DAViIOD BAKER’ S JAZZ PEDAGOGY A Comprehensive Method of Jazz Education for Teacher and StudentJAZZ PEDAGOGY A Comprehensive Method of Jazz Education for Teacher and Student © Copyright MCMLXXIX by Maher Publications Copyright assigned MCMLXXXIX ‘Alfred Publishing Co., IJAZZ PEDAGOGY: ‘A COMPREHENSIVE METHOD OF JAZZ EDUCATION FOR TEACHER AND STUDENT Table of Contents Foreword by Robert Klotman, Introduction by Charles Suber........+++ weeeceeeeee eet Prefacs Myths IL. Jazz and Education -- Some Problem III. Some Thoughts on the Formulation of a Jazz Degree Progran Gaurae guidelines, syllabi, lesson plans, ele teats, bibliographies and discographies 249 IV. ‘he College Jazz Band aeses Jazz band -- some instrumental configurations and physical set-ups V, Some Special Techniques for Training the Jazz Band..... Instant Arranging chart, resolutions and ear exercises, chords voicings, Coltrane Changes chart. VI, ‘The Jazz Combo, 59 VII. Some Thoughts on Teaching Improvisation, Student evaluation sheet for improvisation, suggest: private teacher, teaching maxim8.,...s.ss0cse008 Some practice suggestions; recoumended books on improvisation VIII. Some Thoughts on Jazz in the High School Doctoral Dissertations in Jazz and Black Music. Selected Essential Readings; Selected Filmit "Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselv or we know where we can find information upon it." Samuel Johnson--Boswell's Life of JohnsonINTRODUCTION For all of its widespread institu- tional presence at the close of the 1970s, Jazz Education ie still not considered to be required training for music teachers and student musicians. ‘This academic determination is reflected in the popular use, in school curricula and echoed by tion muaic = with the connotation that jazz and blues are "popular", "commercial", or "youth" music. ‘Thus Jazz Education also ems to be @ bit too popular, a shade too dark and common to varrant complete inte- gration into the Music Education club. Then why does Jazz Education continue to flourish in the face of this estrange- ment from the rest of Academia? ‘The reasons become clearer as we how jazz musicians have learned their art and profession in the past 50 years. Re- cordings were the first Jazz textbooks. In the 1920s, private legit teachers taught advanced instrumental techniques and how to read and write music to jazz artists. But live performances and, regardless of their sound quality, early recordings in partic- ular that spread the message of jazz across dmerica, enabling student musicians to hear + and study and attempt to emulate -- in- provised music. (Just to make it official that jazz vas a “real” art form, works by such Europeans as Ravel, Milhaud, and Stra- the ‘symphonic jazz" of Anericans George Gerah- win and Ferde Grofe was soon to follow.) With the post-World War I proliferation of ballrooms, vaudeville stages, night clubs, and other popular music venues, the phenoa- onal popularity of the phonograph, and a Little later the even greater phenomenon of radio, with its thousands of live broad- caste, Jazz (or at least Jazzy kinds of music) vas in denand. But no schools taught anything even a little Like jazz: Fletcher and Horace Henderson (Wilberforce U.), Coleman Havkins (Washburn College), Jimmie Lunceford (Fisk), Erskine Havkins (Alabama State), and the rest learned the basics of their art far avay from the The only source of a formal jazz edu- cation in the '30s was the private teacher. There were many good ones in the major music cities such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, New Or- leans, Houston, Denver, and Los Angeles Milwaukee teacher Norbert Bleihoff was one of the first to explain techniques of jazz improvisation, in his 1935 text Modern Arranging and Orchestration, ‘The next year Carl Kelley and Russell Brooks, two Chicago musicians, began to teach their aystem of improvisation based on learning chord structures, passing tones, and blue notes s+ transcribed from jazz records. Almost from its beginning, in 1934, Chicago's down beat published regular columns on the con- ponents of jazz education: Sharon Pease analyses of Jazz piano styles (later col- lected in book form) and improvisatio saxophone studies by David Gornston; Ar- ranging by Will Hudson and others; other instrumental colums, many at least nomin- ally written by famed jazz musicians -- and transcribed solos of jazz masters such as Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Bix Bei- derbecke, Jack Teagarden, et al.” Since 1897, xetronome, a New York magazine, had been published for concert band and orches- tra musicians; in 1935, its editorial en- phasis changed to swing and jazz, too. Non-teaching professional musicians -- Gene Krupa, Frank Trumbaver, Eddie Lang, for early