222 Appreciation Month, which April, may have you bumping 4 big bund more chan you at eld, and e that’s good thing Both ava vafeable teaching tool and an extueational end in its own righ, 2 well worth classroom time; ts technique, players, snd utural heritage can engage your stodents ike no other gene, what if you've an elementary or middle school techer, only a budding fan of the music yourself? Hew can you st ncroduce this classic Ameria style to your stadents? Crash Course 88 up 1 sped on the major points and players. To this he Internet provides an evermelming seovet of some terial, One good place to tare the website forthe PS sera en Burs (pbsorg/ jae), which comes highly re ‘hritine Nowmos, a gencral/vocl must eacher che Mary S, Shoemaker School i Woodstown, New forms te Isa great resource," she ee“ Incl bogs nearly 100 great jun misicians,inchaling sound soe and has some information sbout varius styles offer TheOe WHE PPS Kids Jazz website (pbskid.org/az2/nowthen index, html) also hs some brief but well-written biographies ofa few jaze greats” Nowmos notes that there are various lists of esseatial jazralbums online:"Pick afew, and then go toan MP3 download ‘website ke amazon.com/mp3 to listen to samples, and splurge ‘ona few recordings that appeal to you” Books can provide valuable study material to, "A good re source for me to get a feel for jazz was A Study of Jase by Paul Oo RH ON AU Tanner and Maurice Gerow (Wr. C. Brown Company),” says Lorna Zemke, professor of music and dieector of early child hood music at Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, “An excellent resource for teaching jazz to middle school st ents, with sample lesson plans, lists, et. is faz: Americas Own ‘Masicby Agnes Mueller (Silver Lake College Publications)” ‘Once you have the genre's fundamentals down, its time to turn your attention tothe details of basic ksson planning. Here's ONE TEACHER'S JAZZ PLAN FOR K-4 lelow isa sample of what Christine Nowmos teaches to her kindergarten-through-fourth-grade ‘classrooms over the course of two months, "During January and February each year, have each rade focus on a diferent musician,” she says by way of introduction, “We spend several weeks on the same musician sothat the students get to hear several pieces bythe same person and ideally, hnear each piece mare than once. Although there are many, many great performers, lwanted to narrow it down to few that were especialy famous and had the greatest influence on these who came after them. Here isa lst of the musicians withthe songs l usually include as listening selec ns and some other activities, KINDERGARTEN LOUIS ARMSTRONG: “12tn Street Rag,” “Tiger Rag, “Hello, Dolly!” St.Louis Blues,” “What a Wonderful World” tread aloud the book 11 Onty Mada Horn: Young Louis Armstrong by Roxane Orgilt and Leonard Jenkins and show a Charlie Parker is great for younger kids because the ‘music is so upbeat and the pieces are short, whichis good for short attention spans! SECOND GRADE ELLA FITZGERALD: “Cotton- tail” (with the Duke Ellington used the trumpet more for sound effects rather than as 3 melodic instrument. Also, read aloud the book Lookin’ for Bird in the Big Cty by Robert Burleigh and Marek Los, which isa story about how Miles went toNew York asa young man to hear Chartie Parker play. picture book that goes with the orchestra—s great example of lyrics of “Whata Wenderful scat singing, as he entire thing FOURTH GRADE World” aswe listen. We a is scat!), “Don't Mean a Thing JOHN COLTRANE: “Giant watch a YouTube video of Wet Ain't Got That Swing) Mr. PC," "My Favorite Armstrong performing “When “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” "Sum= [we doa compare/ contrast between "Me. PC” ‘and "My Favorite Things”) mectime” (with Louis Arm- strong], “How High the Moon’ {owe watch a YouTube video of hher singing this song}. For “Summertime,” I show 2 beautiful picture book (Sum- pressions” with Eric Dolphy ‘mertimel itustrated by Mike Because our fourth gr Wimmer to gowith the lyrics as study New Jersey history in we are listening. Also, we read Social Studies, we also listen to aloud over several weeks the the music of Wayne Shorter book Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of and Frank Sinatra (not strictly the Saints Go Marching In. talk about improvising with the kids and we do an activity, where, if show a certa signal, the kids tap the beat ‘along with "12tht. Rag” with "hythm sticks. On cue, they can improvise their ewn tapping pattern, and then