I'm looking for information from jazz enthusiasts and/or jazz educators on putting together a curriculum for a high school jazz program. In particular, I'm looking for information that will help develop skills in the rhythm section (comping, staying in pulse, sounding clear and uncluttered) and helping with improvisation all around.
Obviously, I'll want to students to listen to a lot of historically significant recordings. I will also have them use things like the Aebersold recordings to play along with. What I am looking to develop (or find, so that I can modify) is a series of lesson plans on several units.
Any help you can give would be much appreciated.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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I really don't have any help other than you might look into the writings of David Baker and Dominic Spera, both of whom are proffessors of Jazz from Indiana University and developed one of the first and still best jazz programs in the country.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I'm no teacher, but I played drums in jazz band for several years in a school with a very strong program, and there are a few tips I can give. The most important one is to allow the rhythm section to acknowledge eachother.
The most important thing is eye contact. There was a long time when all of our rhythm players, myself included, were just focusing on our own sound. We figured if we all sounded good playing our own part, the band would sound good. Then one day we got some clinicians from the university (we were lucky enough to live in a town with a college that had one of the best jazz programs in the nation) who worked with the rhythm section. The first thing they did was position each player so that we could make eye contact. The difference was astounding; we all felt a connection that we had never felt before, and we couldn't really explain it. We were communicating, working synergistically, playing off eachother. In short, we had established a groove.
Also encourage memorization, particularly with the drummer. The charts for the rhythm section are usually very dull and repetetive. When the players follow the sheet music too closely, it's a mechanical process; through the eyes, into the hands. If you can get them to only look at the music occasionally, it's a much more lively sound. When they aren't chained down to the music, they can look around, make the eye contact that I mentioned above. They can also think beyond the notes on the page, onto what really matters (dynamics, tempo, groove, accents, ect.).
Posts: 23 | Registered: Jun 2006
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I wish I had more useful information, but unfortunately I'm fairly unfamiliar with jazz education (and, actually, most jazz repertoire in general). There's the International Association for Jazz Education, which seems to have quite a number of useful education links (on this page). If I were going to be teaching a class on jazz, I think that would be where I would start.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Thanks for all the help guys! I'm sure the IAJE links will help.
Scorpio, thanks for the tips on drumming. I played in the wind section for various jazz bands, but have no real idea how to get a rhythm section sounding great. Your ideas are enlightening.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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If you're a member of MENC, there's quite a bit on their website too. I can put you in touch with some great jazz educators if you'd like. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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My MENC membership is currently expired, but I want to re-up as soon as I have a little extra money laying around.
I may be getting in touch with several jazz pedagogues around my area this summer to see what I can do about developing a workable curriculum. I just need to have a general draft put together by this Friday to get approval from the administration.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Also, placing all of the rhythm players so that they can have eye-contact with eachother is no easy task, especially when touring or on an unfamiliar set of risers. I recommend having a number of rhythm sectionals; sometimes where the players are arranged in a circle, and others where they have a limited view of eachother. The eye contact is really more of a dam-buster; eventually they can learn to communicate through their instruments. If they learn to listen to eachother, they can hear when one player makes a deliberate change (dynamics, tempo, ect.) and follow suit. One of the fundaments of improv theater is agreement; when one performer makes what they refer to as an offer (ex: stating that one character's leg is bleeding), the other performers must agree to it (ex: that character falling to the ground, screaming and bleeding imaginary blood, instead of saying "No it's not"). Same thing with the rhythm section; with regards to improvisation, they all play off eachother, and the wind section plays of of them.
Leading me to another tip; make sure the rhythm section understands their relationship with the wind section. A common metaphor is the rhythm section being the foundation and the wind section being the structure. A visual image that I like is the wind section leaning back, with the rhythm section pushing to keep them upright. Most importantly, make the drummer aware of their individual role. In concert band, the conductor visually establishes the tempo and makes visual cues; make the drummer aware that s/he is the auditory equivalent of a conductor. While you, as the director, will still make gestures to cue the band, the drummer should let everyone know that those cues are coming with small fills. If the band comes in on the up-beat of one, make sure that s/he puts in a fill that accents that downbeat (ex: lets say the wind section has a lick that goes "a, a-three-a, a-one-a-two-a" (using triplet counting 1-and-a), the drummer might want to put in a fill in the measure before the lick that goes something like "and-a-four-and-a-ONE" on the snare and floor-tom, with a big booming sound on one.)
And maybe you've heard this before, but an important thing that our director was always telling us is to treat the upbeat more important than the downbeat. This goes for winds as much as it does rythm. The thing he had us do was to practice with a metronome and picture that the clicks were happening on the swung upbeats instead of the downbeats (one-and- A two-and- A )
Always happy to help another jazz-player out
Ah, those were the days. Dear god, now look at me; I'm a VOCAL PERFORMANCE MAJOR. Posts: 23 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Yea, I have a great guide here for placing accents, and the first rule is that ANY upbeat after a rest is accented.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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