examples -- began to offer their Jazz method booklets. And along with orig- inal recorded arrangements and solo tran- scriptions, the first play-along records were issued. These offered "full orche: tra accompaniment" to "I Got Rhythm", "Tiger Rag", "Limehouse Blues", and other standard chord sequences to which the stu- dent musician could play on his own instru- ment. The most important influence on jazz education in the '30s was Joseph Schilling- ex, a brilliant music theorist and teacher who emigrated to the U.S, from Russia in 1928. lis concepts diverged sharply from traditional conservatory teaching methods. The Schillinger system allowed composers, for the first tine, mathenatically exact rules that could be used to adapt to any iitcomponent of music -- rhythm, harmony, den- sity, counterpoint, etc. -~ from any idion to Jazz-related composition, Moreover, his aysten set forth predetermined paths for Jazz improvisors to develope along. Con- mercial arrangers have said that by using the Schillinger system, the charts practic- ally wrote themselves. They found the mel- ody line, applied the proper mathematical formula, wrote out the notes, and presto! they met their deadlines, Although he taught at several New York schools (he was asked to leave Columbia U.'s Teachers Col- lege for being too far out), Schillinger's forte was private teaching. His best-known atudents included George Gershwin and Benny Goodman, radio's Paul Lavalle and Oscar Le- vant, Max Steiner, who paid $5,000 for jet of Schillinger's personal notebooks and swing band masters Glenn Miller and Van Alexander, vho both wrote arranging method books based on the system. Schillinger's influence on jazz musicians continued long after his death in 1943. His system was later modified and evolved by his students. Pianist-composer-leader Muhal Richard Ab- rame, self-taught from Schillinger's texts, was the guiding spirit of Chicago's avant garde AACH school, which began in 1967. World War 1I affected everything and everybody, Citizen soldiers began to be drafted in 1940, and soon every service camp, base, and capital ship had its resi- dent military and dance/jazz bands. (And the black Americans had theirs and the white Anericans had theirs.) The U.S, Navy School of Music even included swing and jazz in its wartime training proced ures. The Armed Forces Radio Service broadcast vast amounts of swing and jazz throughout the world via transcriptions and records, (So did Tokyo Rose.) Jazz and swing were part of the American dream for which our boys were fighting. In 1944, Congress enacted the Servicenen's Readjust- ment Act == the G.I, Bill of Rights -~ which was to allow hundreds of thousands of jexvicemen to complete their education after discharge, When the war ended the next year, the largest number of returning musicians used the G.I, Bill to finance a college music education degree. (Those who chose private study intended to work as professional players and writers.) iv By then, a bounty of popular and crit- ical tomes had appeared, to complement the Jaze/swing magazines and study guid critics Leonard Feather, Robert Goffin, and Marshall Stearns had lectured on jazz hist- ory and development in 1941 at the New School for Social Research. High school administrators were insisting that school band teachers should be qualified, certi- fied music educators; state universities and teachers colleges responded by making "Band" a required course for music ed. majors. In the '40s, ten colleges offer- ed jazz courses on a non-credit basis, and significantly, five colleges offered jazz for credit: 1945 -- Berklee School of Music (then named Schillinger House; 2-year Pro- fessional Diploma), Lawrence Berk, direct- or; 1945 -~ Westlake College of Music (in Hollywood; 2-year Professional Diploma) Alvin Learned, director; 1946 -~ Los Angel- es City College (2-year Academic Diploma), Bob McDonald, director; 1947 -- California State Polytechnic; 1948 -- North Texas State College (4-year Dance Band major) MLE. "Gene" Hall, director. Private t chers and studios that presented jazz-rela: ted studies abounded; many were authorized Regional Representatives of the Schillinger system. (Boston's Lawrence Berk was the most successful Schillinger alumnus in terms of integrating a complete jazz pro- gram within a total music curriculum. By 1976, the Berklee College of Music, was a fully accredited 4-year college with over 2200 full-time students.) Not all private teaching followed Schillinger's precepts, Beginning in 1945- 46, Charles Colin's New York studio offered anced Dance Studies", Phil Moore and Otto Cesana were teaching arranging, and bandleader and former Cab Calloway saxnan Walter "Foots" Thomas was offering a cor- respondence course in