Jazz Appreciation Month, and April 30 is International Jazz Day worldwide. The Showcase will close the Challenge that month with a live, hybrid bill — student performers sharing the stage with professional Tucson musicians, in front of an audience that came to hear them.

The exact date and venue are still being set. Registered schools will be the first to know, with enough notice to arrange transport and permission slips.

This is not a competition with one winner and a room full of losers. Every school that reaches Level 4 is on the program.

  • Selected students are paired with a working musician mentor in March for coaching ahead of the performance.
  • Awards are drawn from the Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund, with the scholarship pool starting at $2,500 and named sponsor awards added on top.
  • Individual, ensemble and Ambassador tracks are judged separately, so a soloist is never measured against a full band.
  • Schools that cannot travel can submit a recorded performance for the program and the standings.
The season, end to end

What happens when

Six dates. Only three of them need anything from you.

Oct 2026

Invitations go out

To district fine-arts coordinators and directly to high school and middle school music directors and club advisors across Pima County.

Oct – Dec 12

Schools register

One short form per school or club. Name a lead contact, tell us roughly how many students, and you're in. This is the only deadline that matters early — the closing date is still being confirmed.

Jan – Feb 2027

Students play the Challenge

Levels 1 through 3, on their own schedule. School standings update as points come in. No supervision required beyond pointing students at the link.

Feb 26, 2027

Showcase submissions close

A performance video or a live-audition request, plus a short written "why." Submitted by the student, endorsed by you.

March 2027

Selection and mentor pairing

Tucson Jazz Society musicians review submissions and build the program. Selected students are matched with a mentor for coaching.

April 2027

The Showcase — Jazz Appreciation Month

Students and professionals on one bill. Scholarship awards presented. Families, faculty and the public invited. Exact date and venue to be announced — registered schools hear first.

The honest version

What we're asking, and what you get

Directors are asked for things constantly. Here is the whole ask, in plain terms.

What your school commits

  • One registration form — about five minutes, once.
  • One named contact who receives the emails. Usually you.
  • Pointing students at a link. The Challenge is self-paced; it does not need class time unless you want it to.
  • Endorsing submissions in February — confirming a student is yours and the performance is their own.
  • Optional: a chaperone for students performing at the Showcase.

What your students get

  • A real stage in front of a real audience — not a classroom recital, a public program during Jazz Appreciation Month.
  • Coaching from working musicians, not just judging.
  • Scholarship dollars through the Clarence Ezell Boykins Fund.
  • A ready-made project for a portfolio, a senior capstone, or a club's service record.
  • Free access, permanently — students keep their account and progress after the season ends.
Two ways to run it

Free to play. More useful with a school account.

Option A

Open play

Free — forever, no account required to start
  • All four Challenge levels
  • Students may create a free account to save points and progress
  • Embeddable in a class page, club site or LMS
  • Full eligibility for the Showcase
Option B

School or district account

Free to participating schools for 2026–27
  • Everything in open play
  • Roster view — see which of your students have completed which levels
  • School standings on the public leaderboard
  • Downloadable participation report for your principal or board
  • Named in the printed Showcase program
Choose your entry point

District-wide, or one room at a time

For district fine-arts coordinators

Register the district

One agreement covers every school in the district. We supply a ready-to-forward announcement for your music directors, a slide for a department meeting, and a single point of contact at the Tucson Jazz Society.

District-level registration also makes your schools eligible for the Middle School Fine Arts placement program run with the Pima County Superintendent's office.

For a music director or club advisor

Register your program

You do not need district sign-off to enter your own students. Register your band, orchestra, choir, jazz combo, music elective or student club directly and you are on the program.

Have a club rather than an ensemble? The Ambassador's Club track is built for exactly that — leadership, mentoring and community engagement, with a seat on the Junior Advisory Board.

Who is behind this

The partners

The Tucson Jazz Society

Arizona's International Jazz Day representative. Presenter of the Showcase, and home of the Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund.

The Force for Health® Network

Builds and hosts the Challenge through Reality Health Games™. Provides the platform to schools at no cost.

Pima County Schools

Middle School Fine Arts placement, in partnership with the County Superintendent's office.

School of Rock Tucson

Jazz workshops, masterclasses and guest-artist sessions for participating students; sponsoring student teams into the Showcase.

In discussion
Where the money goes

Every dollar benefits the scholarship funds

The Showcase is a fundraiser as well as a performance. Proceeds from the Challenge and the Showcase — admission, raffle and sponsorships — benefit the Tucson Jazz Society scholarship funds. Nothing from this program pays a salary.

  • The Clarence Ezell Boykins Scholarship Fund — held in its own account, separate from operating money, and awarded to young musicians in Southern Arizona.
  • High School Awards and the T.E.E.M. Award — presented at the Showcase.
  • Middle School Fine Arts — instruments and programming placed in Pima County schools with the County Superintendent's office.

The Tucson Jazz Society is a Tucson nonprofit · P.O. Box 18575, Tucson, AZ 85731.

Scan to donate to The Tucson Jazz Society Scan to donate

Or give at thetucsonjazzsociety.com

Put your students on the bill

Registration takes about five minutes. Register now and you will be first to hear the Showcase date and venue as soon as they are set.

Register your school

Prefer to talk it through first? Email info@thetucsonjazzsociety.com and we will call you.

Questions

Talk to a person

The Tucson Jazz Society

P.O. Box 18575, Tucson, AZ 85731
520-808-2608
info@thetucsonjazzsociety.com

Youth Programs Committee

Scholarships, school placement and the Showcase program.

Play the Challenge now

theforce.health/where-as-jazz-is
Free, no sign-up needed to start.