jazz education
Applying Philosophy in the Music Classroom
Douglas W. Syme, WMEA State Chair, Jazz Education
Years ago I was talk- ing about philoso- phy with my karate instructor (Sensei). I remarked how simi- lar the topic we were discussing was to my musical training. He answered, “Phi- losophy is philoso-
phy. It doesn’t matter whether it’s karate, music, religion or whatever. It is all the same.” From this discussion, I realized two important things:
1. Everything is indeed everything. Life’s lessons can be applied everywhere.
2. As teachers, we should constantly keep our eyes and ears open to extract les- sons from any and all aspects of our lives.
The following is a small handful of ideas/ concepts that I incorporate into my teach- ing as often as possible. Some are posted in my room or office as a daily reminder. My hope is they expand past music, to my students’ daily lives.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-LA CROSSE
MUSIC DEPARTMENT Where Talent Becomes Artistry
Jeff Erickson, Jazz Studies
INTRODUCTING OUR NEWEST FACULTY
Chris Hathaway, Choral Studies
Physical, Mental, Spiritual: This is a concept taken directly from martial arts. The idea is that all training begins on a strictly physical level, and then progresses to a mental and eventually spiritual plane. I find it important to stress to students that these three elements are NOT mutually exclusive but rather work in harmony, taking on different levels of importance as their training progresses.
The physical level is most important at the very beginning stages of a student’s training. From the outset, everything is physical: breathing, fingering, posture, embouchure, picking, bowing etc. The biggest challenge I have found is when students begin to conquer the strictly physical part of their training, particularly some of my drummers. They have to real- ize that while you will always maintain the physical part of your training, at some point it becomes secondary to the mental phase.
The mental phase of a student’s musical training could be renamed “attention to detail.” This should be when the student begins to question and adjust everything:
embouchure, picking, bowing, tone, breath control, etc. An increased emphasis on listening should also be present during this phase. The majority of everyone’s musical training will be spent in the mental phase. As we all know, once you open a door, there are a myriad of other doors waiting to be explored.
The spiritual phase should always be pres- ent in a student’s training. It is the essence of why we study music to begin with, to nurture our spirit. It is my belief that more training unlocks that spiritual connection. As we grow in experience, the spiritual aspect of our training becomes more im- portant. It nurtures our souls by connecting beauty and passion to our lives.
Practice, Improvement, Interest: This is a concept shown to me by a colleague when working at a music store years ago. He said he saw a Suzuki teacher explain- ing it to their students and thought it was a great simple way to explain the importance of practice. I was shown this diagrammed in a triangle with practice at the bottom, improvement on the left, and interest on the right.
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