improvisation. More- over, the high school pep bands of the ‘30s had prepared the vay for the extracurricul- ar dance bands of the later swing years. As early as 1944, a Rye, N.Y, music depart- ment chairman, Dr. J.T.H. Mize, was editing 4 weekly mimeographed jazz publication dis- tributed to 180 high schools. Indeed, jas scholarships for both high school and coll- ege students began to appear shortly after the war,Marshall Stearns began the first sum- mer jazz seminars in 1950, at the Music Inn in Massachusetts’ Berkshires. Critic- historian Rudi Blesh, couposera Eubie Blake, Marc Blitzstein, and Leonard Bern- stein, and John Mehegan, Juilliard's piano and improvisation instructor headlined the next year's session, (Juilliard soon aban- doned jazz, however.) During the 19508, ybout 30 more colleges added non-credit Jatz courses; a total of 21 colleges offer- ed Jazz courses for credit. The G.I. Bill music education majors were now teaching in high schools, conducting the required mar- ching and concert bands, expanding the extracurricular Jazz or dance band activi- ties. "Stage band" was originally a eu- phemism coined in the South to avoid the sinful aspects of Jazzing or dancing; the ‘stage band movement in high schools accel- erated in a pattern similar to the rapid Growth of school concert bands after the First World War. a knew the advantages of jazz or ‘swing music: greater motivation on the part of the student instrumentalist, increased responsibility for one's part, and more opportunity for individual creativity. Often, the younger directors had their ova Weekend professional gigs, thereby keeping up with contemporary performance standards and styles. In 1960, about 5,000 U.S. high schools had at least one "stage band’ Most of these were not part of the formal curriculum, but a revard for students from the band or orchstra; permission to parti- cipate was based on demonstrated deportment, interest, and ability. ‘The first charts especially written for stage bands appeared in 1954, a set of four by Art Dedrick; thus Horace Silver's nevly-recorded "the Preacher" quickly be- came a stage band staple. Dedrick's ar- rangements of Ellington's music began to yr the next year, and in 1956, Sammy tico, arranger for the Airmen of Note (the official U.S, Air Force stage band) began offering his long series of (mostly Basie-styled) arrangements for schools. Other pro arrangers turned out stage band music in the late '50s, among them John La- Porta (formerly with Woody Herman), Neil Hefti (offering his hit Basie scores), Mar- shall Brown and Clem DeRosa (themselves school stage band pioneers), and Ralph Mut- chler, Northwestern University's avard- winning stage band director. The firat National Band Camp was organized in 1959 by Ken Morris at Indiana University, and the faculty included many pioneer clinicians who subsequently brought their professional standards to schools through- out the U.S, In Chapter II, David Baker describes the first intercollegiate jarz stival, at Notre Dane, that same year, In 1960, there were about a dozen school stage band or jazz festivals; there were about 75 in 1969. During the decade, six regional college jazz festivals were established, based on the format of the original 1959 Notre Dame festival. For several years in the ‘60s, the U.S. State Department sponsored overseas tours by col- lege jazz ensembles selected at the Notre Dame festival. national jazz festival was held in 1967-69; participating groups vere chosen from regional festivals. Algo at the end of the '60s, 165 colleges offer- ed non-credit jazz courses, vhile 135 gave ademic credits in Jazz; some 8,500 junior and senior high schools had 10,000 stage bands (by then, more often called "jazz bands"), with the more experienced educat- ors organizing tvo or more ensembl its 1960 biennial convention in 19 Music Educators National Conference spon- sored its first formal jazz seminar. Eight years later, the National Association of Jazz Bducators (NAJE) was chartered as an auxiliary of the M.E.N.C. (NAJE became autonomous in 1973.)" A four-week Youth Music Symposium at the U. of Wisconsin in the sumer of 1969 attracted attention be- cause of its conclusions: students wanted to create their ov music, using their tea- chers' expertise; youth-oriented instru- ments auch as the guitér had a place in school music; rock and jazz offered more students an opportunity to participate in school music. This, then, vas the spiral of jazz ucation in the '60s: the '50s high school students learned stage band music from ex- professional swing band musicians educated by tt G.I, Bill; many of these students became the second generation of jazz veducator bles in even organizing jazz-type Jazz programs were a di Of pressure from the high