Mark Foster, Jazz Chair this at the school or in your community.
ALL-STATE JAZZ ENSEMBLE
Greetings! I hope everyone had a relaxing summer and a great start to the school year. In addition to marching band, fall is the time to help your students prepare for the all-state jazz ensemble auditions. Please check the ABA website for audition requirements and registration information. Students have to perform a recorded audition, which consists of two jazz standards (which includes some improvisation), an etude, and some scales. I have tried to make the improvisation as logical and easy to understand as possible this year. Students should be able to improvise with just a few scales, so please don’t let your students get intimidated by the improv component. We have 2 high school and 1 middle school all-state jazz ensembles in Alabama. Last year we had over 120 students audition for the bands, I would like to see this number grow substantially this year, so please encourage your students to audition for the band.
----Remember to allow enough preparation time to get recordings completed and mailed by November 1, 2013.
TIPS ON STARTING A JAZZ ENSEMBLE AT YOUR SCHOOL
If you have never had a jazz ensemble at your school, try finding some time to start one this year. It is a great musical outlet for your students, and it is something they all enjoy. In addition, there are always performance opportunities for a group like
1. Try not to be intimidated by it.Your band does not have to be as good as the Buddy Rich band the first year, and you don’t have to be an improviser like John Coltrane to have a great jazz band. There is a wide range of jazz charts on the market from various publishers that serve as great training pieces for young bands. For example, many of the charts available in the Kjos catalog have great teaching aids that include help teaching style and improvisation. Much of the improvisation in these charts can be done with one or two scales or modes, which are explained clearly in the chart. I have found that once students start improvising like this, they are less intimidated by it, and they will often seek out opportunities to learn more about improv and build their skills-they just have to be exposed to it.
2. Just a few well-written charts will work to start off. Don’t feel like you have to have 300 charts in a folder. You can have three or four pieces with varying styles that will make a great concert.
3. When will we rehearse? Rehearsal time is sometimes a problem for jazz bands as very few schools have the perfect scheduling situation that allows jazz band to rehearse as a full class during the school day. I’ve rehearsed during school, during lunch, during study hall, during academic opportunities, after school, and before school, but I’ve never had a problem getting kids to commit to coming to jazz band rehearsal. It is usually more work on the part of the director, but the rewards are great-and the students will appreciate the extra time you put into the program.
4.
Where do I go for help? There are plenty of band directors throughout the state that have great jazz programs and would be willing to give you advice on getting one started at your school. Please contact me if I can help, and if I can’t, I’ll put you in contact with some directors who can.
5.You don’t have to have perfect instrumentation. ANY INSTRUMENT CAN PLAY JAZZ. Many of the charts being written today have parts that will work with any band instrument, and many also work with incomplete instrumentation. Two of the best jazz players I’ve taught in my career were a horn player and a flute player. It’s ok to have non-standard instrumentation in a jazz band.
6. Teaching Listening. Much of the way jazz musicians learn style is through listening to and collecting lots of jazz. Youtube and iTunes offer great opportunities for this. Youtube in particular is a treasure chest for jazz enthusiasts. There are videos there of live performances from all the great artists. Jazz is popular in America, but it is really popular in Europe, and many of the great American jazz artists went to Europe to perform and these performances are all over Youtube. You can see Count Basie’s band play April in Paris, or Bill Evans play Waltz for Debbie and share these artists with your students in a way that was not possible 20 years ago. Also, with the resurgence of Vinyl lately, there are millions of great recordings at thrift stores and flea markets all over the place. Here is a small list of some great jazz artists and significant recordings that your students will enjoy listening to: Miles Davis: Kind of Blue & Sketches of Spain; Bill Evans: You Must Believe In Spring & From Left to Right; Stan Kenton: Live at Redlands University; Harry Connick Jr.: Soundtrack to When Harry Met Sally; Jay Jay Johnson: Say When & Jay and Kai +6; The Mingus Big Band: Essential Mingus Big Band; John Coltrane: John Coltrane Gold & Blue Train; Woody Herman: Giant Steps; Anything by Duke Ellington. The Glenn Miller Orchestra (many of the famous big band era recordings are accessible to students). All of these are available on CD and with iTunes, they can have them before they get to next period.
Please feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance to you in any way with your jazz programs, and I hope you will encourage your students to audition for the all-state jazz ensembles. I wish everyone a great school year.
36 August/September 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40