Art Student of the Week: Jude Dow-Hygelund

Jude Dow-Hygelund graduated from Niwot High School this spring and has been accepted to CU Boulder to study piano performance.

Wade Hendricks, Jude's teacher at the high school, spoke highly of his music student. "He is an amazing talented performer and composer/arranger," Hendricks said. Last year Jude relocated to Niwot from Eugene, Ore., and spent his last four months at the new school.

"When you're moving your senior year of high school it's probably not going to be fun no matter what you do, but it was really nice," Dow-Hygelund said. "I really enjoyed coming to Niwot. I ended up making a lot of friends really quickly and I went into the jazz band and that was also very nice."

One of the reasons he liked Niwot High School so much was because it seemed to him that everyone he met did something musical. "I really appreciate that about Niwot," he said.

Dow-Hygelund performed in Niwot High concerts and accompanied a few singers from the choir and performed in the school's talent shows. He appreciated the music program at Niwot High School. "I wasn't doing jazz in the school I went to in Oregon, so I was really glad to get back into playing jazz with the school band... And I actually thought it was really good. And I enjoyed it a lot."

Dow-Hygelund's grandfather, Nate Hygelund. played jazz bass professionally. He had a Yamaha grand piano which he left to the family. "We had always had it in our house just kind of sitting there and I always like hitting the keys," Dow-Hygelund said. "I didn't actually play anything but then my mom was like, one day, 'Well maybe it would be interesting to learn the piano,' so I started taking piano lessons and I really loved it and I would practice a ton and I ended up progressing really fast." At the age of 12 Dow-Hygelund performed as a soloist with the Oregon Young Musicians and Artists (YMA) Orchestra.

Although his original lessons were in classical piano, his parents listened to jazz and he was inspired by what he heard. He began to study jazz piano in high school, and ended up playing in the jazz band when he was a freshman at Oak Hill School in Eugene, Ore.

Initially he and his family lived in Bend, Ore., and there was little exposure to music there other than the Central Oregon Music Teachers Association, but when the family moved to Eugene, Dow-Hygelund studied jazz piano with a professor at the University of Oregon, and he was able to perform in piano competitions.

"I would say my biggest influence is McCoy Tyner," Dow-Hygelund said. "I love his style of piano playing. I would say that of all the jazz pianists I know he has influenced me the most-I've probably learned more from him than any other. A few years ago I worked with Alex Conde and he had me transcribe a bunch of piano solos for him and piano accompaniment and try to learn those techniques."

Dow-Hygelund has performed in a combo with a drummer and a bassist. "That's really fun," he said. "It's definitely more difficult... The band relies on you a lot as a pianist... A lot of times you have to play the melody. I really enjoy playing in a trio, but I also really like playing in a large group like we do in our jazz band. I wouldn't like to just play in one of them."

He started accompanying singers when he came to Niwot. He accompanied other students for the Senior night performances, and the talent show, and a few extracurricular performances. That's a very different kind of playing, according to Dow-Hygelund. And the interaction with a singer is very different from the interaction with a band. "When you're playing with a band you're just kind of fitting in and just grooving with them. When you are playing with a singer you have to listen to them very carefully. And pay attention to what they are trying to do. Whereas, when you're playing with a band, you know, you just follow what they do and fit in where you're supposed to."

Dow-Hygelund is preparing to attend CU, where he plans to study piano with Andrew Cooperstock. He considered the jazz program but decided to study classical piano because he is most experienced with that. He chose CU for several reasons, including the fact that his sister Raven is studying classical guitar there.

But more impressively, Dow-Hygelund was awarded the Daniel and Boyce Sher Distinguished Musician Scholarship. In addition to submitting material for the regular application process to the College of Music, nominees have to play additional repertoire. "It's funny,...they told me a week before and I had not any repertoire prepared so I really had to like scramble and get it ... get it as quick as possible. Dow-Hygelund played Chopin's C Sharp Minor Etude, an etude by Ukranian composer Kapustin, and Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. The scholarship awards full-ride scholarships to the College of Music based on a student's demonstrated exceptional ability and potential to excel at a national and international level.

In the meantime, Dow-Hygelund is spending the summer practicing and enjoying Niwot, visiting all the places he hasn't yet had a chance to see. When he thinks about the future, he knows it will involve music. "I'm probably going to teach. But I'm also definitely going to want to perform. I'm going to try to make that happen."