JAZZ band MING
Interview with students from the Department of Jazz and Popular Music
MING is a young and promising jazz band colored by bebop sounds, composed of seven friends, including four vocalists Milica Dobrić, Ivana Dimitrijević, Nataša Pejčić and Gorica Šutić, together with pianist, arranger and composer Nevena Pejčić, contrabassist David Gegić and drummer Aleksa Milijanović. By performing original compositions and arrangements of popular jazz standards of the sixties and seventies, MING attracts the attention of numerous audiences of all ages – which they are very proud of.
Studying at the Department of Jazz and Popular Music
Gorica Šutić: I must emphasize that a great role in our formation, both as musicians and as people, was played by the jazz department and our professors, who are always there for us and do not have an attitude towards us as if they were our superiors, but always want to give us good advice, to always give us a good opportunity to appear somewhere and to shape our ideas. My other colleagues can say the same, not only from MING but from the entire department, and we are very proud of that fact. I think all that atmosphere that was born between students and professors simply encourages other people to come in and enroll in the jazz department.
Nevena Pejčić: For someone who left home for the first time at the age of 19 in a big unknown city – it was a life challenge, in addition to this professional one. At the beginning, it was difficult in the sense that you are alone now, that everything is up to you. Also, these are all new things, you learn at the faculty, almost everything from the beginning, and from that aspect, great dedication, effort and dedication are needed.
Milica Dobrić: I believe that studying in the jazz department is quite different. The department is called Jazz and Popular Music, and we are also working on original music, which I believe is the ultimate goal for every musician. It was interesting, interactive, we had a lot of subjects, like ensembles or a jazz choir, where we play music in groups, which is a lot of fun.
Nataša Pejčić: The moment of coming to Belgrade was extraordinary for me because I came among the people with whom I completely share interests. In addition to the fact that we are together at the faculty, where we exchange our experiences, we talked at meetings about which musicians we listen to, what we have learned, how to make progress faster…