Music Education...All That Jazz

Music educators performing with Pittsburgh jazz artists
at the 2010 Music Education...All That Jazz WorkshopSince late 2007, the Arts Education Collaborative has been working with MCG Jazz to address the needs of music educators relative to teaching jazz. The project began with a baseline needs assessment gathered from a focus group of music educators in the greater Pittsburgh region. By conducting this focus group of music educators, we were able to better understand what we needed to learn and how to go about doing so.

 

A survey was developed from the data collected from the focus group and then distributed to music educators in the region. Over the course of two weeks in March 2008, one hundred and twenty-one surveys were collected (out of 631 – a 19.18% return rate). Five counties in southwest Pennsylvania (Allegheny, Washington, Greene, Fayette, and Beaver) were represented in the survey data with the vast majority of participants (82%) coming from Allegheny county. For an electronic copy of the full survey report, go here.

 

Based on the recommendations that were developed from the survey data, a professional development day, Music Education… All That Jazz, was scheduled for October 2008. Dr. Willie Hill, Chair of the MENC Jazz Task Force and Former President, IAJE, was the keynote speaker and hosted teaching sessions along with other master jazz educators, including Ken Kimery, historian and Executive Producer, Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, and Michael Tomaro, Associate Professor of Music and Chair of Jazz Studies at Duquesne University’s Mary Pappert School of Music. The day included workshops that focused on: integrating jazz into a general music curriculum; rehearsal techniques including coaching rhythm sections, teaching the basics of swing, and incorporating vocal and instrumental improvisation; and strategies to address the Pennsylvania Standards for Arts and Humanities through jazz.

 

The third step in this project was to develop a residency program that utilizes three artists from Pittsburgh’s jazz community.
Sean Jones at St. Benedict the Moor The primary goal of this portion of the project was to connect the wealth of jazz talent available in southwestern Pennsylvania with schools to stimulate jazz education in the region. Over twenty applications were received for three available residency locations and each residency will be fully tailored to meet the needs of the school and the teacher(s). The following are the residencies that occurred in the spring of 2009 (for an outline of the goals of the residencies, go here):

 

On March 3, 2010, MCG Jazz and the Arts Education Collaborative hosted the second professional development workshop on jazz for music educators at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild. Thirty-three educators from around the region came together for a day of jazz pedagogy and a focus on early childhood education around jazz. Each participant received a wide variety of materials including: a cd of resource materials, jazz charts, and a preview of the jazz modules being developed by AEC and MCG Jazz. The jazz modules focus on improvisation and rhythm for early childhood education and will become available to the general public in the coming months.

 

Erika Floreska, Director of Education at Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC), was the keynote speaker for the 2010 professional development day. Ms. Floreska oversees the production of more than twenty annual programs and resources that reach students, teachers and listeners of all ages. Ms. Floreska has been at JALC since 1997 and during her tenure has been integral to the development and production of many notable programs, including Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Program, Band Director Academy, Middle School Jazz Academy, WeBop, and in June, 2009 she coordinated jazz workshops hosted at the White House Jazz Studio featuring many of these programs.

 

2009 Jazz Residency teachers. Overall, participants were enthusiastic about the workshop citing on their evaluations that the high-quality facilitators and musicians, along with the breadth and depth of the materials, provided enhanced their experience. One participant noted that this professional development day was one of the most valuable that he has ever attended in his 24 years of teaching.

 

MCG Jazz is a division of Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, a subsidiary of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, a non-profit arts and learning center location on Pittsburgh's North Side. Since 1987, MCG Jazz has supported its mission to preserve, present and promote jazz through a subscription concert series, a GRAMMY Award winning non-profit record label and an educational outreach program. For more information on MCG Jazz, visit www.mcgjazz.org.

 

Check our online calendar often for upcoming professional development opportunities. Questions about the MCG Jazz Project should be directed to Deborah Pixton at pixtond@artsedcollaborative.org.