schools spite the pressure from high school admin- istrators, college music departments weren't giving jazz anything like parity with trad- itional music ed. courses -- on the contr ry, course credit for jazz study was grudg- ingly granted, and budgets for faculty and materials were skimpy. With few excep- tions, the entire college teaching load fell on one person's shoulders. That in- dividual recruited and developed the en- sembles, begged borrowed, or stole a book of arrangements (or wrote the book himself, in many successful programs), and in his spare time provided private lessons on instrumental techniques and the elements of improvisation, and hired the bus to take the band to a regional festival "represent- ing the excellence of the X University School of Music". The one-person Jazz faculty was and is 4 well-achooled working pro who has conditioned to cope with the distance and disinterest -- indeed, sometimes outright hostility -- of traditional music faculty bers. The history of jazz education is the record of determined, hard-working pro- feasionals who were so dedicated to their students! education that they did whatever had to be done with whatever resources were ailable. Thus the success of the progran at North Texas State University (the only one that offered a major in Jazz in the "60s) rested on the 18 hours a day efforts of Leon Breeden; at Indiana University, 3 largest music school, the first, lonely jazz faculty member was Buddy Baker (followed by Jerry Coker, then in 1966 by David Baker); and so on.” Sometines, despite his most valiant efforts and his students’ loyal support, the college re fused to grant jazz any official status. But the average high school stage band director had the advantage of being the only instrumental instructor on the faculty, with no musical colleagues to turn up their noses at teaching Jazz to young people, This director's principal's chief concern was that the students’ behavior and performances pleased the community -- so it wat okay if something called a stage band éidn't interfere with the required half- vi time show, Christmas programs, parades, spring musicals, and graduation ceremonies. Parents, delighted with their children playing the swing music that "Wwe used to jitterbug to", organized candy and cake ales to buy the band director whatever was needed to field a winning, swinging band. Very importantly, because of the support it attracted from musical instrument companies, arentls were glad to buy a new, profession. al-type instrument for their professional- type sons and daughters. What had been suitable for eighth clarinet in the concert band was obviously not the instrument for the front Line of a jazz band. The instru- ment companies and th ir dealers were motiv- ated to co-sponsor school jazz festivals, award scholarships to the National Stage Band Camps, and offer professional music- dans to present clinics By the end of the '70s, over 550,000 student musicians participated in jazz-re- lated ensembles and courses supervised by Jazz educators. Over 70% of the 30,000 junior and senior high schools in the U.S. had at least one stage/Jazz band, and well over 500 colleges were offering at least one jazz ensemble or course for credit; at offered jazz-related Dr. Warrick L. Carter, chairman of the Governors State University (I11i- nois) music department, estimates that 15- 20 schools nov offer postgraduate jazz rograns leading to masters’ degrees. At st 250 school jazz festivals wére at- tracting up to 200 stage bands and jazz combos at one location, and 1979 featured 300 summer jazz camps, Many college jazz bands vere as polished as the professional road bands, and in fact, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, and Bill Watrous recruited their sidemen di- rectly from the colleges. Why not? These new young pros were already playing the re- cordings bands' charts in college, and they had more time to rehearse. Big nane bands took on new life, working lengthy strings of one-nighter concert/clinic stands at high schools and colleges. Many jazz edu- cators vere gaining the sentority in their colleges or school systems that vould in- sure the continuity of thelr jazz programs. Universities vere bestowing honorary deg- rees and artist-in-residencies on the lik of Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Eubie Blake, Herbie Hancock, et al. And a fas-cinating elementary school progran directed by Dr. Herb Wong in Berkeley, California demonstrated that learning improvisational music skills enabled students to improve academic skills such as reading and math concepts. Yet the merest handful of colleges ré quired any jazz courses toward the fulfill- ment of the music degrees, and even fever required their music education