“We came from New York City to hang with you guys,” said double bassist Peter Seymour of the jazz combo Project Trio, standing in the Charlotte Latin School band room, surrounded by dozens of eighth-grade string players. Last week’s hang session gave dozens of Latin students the opportunity to hear world-class jazz music up close — and to learn the fundamentals of jazz improvisation.

Project Trio has been active since 2007, combining classical training with modern influences like funk and hip-hop. One member, Greg Pattillo, has garnered hundreds of millions of YouTube views for his work as a beatboxing flute player: The New York Times profiled him back in 2007, writing “Greg Pattillo may be the best person in the world at what he does. He may also be the only person in the world who does what he does.” The trio’s current lineup is rounded out by saxophonist Daniel Berkey.

“All performers should be educators,” Seymour said in a quiet moment after class; Project Trio audibly manifest that philosophy. On Thursday, September 12, they visited four classes of Charlotte Latin musicians (the Upper School orchestra, and the string sections of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade). The visit, which also included an evening performance at a celebration of the renovation of Thies Auditorium, was financed by Philanthropy and the Latin Arts Association.

In each class, Project Trio played some selections from their repertoire before teaching students the basics of improvisation. For the eighth graders, the performance comprised the standard “Mr. Sandman,” the original tune “Summer Camp,” and a rearranged version of Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” syncopated and funky.

“A lot of people are scared of improvisation, but that’s only because they haven’t done it before,” Seymour told the eighth graders. The trio instructed each string player to take turns playing one note each, at whatever volume and length they liked, going around the room. That progressed to a rondelay of two-note solos, after which each student was ready to play a melodic phrase playing off a flute drone provided by Pattillo.

Seymour laid down a bass lick, and then repeated it in a groove. “When I play this over and over, that’s a vamp,” he told the students. “Vamps on top of vamps on top of vamps are the motor for a lot of songs.” To demonstrate how that could work, each member of the Project Trio asked an eighth grader what they ate for lunch, and then built interlocking vamps around the rhythms of “chicken sandwich with french fries,” “Firehouse turkey sub,” and “teriyaki chicken with rice.”

The trio encouraged students to practice improvisation, alone or with a friend, even if it was for only ten minutes a day, and to spend time messing around on their instruments, playing songs outside their assigned repertoire, figuring out notes by trial and error if necessary. “Practice is the most important thing,” Seymour said. “No matter what you want to learn to do, you must practice it, and music is no different.”

“Watching the students’ reactions to Project Trio’s performance was amazing. Anytime we see students coached by another professional is so affirming,” said Laci Wargo, Assistant Orchestra Director. “Seeing the students we see every day trying a new musical genre, step outside their comfort zones, experimenting on their instruments, reminded me of the Portrait of a Latin Leader qualities — they were curious, courageous, resilient, all the things!”

By the end of class, a half-dozen string players were standing in a row with Project Trio, vamping like seasoned pros. Seymour summarized the glorious contradiction of jazz improvisation: although there are no wrong notes, you can always play something better. He added, “There are no wrong notes, but rhythm is perfect. Rhythm is time. And we have to share that time.”