switeh back between beat and improv. FIRST GRADE 2 Vocal Virtuasa by Andrea {jazz musician, but the big CHARLIE PARKER: "Now'sthe Davis Pinkney. nd style is closely related to Time," “Confirmation, jazz], who were both born in iy.” “Ceterity"there'sa_ THIRD GRADE the state. MILES DAVIS: “AUL Blues,” “Four,” “Seven Steps to Heaven,” “Stuff” (we doa compare/contrast activity with “Seven Steps to Heaven” and “Stuff"—the students compare styles, tempo, mood, instru- ments, et.) ‘We watch a YouTube clip of ‘one of his live electric concerts 50 the kids can hear some of his really “out” stuff, where he ‘Afew other good musicians tolisten to are Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Pat Metheny, Billie Holiday, Thetonious Monk, and Stan Getz, For ‘examples of 21st-century jazz that might appeal to people not familiar with jazz standards, pianist Brad Mehldau nas dene jazz-styte recordings of familiar pop songs by artists from the Beatles to Radiohead. great YouTube video of him playing this—one ofthe very few films of him!), anda Parker/Dizzy Gillespie record- ing of “A Might in Turi "atso read the book Charlie Parker Played Bebop by Chris, Raschka, which has funny (yrics that fit in with the chythm of “ANight in Tunisia" (after the kids have heard the book afew times, they can read along}. 24 Testing Music| grt 2001 193 University of Michiaan-Ana Ati. MISE 98‘can get youupandrun- confident about teaching jaz style and yeoleague Jennifer Me- jazz improvisation.” * developed a workshop With the bstics under your belt, the Teach Jazz; How to Get _ next challenge isto share them with your vinging and improvising students in ways that are engaging and ye Richard Vitor sge-appropie, efor the State Calage Sr “PPORM trict in Sare College, Giant (First] Steps ‘ehive presented it for Nownos has a number of cite that SMA, PMEA, and most she ses wi her clementay lew! sa GENC AllEstern Con dent lpi thn some Nope 1, 2011, The gl ofthis information seat ican oct ese tne teaces witht. view his Information sath werk we sein teaching ju fel tten to im or her ano poe [aay 5 Yat ie Naee MaRooNS =GLEp es T YOUR STUDENTS UNE WITH THE WIDE IORLD OF.MUSIC! 1k’ and t perfect and tedtonal ce, coloration re formation about in Tunes student magazin acter Guid, Listenirg CD, ane “ours Sie (ree for your music classes wth an orcer X more SuDscrstiors, cal 914 358 1200 x 147411136, or e-ria infocintunepartners.com. To get your students In Tune, and get your free website ‘Row and musi¢ CDs, go to "SS intunemonthly.com or call Tia at 914.358.1200 x310 \i SSA vee wil rad book about the musician. 1 hve bale board foreach grade nny clasroom, and on cach board haves ple {ure ofthe musician anda baie no het that includes the music's name, date and place of birth, anda few famous sags to teks con reir oe fue peru oe ight) Interenting anecdotes sbout must cians ives (or example, the story out how Chari Parker waststaly gongs” off sage at ating contest he eter in St. Lous as young man, and how instead of givingup he spent upto hours day practicing unl he was better than any brody ele) are especlly appealing vo younger children which why Toe to find boks to red lou to thems “My students alo hve experiences with simple improvising throughout the Year Nowmor contines, 50 they un Gerstand he bai oncepe that mia an make up music on the spot, and point ou in recording where thems In my opinion, the biggest hurdle to im- provisation is the fact that we traditionally teach music in a very notation-based way.” —Heather Shouldice cian is performing a composed melody and where he o she is improvising. Also, after the students have listened to atleast 3 good portion of apiece of musie straight ‘through, 1 will use the music for move iment activities. t's fun to have the stu dents improvise movement to fit the style ‘of the music, and it reinforces steady beat. The Preeze Dance is a favorite ac tivity for all grade levels; often 1'll in clude tonal concept by having the students sing the resting tone of the song, fon cue when the music is paused, either with solfége or on a neutral syllable, de pending on what the grade has learned. ilsometimes have students echo rhythm patterns or read rhythm flash cards i tempo with a recording, or have them improvise patterns with rhythm syllables for on. neutral syllable over the tp of the recording, In some of thee activities, of course, they're not focusing directly on what's happening on the recording, but it's a fun way t give them exposure #0BL ASS OID