[Dixielandjazz] Youthful musicians...our "future"?

[Jim Russell]

In this vein here are a few items/thoughts:

My son pulled my wife and I into trad jazz. He started
playing violin at 3 and jazz at 5. He sits in
regularly with bands in and around NYC and played at
Hot Steamed and Great CT last summer. He is now 8.5
and has been asked to play at the New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage festival. For more information, his web site
is at http://www.jonathanjazz.com.

He has received a great deal of support and training
from many of the musicians that he has played with,
most notably Ed Polcer. Ed and a few folks like him
are the reason Jonathan can perform so well.
Jonathan's talent and training can only go so far.

I feel that the key to getting more youth into trad
jazz is through keeping the doors open (I watched the
"sitting-in" thread closely) and reaching out wherever
possible. This should also be at an earlier age than
what most folks seem to think. If more kids got the
exposure to jazz at five, then they would have
something to compare to pop, rap or hip-hop that might
make those genres pale in comparison.

Jonathan has also played for kids and camps in Harlem.
For some of the kids, this was their first chance to
hear jazz or to touch an instrument. The kids
certainly responded to seeing someone their age, or
younger, playing. For us, this is a necessary part of
both Jonathan's up-bringing and for how we can make a
difference in our community. But I am troubled by the
thought that some of the 4-12 year old kids in Harlem
did not know what jazz was.

There is a growing movement within the string
education community to incorporate jazz into the
elementary school curriculum. ASTA (American String
Teachers Association) has actually added an improv
element into their standards. There already seems to
be a good body of support for middle and high school
kids (generally ones that are already in a school jazz
program) through camps and competitions. But I suspect
that some kids get drawn away from creating their own
music or from jazz before they even get to middle
school.  So finding ways to lower the age in jazz
camps and competitions would help.  THis has been done
in the fiddle circles and has gone a long way toward
preserving several styles that were in danger of dying
out.

One thing that has disturbed me is the lack of support
from some audiences for youth bands. While the
musicians often get a great deal of satisfaction in
playing with and teaching younger musicians, many
audiences don't even show up for the event. We've only
been to the two festivals above so this may not be the
case generally.

JIM

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