Jazz must be taught in American schools

            Teachers must be extremely knowledgeable about the content area that they teach and music is no exception. Music teachers must know their theory, instrument techniques, repertoire, and music history. For the American music teacher, this means that we must be well versed in Jazz.

            Jazz was born in America and is one of the only styles that truly came from our country. We need to know the history of Jazz, and teach it to our students. Jazz molds together the western harmony of European classical music, the complex swing rhythms of Africa, and the marches that were popular in New Orleans around the turn of the century. When students trace the history of Jazz in their music classes they will also be getting a broader perspective of their country’s history. This music is closely tied to the civil rights movement of the 60s.

            Some of America’s best songs come from the Tin Pan Alley Broadway show tunes. These songs were popular in the thirties and forties and as a result, jazz musicians used them as framework for their improvisations. Some of the jazz standards that should be taught to American students are George Gershwin’s “I’ve got rhythm,” Jerome Kern’s “All the things you are,” and Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train.” These tunes all teach students about 32 bar song form and rich with ii-V-I harmonies.

            Students need to learn how to improvise in their music classes. Jazz offers people the canvas to explore and create music of their own. There is a lot of emphasis on learning how to read music in schools. Unfortunately this system does not promote creativity.

            Learning Jazz also gives students a deep understanding of melody, harmony, and song forms. The melodies of jazz standards are harmonized with seventh chords and almost always utilize upper extension color tones. Jazz chords usually have ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths, which are far more complex than simple rock and blues chord changes. Jazz harmony is not necessarily better than rock and roll, but It does give students a broader palate of musical colors to choose from when it comes to writing original music.

            Jazz teaches kids how to swing which is an important rhythmic feel in US pop music. Blues, rock, funk, R&B, hip-hop, and rap all use swing feels extensively. Learning and understanding the swing feel is an advanced concept because it forces people to divide a pulse into an uneven subdivision. This feel is hard to explain in words and hard to notate so it must be taught by rote and by listening.

            Music educators must be experts on Jazz because it is a culturally relevant style of music. It is closely tied to the civil rights movement, it gives children a vehicle to improvise, it is rich in harmonic material, and it has a swing feel which is vital for all American musicians to be well versed in.

Introductory Band Lesson

Recently in my Secondary Methods class at UB our professor had us teach the first five minutes of an introductory band lesson. The scenario was we were the teachers and our professor was the fifth grade student.

The first thing I did in my mock band lesson was introduce myself and learn the name of my “student”, Brandt. I didn't spend any time making small talk, but instead I got right down to business and we opened up his instrument case.

I told Brandt that it is important to open the case on the ground and showed him how to do this right side up. The next thing that I explained to Brandt was the two main parts of his instrument; the trumpet and the mouth piece. I told him that our objective was to make a sound and that the way sound is produced with the trumpet is called “buzzing the mouthpiece”.

Next I had Brandt copycat what I was doing with my lips. I loosely blew a raspberry, tightly made a buzz, and tried a couple of other variations. Brandt picked up on this very quickly and mimicked what I did with my embouchure. Once I got him to make the right lip buzz I told him,"Great job, that's the sound we want!" I also explained to him that I am not principally a trumpet player and that we are both learning.

The next thing we did was assemble the mouthpiece to the trumpet. Luckily he already knew how to hold his instrument, so I did not have to instruct him for this procedure. Once he had his trumpet assembled I had Brandt buzz his lips on the mouthpiece again and he was successful in making his “first sound." 

This was a hilarious class activity and very helpful. It was great to observe my classmates teach and see some of their strategies. I will never forget this lesson and will definitely use some of the information that I learned in my own music classes one day.

What makes a "Good" musician?

           Recently I read an article by my professor Brandt Schneider entitled Creating Musical Flexibility Through the Ensemble (http://www.leadingnotes.org/2012/02/06/schneider/). In the article Schneider points out that the modern day school ensemble is a “repertoire machine” that pumps out a couple of concerts every year. The emphasis is on learning a program of songs and mastering them, then starting over next year. This system can yield some great performances, but at the end of the day it does not produce versatile musicians that can improvise, compose, and play in all twelve keys.

            Professor Schneider was given the opportunity to build a band program from scratch, which gave him the freedom to use his own teaching approach. The kids that went through this program were able to sing the songs that they played using solfege syllables. They could swap parts and transpose their music on sight. They could play simple melodies like “Mary had a little lamb” and “Somewhere over the Rainbow” in multiple keys. They could also play the songs that they knew in different styles or genres.

