[Dixielandjazz] Jazz is Alive and Well - In the Classroom Anyway

[Russ Guarino]

I took a one year high school band job for the regular teacher who went on
sabbatical and had an interesting experience during the school year of 1989-1990.

Having always been a big fan of Dixieland, I assumed everybody had the same
interest.  I brought in a couple of Dixieland written out charts for my stage band
students and passed them out to play.  Much to my surprise, there was total
disinterest.  I now realize that I should have discussed the background of the
music and played some cassettes to get them into it first.  But that is now water
under the bridge.

One more thing.  I find the Jamey Abersold material hard to follow, the way he
presents the music on the tapes.

But It is not difficult to develop one's jazz improv chops with today's
technology.

Just get the CDs of the bands you like the best and fire up a "boom box" and play
along. It doesn't take long to develop your own ideas as you play plus you can
hear how great players  treat their solos.  This approach also is great training
for finding "keys" and adjusting to modulations as they come along.  And, you wont
get lost with soft "plinks" in the background as the Abersold CDs are done.

For example, I have Barbone's tape and can play along with Steve, when the mood
strikes me.  Some of his tunes are a little "wild", for playing along, but there
are lots of CDs for you to find material that suits your instincts.

Russ Guarino
Clarinet Maven

Mike wrote:

> Speaking as a student in a "jazz school" I have seen a lot of
> professors that do not know how to play jazz much less teach it.
> The Jamey Abersold's are very helpful; most students on my
> campus are into buying transcriptions books and memorizing those
> solos. It would be better to transcribe themselves that way they
> have the solo plus the practice in ear training. On my campus I
> also think that students don't listen nearly enough to jazz. You
> can't know the language if you don't expose yourself to it. My
> personal goals are to listen daily and to transribe a minimum of
> one solo per week in addition to practice.
>
> Mike
>
> Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis wrote:
> > complaint arose: too
> > many musicians sounded as if they were hatched in a practice room. The
> > problem with institutionalized jazz education, the argument went, was that
> > it fostered bland homogenization and oblivious self-absorption. And the idea
> > held at least a kernel of truth
> >
> > I completely agree that this is what happened.  This is what comes from
> > trying to teach jazz in colleges and High schools.  There is a prestigious
> > college prep HS here that has an excellent stage band.  Perfect in every way
> > except one.  The soloists totally suck.  Their training is rigid and
> > textbook like.  There is another school in the same system that had an only
> > fair stage band but produced outstanding soloists and professionals.  The
> > difference was the teacher in the second school is a jazzer who knows how to
> > inspire and lead kids into jazz the first is a textbook teacher.
>
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