BIPERWWIWNIWNWNX\L ew tls of music well a rcorporae ter mas Sal bjectines" For mile schools dents, Zemke advises, “A ood fat nratuction te fo isa study ofthe bus, Because of simple orm and sor length Students readily dently with the Hees because othe similarity to Ameri can folksong, which our stents weal fave tied in clementary school Tae ssughbeward blues somge that are easy to sing ara preparation for actly inte, ducing the blues form/sjle. Some rach tongs ate “Mama Don't ow" “Cong Joh “Good Morning Bucs” and Jos Tamer lace Zemke fellows this up withthe study of boogie woogie (ponered by vinuty Meade Lux Lewis: Clarence *Pintop= Saith, Pete Johnson, and eer), "Se dents find this mute very excing be. ‘nse ofthe driving ithe sd ego the ba bas, and they can enuf with the frm (NAB) and harmony ace hae ing studed the blues. fallow thie with the stay of ragtime ares such eat Joplin, Tom Turpin, Joss Rian. sed cther, mentioning the form a dill fou sections of 2 measures, ABCD wih a repented balay thigh the com Postion, an ‘Maple Lea Reg" Other activites that Zeke recom sends include lstening to suthen A rican chants apd drumming, cresting lyrhyhinicexercues and esforani them on carom instars Nese ing to and winging American eld hells tnd work song otening to and sagt AticamsAmericansprtsl, nd lee ing to clase and serious estemporary Compositions to find rs elemeets Ig tham=—for instance, Davies Milhad’ Creation fhe Hel whch has ja spired walking bas introduction, George Gershwi's “Rialto Rag” ned “Rapids in He” or Servint tae Sole (which associ tied “Ragtime”, Che Debusy’s "Gol wog Cakewalk ™ It should be noted tha certain je styles work better than others In he Classroom. Blues, boogccwoogie, ap time, a ot jee lobnowne tional or Dixieland je think Louis Armstong) areal good choles. Pees ane coo fare are best avoided, a eat for absolute beginners: Nowmo fine tha Upbeat ae sens to appeal to clean, taryleve students: “My _similriy to RAB or hip-hop rhythms” Younger nudes love dane: She also hugets hep the Hecong ing to Louis Armsirong, selection totic nies cn Charlie Parker, and El Blazer. My older st Intro to Improv dent seem to connect wore Improvisation ia ssa element ofa tae tht hs sme flat many wold sy that dong ir element like Jon Col- tra ofthe genre, Pesops ene Hanes recording of "My taught your students how to impreree Ferrite Things sce many one ay or ancien coe of them have en The Sound of Mase ot fat. Hwee te sees ol ard some ofthe sng o Miles Davi and concepts thr ad ees funk syle an elect music fom the caching Dace 19606 and 705, whee you can hears "Litany Ler fe i WANT TO BRING MUSIC ALIVE FOR YOUR STUDENTS? For over 5, choral dractors, general muse teachers, and librarians all over tne courtly have used Music live! to engage stucents ane focus ther attention on an ever-expanding ng of musical subjects. Why not eacn with an awardewin to-use curriculum \esignes to support the hard werk and Dave Brubeck, Time ut (Columbia). The cooler, more classically influenced side of jazz is well represented by Brubeck and his brilliant saxophonist Paul Desmond, country’s greatest contributions to world culture: “In my judg rent, i's2 fundamental part of wo we are ax Americans. Young people in Germany are surely educated about Bach and Beethoven, and young people inthe United States should surely know about Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.” But are young people in the United States learning about Low: is Armstrong and Duke Ellington? Hove is this great American art form being taught at the elementary and secondary levels in American schools? “ivall depends on where you are," says Zachiry Poulter, band director at Syracuse Junior High School in Syracuse, Utah, and author of Teaching Improv in Your Jazz Ensembl, which wll be pub lished by MENC in early summer. “Some programs do an out standing job at teaching students about sea, other programs rake jaz a pet project that's fun but not incredibly educational, and at the other end of the spectrum it's not taught a all. The resources are there, but not everyone's using them,” Judy Shafer, director of education a che Jn Arts Grup in Co: Fumbus, Ohio, claims this fe partly because "slat of teachers arent prepared to deal with jar, and that unpreparednes can come aff a fear” Chuck Owen, president of the Intemational Association for Jazz Education IAJE), agrees: “One of the msjr nevdsin jazz edhe tion right now is for general music teachers to have slfcientexpo- sure tojazzso they can fel comfortable