majors ~~ the future school music teachers -- to have any jazz competence. The one-person college Jazz Department remained the rule, far and avay, with him/her teaching a variety of courses to 100 or more students, Even more seriously, the majority of jazz educators have had relatively little professional experience. Thus, benignly and vithout malice, teachers whose experience is almost wholly behind the ivy-covered walls may be academicizing jazz: binding it within defin- itions, codifying its styles and forms, and standardizing and Limiting its modes of ex- pression. The desire of students to earn a Living frow their music skills has made them seek education that promises financial return -- ironically, for the educator most Likely to organize and motivate music bun- iness courses is the jazz professional. He or she knows the musical and coumercial value of film scoring, jingle writing, music copying, today's recording business, retailing and marketing, publishing, copy- right lav, management, etc. So his profes- sionalien is a financial asset to his ‘school, which may make jazz studies more acceptable in times to come. Most student musicians do not want to become Jazz professionals, What they do with their Jazz education is a plus for thenselves and for music. If they do want to become pro jazz artists, they will do vhat their aspiring predecessors have done. ‘They will play the great records, study the solos, immerse themselves in the music, and go out to play wherever and whenever pos~ sible. They vill seek out good private professional teachers, for there is no shortage of experienced, skillful jazz pros able and willing to ‘along vhat they know, Jazz vill be around as long as people need it. And so jazz education will be around as Long as people need it. ‘The publication of vazz Pedagogy is a seminal event. For the first time, the knowledge and experience of a professional Jazz musician and teacher, David Baker, is Presented as a logical and practical meth~ od of teaching and learning jazz. This book will undoubtedly shock such non-be- Lieve: the staff of the Juilliard School of Music and other pedagogues who do not regard jazz as a fit subject for their students, However, to the thousands upon thousands of teachers and students throughout the world who find jazz a nec- sary enrichment to the quality of their this book 1s dedicated. 1 + Charles Suber publisher, down beat vitPREFACE This book 1s designed to meet the needs of professional music educator prospective music teachers, performing musicians, administrators, and other persons concerned with the future of Jazz music. The book contains much of interest for any musician, but the central focus is on the problems of the teacher entrusted with the task of teach- ing jazz, and rock, popular music, and the various other forms directly related to the sources of jazz. To the best of uy knowledge, this book provides, for the first time under one cover, a text which deals in a com prehensive fashion with the methodology of jazz teaching. Unlike most pedagogy books, it not only examines the methods of teaching, but also concerns itself with what should be taught. My personal experiences and the in- formation passed on to me by many of my colleagues in jazz education have con- vinced me that a book of this nature is Jong overdue and desperately needed. Hardly a week passes without nunerous requests via phone, letter, and personal visits (often over great distances and at considerable expense) for course guide- lines, syllabi, reading and listening lists, and other information about jazz and jazz-related courses. Most other established jazz educators share this experience Presently most jazz educators and potential jazz educators come from one of three basic backgrounds: (1) jazz performers with little or no teaching background; (2) teachers with little or no Jazz performance background; (3) classical performers/educators vith little or no jazz background. Most of the established jazz teachers over thirty have had little opportunity to study jazz in an academic situation simply because there have been so few schools offering courses in this area, The next decade will see a marked change in the level of jazz teaching across the board because of the increasing number vit of schools offering Jazz courses; until then, I feel that a comprehensive work dealing vith all aspects of jazz educa- tion is very much needed for a nunber of reasons, among them the folloving (2) For a teacher in any subject area, personal experience is invaluable, but such experience is by its very nature limited. A book such as this represents the synthesis and codification of the experiences of coumtless students, colleagues, performers, and lay persons. (2) Although 4t