HOPE – Hope Bands Director Julie Gladden has a die-hard jazz fan in the house in Hope High School Assistant Bands and Choir Director Vincent Flieder.\r\n
\r\n“It’s the same reason that hip-hop excites; it’s a free form,” Flieder, 25, explains. “It forces you to take technical ability and apply it in different places.”\r\n
\r\nIt’s also cool.\r\n
\r\n“Count Basie was my favorite as a kid,” Flieder said. “I can’t describe what it was the moved me; but, I knew this was my jazz.”\r\n
\r\nHe will be involved in developing the music form with the Hope Jazzcats; but, fall is marching season and Flieder will assist Gladden in developing new talent in the Hope High School Bobcat March Band program.\r\n
\r\n“My passion was always similar to the kind of passion my teachers had,” Flieder said. “I’ve always had that drive to teach others.”\r\n
\r\nA 2016 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Monticello with a bachelor’s degree in music, Flieder, 25, taught choir in the Tyler, Texas, school system prior to arriving in Hope this year. His musical focuses in college were tuba, trumpet and voice, with a large dose of jazz band.\r\n
\r\n“I’ve always wanted to do something that has to do with music,” he said.\r\n
\r\nHe will also undertake duties as the HHS choir director.\r\n
\r\n“I want to break away from the old classics that everyone does,” Flieder noted.\r\n
\r\nHe has his eye on some creative interpretations that will challenge his choir students to build upon their talents independently. Flieder wants his students to know how to “hold their own.”\r\n
\r\n“You are either holding your own or you are letting yourself and everyone else down,” he said.\r\n
\r\nFlieder expects to build upon a foundation of about 25 choir students.\r\n
\r\n“My theme for this year is to deal with the art of singing,” he said.\r\n
\r\nA native of Texarkana, Texas, Flieder’s wife, Bonnie, teaches in the Texarkana school system.\r\n