            This approach to teaching band and orchestra seems revolutionary, but Schneider reminds us that these skills were common for musicians in past generations. The current system of teaching music in schools is relatively new. Perhaps our culture’s definition of what a “good” musician entails has changed as the years have gone by.

What makes a “good” musician? In my opinion a good musician is somebody who:

• ·      has an excellent sense of rhythm and time.
• ·      has excellent ears and can figure out melodies and harmonies by ear.
• ·      is able to play many different styles of music.
• ·      is a skilled improviser.
• ·      plays multiple instruments.

You may have noticed that I have not listed reading music as one of my criteria. I don’t think it is vital for an accomplished musician to read music. Some of the best players are self-taught and have never taken lessons. Reading however is an invaluable skill to have as it opens many doors to playing classical repertoire and a sea of other pieces. It seems that today’s band programs in middle and high schools are geared towards making kids the best readers that they can be. Teaching this skill is awesome and as I stated above, it opens up almost limitless amounts of repertoire for reading. Unfortunately this method leads students to believe that being a great sight reader is the pinnacle of good musicianship and artistic creativity falls by the wayside.

Good musicians are also always practicing and trying to make improvements in their lives. Practicing an instrument intensely gives people the work ethic to set goals and work towards them in all facets of life. Practicing music can teach students how to listen to people, work towards a long-term goal, and use critical thinking and problem solving.             The skills that Brandt Schneider is teaching his ensembles are extremely versatile and will open doors for many of his students to play gigs, compose original music, and entertain friends and family. Music is so much broader than just learning how to read dots on a page. To put it simply Schneider’s approach to teaching music ensembles cultivates intelligent, well rounded, “good” musicians.

Who am I? and Core Values

            Hi! My name is Jake Habegger. I have been playing music since I was eight years old when I started taking piano lessons. Some of my favorite musicians and bands are Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. I love to go jogging, hike in the woods, go skiing, eat delicious vegetarian food, spend time with my fiance, and play N64. When I was about fourteen years old I switched from piano to drums. I graduated from Watertown high school in 2007 and then attended Western Connecticut State University from 2007 – 2011 majoring in music performance. It was during my college years that I began to play more gigs and teach private lessons.

When I was in my junior year at WCSU, I started telling my friends that I was gay. Although I had come out to my family in high school, this point in my life marked my true coming out because I started telling everybody. When I started college, I didn’t tell any of my new friends about my sexuality because there was no easy way to bring it up. When I came out in high school, I basically let the word spread that, “Jake’s gay” and avoided the subject at all costs. Coming out to my friends in college was my own choice and I finally mustered up the courage to say it out loud to the world.

If you talk to me or see me, you probably won’t pick up on the fact that I’m gay. I have a “straight guy” persona and hang out with mostly straight dudes and I do not have a good fashion sense... When I was growing up, I rejected my sexuality and consciously or subconsciously emulated the mannerisms and vocabulary of a straight dude that played drums and loved Zeppelin. I mean, I really love classic rock and playing music and probably would have gravitated towards this path no matter what, but I sometimes wonder about other versions of Jake Habegger in a parallel universe that faced their fears earlier that I did. I’m not saying that to identify as gay, you have to look and act gay. There is nothing wrong with being a stereotype, but there is something wrong with feeling ashamed of who you are and trying to act like someone you aren’t.

Now that I am a teacher and I’m shaping the futures of so many children, I feel that it is my responsibility to be known as that “awesome music teacher that also happens to be gay.” I want the kids that I teach to know it is okay to be the person that they truly are. I happen to love playing music and want to pass on that passion to my students, but at the end of the day I feel that the most important gift that I can pass on to my students is to unabashedly be myself every day. Peter Boonshaft puts it beautifully in his book Teaching Music with Purpose:

“A hundred years from now… it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove… but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”

I hope I can live up to this quote and guide many children through the path to figuring out what they will do with their lives. I also hope that I will acquire the great skill that Boonshaft has for telling stories. I love his anecdote about spilling an entire bag of M&Ms on the floor of a movie theater and relating the horrendous sound that they made to his ensemble.

The above tale of my life sums up my core values as a human trying to make the world a better place. But specifically as a music teacher, one of my core values is teaching students to really understand rhythm. I believe that having a firm grasp of how to read, count, and play notes on a page is one of my main jobs as a music teacher. In contrast with this principle, I also believe that music is for enjoyment and expression. I incorporate a lot of improvisation in my piano and drum lessons with the intent of having fun and being creative. Basically, I want my students to be excellent improvisers and excellent readers. Charlie Parker says it best:

“You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.”