seems that many persons are natural teachers, most people are born with varying degrees of talent and aptitude, and their skills must be developed through training. (3) New subjects, nev ideas, and new materials demand new approaches. (4) For many reasons the jazz teacher must be a Renaissance man. The de- partment is usually understaffed, with one or two teachers being re- sponsible for the entire curriculum of performance, theory, history, pedagogy, business, counseling, administration, etc. Most young educators and aspiring teachers simply do not have the background and experience to handle this vast wrray of subjects without some out- aide source of information. (5) More and more young teachers are be- coming increasingly involved with Jazz education, and much of the teaching is, at best, haphazard and predicated on misinformation. (8) Although much valuable information dealing vith these areas is current- ly available from educators such as John La Porta and, most notably, Jerry Coker, the entire body of concerns has not been addressed under a single cover until now.(7) Te 4a only in the Last few yeara that the phenomenon of formal jazz education has been old enough to afford us the psychic and temporal distance to begin assessing which techniques work and which don't, leading us to an examination of methodology as well as content. (8) Even today the educational system as a whole continues to abrogate its responsibility to the teaching of jazz and most other contempor- ary art forms. (9) Last but perhaps most importantly, no such book as this presently exists ‘The book addresses itself to « mlti- plicity of educational concerns which people working in jazz and popular music share. In each of the areas addressed wy purpose is to present, in as cogent a fashion as possible, new and fresh ideas about the pedagogy of jazz. In the chapter entitled "myths", T have tried to systematically destroy some of the erroneous notions that have gained credence across the years and have inevitably caused people to act in ways detrimental to jazz and jazz educ tion, Myths that originate with jazz performers are dealt with as harshly as those held by academicians. I delineate and offer solutions to some of the most insidious and recurrent problems of the jazz educator, problems which run the gamut from those surrounding contests and festivals to those concerning audition- ing and evaluative procedures in our conservatories and music schools. “Some Thoughts on the Formulation of a Jaz Degree Progra is perhaps the moat comprehensive chapter in the entire book, although ite title is perhaps some— what misleading: the courses discussed fare not necessarily found only in a jazz degree program, but can and do extat ‘autononow ly. Tn many inetances I have included course guidelines, syllabi, lesson plans, sample tests, biblio- gtephies, and discographies, in addition to discussing the philosophy, content, and justification for these courses. At the end of the chapter 1s a list of sug- Gested readings and discographies (when applicable) for each of the cour The chapter dealing with the college jazz band contains a wealth of informe tion about the everyday concerns of the large college ensemble, including such topics as auditioning procedures, purchase of music, preparing @ score, and pro- graming a concert. A special section dealing with various physical set-ups in current use and some of the more popular instrumental configurations is also included in this chapter. I suppose my favorite chapter is “Some Special Techniques for Training the Jazz Band". This chapter contains what I believe to be sone truly unique and innovative techniques for the jazz band—techniques that are exciting, challenging, and mind-expanding for both director and student. In this chapter T outline numerous exercises for creating interesting instant arrangements, for collectively transcribing big band arrangements from records, and for dramatically raising the musical level of any band—-high school, college, amateur, or professional. More impor- tantly, the techniques described can be used in a multiplicity of musical sit- uations (¢.g., improvisation class ‘small group situations, arranging class sige to develop musicianship. ‘The chapter "The Jazz Conbo" deals with perhaps the most neglected area of most jazz ensemble programs. In this chapter such subjects as acquisition of music, group transcription, rehearsal techniques, and memorizing music are covered. In the chapter "Some Thoughts on Teaching Improvisation", techniques for working vith large, heterogeneous classes are stre ‘The chapter "Jazz in the High School" addresses very specifically those problems peculiar to the high school situation. This chapter also includes suggestions and ix