DAVtIOD BACK CE Ris a JAZZ PEDAGOGY A Comprehensive Method of Jazz Education for Teacher and Student © Copyright MOMLXXIx by Maher Publications CML XXXIX ing Co., Inc“There 1s nothing so stupid as an educated man, if you get him off the thing that he vas educated in.” CHAPTER I: Many myths that surround jazz come from the Jazz performers as vell as the acadenicians, The reasons for perpecust— ing these myths are wide and varied in both instances; on the part of jazz per- formers, the desire to keep jazz sur- rounded with en air of mysticiem can be a reason for some myths. Like the com posers of another era, jazz performers find a great deal of pleasure in giving the impression that everything that (happens is the result of divine inspir- a€ion, Hence the myth “you either got it i» OF you ain't", implying that jazz can't te kaughen mas ayth ta ano often uned By teachele as an excuse for not teaching students how to improvise in the jazz idiom, While it 1s certainly impossible to produce an improvising giant from an untalented and/or incompetent player, it ie possible to teach improvisation. ‘Any time the performance practices of the giants of a particular kind of m- sic can be analyzed, rules can be form- lated based on those practices, enabling others to profit. In the past ten years a number of jazz playere/composers/theoreticians have turned their heads to the codifice- tion of Jazz improvisational practices. The result has been a number of fine books on jazz improvisation, including Jerry Coker's Improvising Jazz, the John Mehegan series, and Jamey Aebersold's jeries A New Approach to Jazz Improvisa- tion, as well as ay ovn Jazz Improvisa- tion, In addition Co these and others, there is George Russell's excellent tome The tydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization for Improvisation, which 1» one of the firat theory methods vhich actually leads to performance practices. Finally the notion that "jazz can't be taught” has been dealt « death blow, A wecond wyth served up by jaze performers goes, "All of that analysis —-Wi11 Rogers MYTHS and figuring destroys the essences of jazz." This statement implies that if jazz ie reduced to ite components, it Will lose its validity. 1, for one, don't happen to find jazz that fragile. A music strong enough to have survived seventy years of every conceivable ob- stacle and stumbling block could hardly be expected to succumb as a result of analys: Then, too, for those who must have the myth, there is most certainly that something beyond scales, chords, technique and good ears that separates the giants from the rest. The sum is greater than the parts Another myth perpetuated by jazzmen is directly related to the preceding one. It goes, "Man, you can't learn to play @) jazz by playing cliches, patterns, form- @ p : ulae, etc.; you gotta play from your heart." A dear friend, colleague, and truly great trombonist, Slide Hampton, ut that notion in proper perapective: ‘Man, you show me a dude who playa with his heart, and I'11 show you an incoher~ ent dude." (paraphrased). Wile no intelligent musician vould deny the necessity for emotional involve- ment in jazz music, the point is that Jazz also requires some basic fundamental ‘skills and a grasp of the language. With- out understanding the syntax and grammar of jazz music and styles, one is reduced to non-volitional choices. Almost any- thing that an artist does that cannot be reproduced on command ie of virtually no value, This does not wean that there won't be momenta when fortuitous musical events take place that are above and be~ yond a player's normal level, but by and large these are rare moments For a player to achieve any level of competency presupposes a firm grasp of the materials of which musical statementsare comprised (goatee, chords a : dramatic devices, etc.) Much of thie ‘WATEFTEI; Used in nunerous formulae, turnbacks, eyeles, Teks, cliches, is com noa_t6-all-playera in varying degrees. Were this nt the cass, i¢ would be ie- possible to speak of a bebop player, = saving player, an avant-garde player” & soul jazz player, ete., because recogn!- tion of [the style)ie predicated on the features which are common to all players o that style, rather than those features which vary from-player to player. It is this writer's contention that « player is lost without a working knovledge of these elements which comprise @ common tradi-— tion or, as some put it, "roots". ‘Trying to create without these tee WO wequinite skills to very Like trying to write a novel in a foreign language with— out understanding the grammatical and syntactical structure of that language. The result would be words strung together in random fashion, without order, direc— tion, or meaning. Occasionally @ sentence quite accidentally might make sense, but to what avail if it is completely sur- rounded by gibberish? Yet many jazz players are content to operate out of Just such conditions Another danger arising from this myth concerns levels of creativity. No Jazz player is able to create at hie intghest level at all times and under all conditions; but the more elements in his playing which can be relegated to auto- matic responses, the freer he will be to Hin at creativity on a higher archicect~ oniéJevel. For Instance, if a player has at his disposal a thousand ways to realize a given chord progression, then hia chances are infinitely greater for meaningful creativity than the player who must realize the same progression without the benefit of a repository of materfals on which to draw, The player who can create through the techniques of combining elements from his thousand patterns, or through trangmogrification of the material, or through minor or major alterations to any one of his devices, has a much great- er chance of making music than his leas~ equipped counterpart. Also, the more tasks that are entrusted to the fingers, the less the mind ts burdened with these lower level encumbrances, resulting in considerably more freedom for creative thinking, While the results are less damaging physically, the jazz musician without a repository of patterns, licks, etc., 4s in a position quite similar to @ boxer who must think about every punch he throvs, instead of automatically re- acting toa given situation with firmly implanted combinations based on eupiri— cal data ‘The next uyth is what T call the “this ie where it's at" syndrome. Many Players of all ages and musical persua— sions suffer from "hardening of the brain" This condition arises when a player be- comes frozen into a position and there- fore is impervious to change. He is convinced that the only true jazz is the Jazz which he espouses. Some examples include 1, Those who believe that jazz started with Dave Brubeck. That Jazz ended with the music of Charlie Parker. 3, That Dixieland or “happy jazz" is the only true jazz. 4, That tf tt isn't avant-garde, it has no relevancy, 5. "If tt ain't funky, forget it.” 6. "It don’t mean a thing 1f 4t ain't got that swing,” ad infinitum or ad nauseum, Stylistic preferences notwithstanding, I know of no attitudes that more effectively trun- cate the Jazz player's grouth than such as these. ‘This 1a not meant to suggest that a player must be able to play all styles (although T vould find that destrable), or that he oust be proficient at Dixie land before attempting bebop, or at bebop before attempting later styles, but only that he should keep an open mind and @ respect for jazz irrespective of categories. This posture is mandatory. If we accept the premise that a man is the sum total of his experiences, then