teaching. Ukimatly that's ging to mean requiring at leat a single course in jae pedagogy as part of any muse education degree.” individual Creativity The idea of making javz a required part of general music educa son will no doube set off some skeptic’ alarms. And even if you arenota skeptie, you may wonder: What's the real vale in learn. ing about jaz? What special skills can it foster in young people? Lisa Kelly, who teaches jazz voice and music tacory at Doug, los Anderson High School ofthe Arts in Jacksonville, Florida, says, "Self'discipline and flexibility are the most important things jazz can teach. And the two go together: the more pre pared you are, the more spontaneous yout can be. In juza asin ie, you have to improvise.” ‘Ah yes, improvising —pethaps the single moet distinctive feature ofjaz. As Oven patsit, "Jz fosters the silat you'd get from working in any instrumental r vocal en semble, But one thing thar makes uniques that i's 30 strongly based around improvisation andthatteach- ‘es kds the value offdividual creativity. I also FREE Full-band improvisation was not new in 1960—its roots 0 back to Dixietand—but Coleman's version oft carried | a revolutionary charge.with WYNTON MARSALIS Asatistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Wynton Marsalis has made 2 priority of music education, championing JALC pragrams such 2 Jazzfor Young People, the Middle School Jazz Academy, and Essential Elington. Marsalis recently shared his thoughts about musie education with ly owen ALS sEme TE, youkmowtheyhadiopracicehat——-teach hema lten andio near we SndResourcee,vstwnwwiateare)— fsirument wth neghy: every day, shouldencoursse her tesa ne wewrelcors. being serious about it, addressing the harmony, get to the piano, learn ste musi geting az much deiconcesTheywere ving odo receloay Sane ane ear stenionasitsouldinAmerian tha. on dover andoversndoner—Sgraatlociannconae nee schools today? Aitesistenty. We ee great agerness and interest but no training to implement programs for teaching jazz no action. Educators they are hearing in the moment they Wats the best entry point into again. Second, jazz demands thet encourage them to learn solos off ‘ur students be confident enough to recordings. We have to teach them how express how theyre feling, to develop to hear, just lke you have ta be taught their personal identity, and to play what to listenin a conversation ‘are not required to study jazz pedagogy, hear it the music? 501s up the individuals to bring jazz Jazz also requires each member aces eae totheie students. Weneed educators ofa group ta improvise but it won't start wit free inproneenen and to lobby their local colleges and universities to make azz a requirem: of music education programs, In terms of overatt music education, whatis the primary intearning about jazz? “Jaz, because it allows us to interface with the greatest min In American music, empowers our val students to make honest and persona statements In our music there's 2 premium on integrity, First, ust the integnty of playing your instrument When you hear someone like Ciford Brown or Art Tatum or Charlie Parke > Stan Getz and Jodo Gilberto, Getz/silberto Werve), Blending Brazilian bossa-nova rhythms with lyrical soloing, this is a Latin jazz milestone, work fora soloist ar an ensemble if rent _the musicians don't playin balance. For example, the drummer can't play tea loud or you won't hear the bassist ‘These group dynamics teach the Jazz irom New Orleans. Improvisation allows students to express themselves without boundaries, and jazz from New Orteansitlustrates the soul, rhythm, ‘and feeling of the music igo TE Don't be afraid of the avant-garde Where canjazz{itinto the course use ree jazz with nursery chymes to ids of instruction for traditional ‘express ideas, Name nine things schtol ensembles? three animals, three emotions, three A Sientere Educators just need ways tobehavein conversation and o know how to doit—and commit then make something up about &. Ne tomaking jazz a part their students’ form, no-scales It's all subjective, nd Wes. Even though isan area they students can succeed ‘ight not be comfortable with t's Fer the complete Wynton Marsalis er, thelr fob to empower students and to Q&A see wan mene orarmarcala Miles Davis, ‘Ina Sent Way {Columbia inthe late “0s, Davis brought electric instruments into bis band; this is an entrancing intro- duction to that era, > John Cottran Alove Supreme intense, this ‘small-group masterpiece ‘depicts a spiritual journey through | technically awe-inspiring playing.encourages them to explore their instru rmentsina way that they mightnot do ifthey were just siting there reading a piece of Poulter knows firsthand howe jazz in struction ean improve students? perfor. mance in school ensembles. “I see a significant difference between my band students who are inthe jazz ensemble and those who arent,” he ‘a. "For students who are in the middle of aclarinet section with 20 ther people, its easy to bea follower. Inthe jazz band, they're the only one plying their notes, so they have to learn to lead, Working on improvising makes them better at sight- reading too, because they've picked up that extra confidence, No matter what susie they play, they're involved with it ona deeper level” These educators make a strong case ‘more traditional tred)—grades 3-8 Holtl—grade 6 (grade 9 and wp forbringing more azz into the classroom, But how exactly should teachers go about doing this? What are good entry points for students? Most jazz experts agrce that the eas et-—and best vay to get young people interested inthe music is simply by letting them hear plenty of i, (Owen recalls, “Tvisted a high school once where the band direc tor was playing Miles Davis tunes a the kids walked into the band room, and the kids were singing along asked hits how frequent Iyhe played musi ike this, and he sid, “Every day.’ He'd realized something: There wasnt single point he could make to his stu dents verbally about that music that was going tobe as meaningful 1 them as actually hearing it.” Pear takes a slightly diferent approach with his junior high students; instead of playing jazz recordings right of the bat, he'll ‘make his students do the playing. “The very frst thing {dois itm provise on a single note, then two notes, then three notes,” he says. “The kids are all scared on the first day of class because it's new, but after a half hour of call-and-response improvising, they start to realize, ‘Hey, I ean do this, and it’s fun.” ‘When you start off that way, i's 0 much more meaning fal tocome into the next class with a CD and say, “Here's Visit www ‘smithsonianjazz org for a more extensive bibtiography. “Herbie Hancock, ‘Head Hunters (Colum- bia}. Following Miles Davis, Hancock helped create the fusion sound of the 705, Laying Improvisation over, ‘appealing funk beats. For Your aZZ Bookshelf Carole Boston Weather ford, The Sound That Jazz Makes (Walker|—grades I~ Ronald McCurdy, Meet the Great Jazz Legends (Al- Sandy Asirvatham, The History of Jazz (Chelsea House) —grade 5 and up James Lincoln Collier, J222, ‘An American Saga (Henry ‘and up John Edward Hasse, Jazz: The First Century Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley playing ca and-response, just like you di.’ The students get because they've had the experience.” The Younger the Bette Inproviation ioten thought of at sn advanced si someching that rqaines deep knowledge of harmon td suse theory and therefore shoul be tempted by younger students The TATE" Ove ‘ress ht thsisot the eae. “Theoretical comp tr important, but hee porpose to gt stent She pt where they cam pay wt they sy a ttereare ts of other ways toa hat appen i canrely develop tat seme emule sone thd the younger they are, the beter” “he fact that imprison ean be succes tzaghe even with ney young scents proven New York's Jae a Lice Center JALL), whos arte director, Wynton Maras, hs ong bes Promoter of eax education beginning sa erly oge Among JALC's extensive ito uta po grams-—nich asa tuloniee Mile Sco Jeet Academy for young instrumental sn ‘summer Band Director Academy—one ca fad Weep an ig las ue eoure desig forilven under 5. Although man otepra irr are meant primarily to serves Sete in the New York Oly sen JALC ah offers resco teacher online nln x compen sve joe or Young People mulimeda crcl, For tren Formation, vie www je arg/astD. The Jas Arts Grop's Shafer ofrs a Goal poe of advice, “Don't treat jn a separate styl of ane tha yo ces age usieon every yer oth uring Hack Histry Net The p> Cent of ar ct be wed to teach al the elmer ose, aly incorpeating je ly into the yt day coe, you gee students tore comprehensive tndersanding of tite Tin ‘peaking here ws seme nos anne bout acs, butT think that cite il relly be engage by i. Andi were aot having muse hse where the chen choy themselves she swith chuck Te, ened to recat we Fe having musi ces"@ [ Wynton Marsalis, cit ‘Movement (Columbia) Albums like this 1992 gem ‘90. long way toward explaining why Marsalis has became jazz's modern: spokesman.