[Dixielandjazz] Another voice at the congressional Jazz conference

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Even though these articles are now dated they are still very much 
appropriate to the situation at hand across the country, so as many of 
you as can get out and start getting your bands and the music in front 
of those young kids and expose them to it while you still can.  YOu 
will find a very appreciative and engaging enthusiastic audience every 
time.    And take some flyers along with you to send home with them and 
watch them get their parents and grandparents all excited about it and 
you might even get some new members in your local jazz societies at 
least a few at a time.

Cheers,

Tom Wiggins
Saint Gabriel's Celestial Brass Band

Subject: Another voice at the  Jazz conference

     TESTIMONY OF DR. WILLIS F. KIRK
  President Emeritus, City College of San Francisco

 KIRK:
  My name is Willis Kirk. I'm President Emeritus of City College of San 
Francisco, retiring just last January 14 (1990).
 MURRAY:
 Sounds like you know what's going on in education ...
 KIRK:
  For over 35 years, I've been in education and taught elementary, 
junior high, high school, and college, and I've been in administration 
for the last 20 years at City College. All during that time I've been a 
working musician when I could.

   I'm also a writer. I wrote two instructional books on music. This one 
is on Afro American rhythm patterns which is a method for teaching 
rhythms to kids.

   I was a consultant for the National Endowment of the Arts and did 
some traveling to Washington, D.C. On behalf of them. I've been 
involved in this music for many, many years, but this is the first time 
I've seen the legislature get involved in jazz. When I started teaching 
music, I taught at 5 schools. I'm originally from Indianapolis so I 
grew up with a host of good musicians. In the midwest, we had good 
music programs.

   One of the things I have always thought and still believe is that the 
acceptance of jazz from its early stages up to today has always been 
hindered by racism. I have no doubt that its still there.

   I don't have much to add to what's been said. The one point made 
repeatedly is that jazz education must start at an early age. I 
certainly do believe it after having been in education since 1956.

   I work with the Oakland Jazz Alliance which is trying to get jazz in 
the Oakland schools. After one of our high school presentations, we 
asked the students to raise their hands if they knew the type of music 
we were playing. Now the school has 1,800 students; less than half 
could raise their hands because most of them didn't know. So we have a 
real big job to do. I don't know how we go about it.

   These are high school kids at one of the best high schools in 
Oakland. These are kids who came up in upper middle class areas. 
Evidently their parents either didn't have the background or did not 
have it in school. So I wasn't surprised most of them did not know what 
we were playing.

   I then asked them if they had heard about the passing of Miles Davis 
(Miles Davis passed away on September 28, 1991). More hands than before 
went up. So we used that as a vehicle to explain what Miles Davis had 
done and what we were attempting to accomplish by bringing jazz into 
the schools.
 MURRAY:
 What's going on in the K through 12 schools?
 KIRK:
  Very little. In the 1950s, they had music for all the kids in every 
school.
 MURRAY:
 Jazz?
 KIRK:
  Yes. Well, when I say "jazz" I mean that the black teachers were well 
aware of jazz. We didn't say that we learned jazz at school, but we did 
because we had teachers who understood jazz.
 MURRAY:
  Of course we have black teachers today, but maybe we don't have the 
same level of music programs.
 KIRK:
 Not as much as we did.
 MURRAY:
 Are you familiar with California?
 KIRK:
  Yes. I've been here since 1968 when there was more music in elementary 
and junior high schools than there is now.
 MURRAY:
 So we not only have less jazz, but we have less music ...
 KIRK:
 Less music, less teachers. Definitely.

   After 35 years in education, this is the first time in my life that I 
don't have to depend on anything so I can be a working musician. This 
to me is marvelous. I can play what I want, when I want, and where I 
want. But, that's not the point. I am concerned that the preservation 
of jazz music continue, and I reiterate what's been said before that we 
must go back into the schools to do it.

   I'm really disappointed that over the years we have allowed the 
schools to slip in terms of music education. In Japan every child, 
grades 1-5, receives 2 hours a week of music instruction from a music 
specialist.

   Last year, I was in the Soviet Union with 21 educators. Everywhere we 
traveled there were Russian musicians in motels trying to play this 
thing called jazz. Even though language was a barrier, I somehow 
communicated to them that I was a jazz musician from San Francisco. 
They immediately went out to find someone who could interpret.

   The music is magic when it comes to our representation of it and its 
representation of us in various parts of the world. This music is ours; 
we've got to catch up with the rest of the world in appreciating it.

   Someone said you can't buy better school systems. That's a bunch of 
crap. You need the dollars to have the teachers, to have the 
curriculum, and to put jazz in schools. Until we re-dedicate ourselves 
to making the music live, we all fail. Music is not a frill to cut when 
the money is tight; it is an essential element of a person's total 
education.

  Thank you.
 MURRAY:
 Any questions?
 CARRILLO:
  I'm curious about the music educators we have today. Are there a good 
number of teachers who have jazz education or jazz experience that are 
now in the schools?
 KIRK:
  There are some, but they're not working. David Baker, who is a friend 
of mine, has probably turned out more musicians--the caliber musicians 
who should be in the schools--than any one I know. He has developed a 
curriculum of teaching jazz, and his students understand a lot more 
about jazz because they have studied it on a very structured basis. His 
teaching method is innovative.

   When I grew up it was thought that jazz couldn't be taught. That was 
the prevalent thought. Today, we know jazz can be instructed just like 
any other music. I think David is a forerunner in teaching structured 
jazz in the college setting.

  Does that answer your question?
 CARRILLO:
  Well... How much jazz education do music educators have who are 
teaching K through 12 students?
 KIRK:
  Not nearly enough. There are more teachers in colleges with jazz 
backgrounds than in elementary, junior high schools, and high schools. 
While there are more in high schools than there used to be and much 
more in colleges than there used to be, there are less in elementary 
schools.
 CARRILLO:
  You said, "jazz teachers are not working". Does that mean they are not 
working as music educators?
 KIRK:
 Yes. They work as best they can as musicians.
 CARRILLO:
 Outside of education?
 KIRK:
 Yes.
 MURRAY:
 Thank you very much, Mr. Kirk ...
 MINICUCCI:
  Just one more comment on what Mr. Kirk said. A study conducted a 
couple of years ago comparing Japanese schools with American schools 
found the biggest percentage difference in instructional time was not 
in mathematics--in fact that is the smallest difference between 
Japanese and American schools--but in the arts, particularly music. 
Every third and fourth grade student in japan has to take Suzuki and 
violin lessons. This study confirms Mr. Kirk's point that music 
receives a higher priority in Japan.

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