used at virtually any grade level.
Most of these techniques are equal-
ly effective in both classroom and
private teaching situations.
In short, teachers should stop
asking how improvisation can be
taught and start exploring what can
be taught with improvisation.
Selected resources
for teaching with improvisation
(mostly jazz-oriented)
Aebersold, Jamey.A New Approach
to Jazz Improvisation. 21 vols. New
Albany, Indiana:Jamey Aebersold,
1967-79.
Baker, David N. Advanced Ear
Training. Lebanon, Indiana: Studio
P/R, Inc., 1977.
. Advanced Improvisation.
Chicago: Maher Publications, 1974.
. Developing Improvisational
Facility. 4 vols. Chicago: Maher Pub-
lications, 1968-71.
. Jazz Improvisation. Chi-
cago: Maher Publications, 1969.
.Jazz Pedagogy: A Compre-
hensive Method of Jazz Education
for Teacher and Student. Chicago:
Maher Publications, 1979.
TEACHING
John A. Kuzmich, Jr.
Improvisation is increasingly
being incorporated as a viable part
of music instruction from preschool
The author is coordinator of music for the
Kirkwoqd,Missouri, schools. He serves the
National Association of Jazz Educators as its
national research chairman and as associate
editor of the NAJEEducator.
. A New Approach to Ear
Training for the Jazz Musician.
Lebanon, Indiana: Studio P/R, Inc.,
1976.
Coker, Jerry.ImprovisingJazz. Eng-
lewood Cliffs,New Jersey: Prentice-
Hall, Inc., 1964.
.The Jazz Idiom. Englewood
Cliffs,New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,
Inc., 1975.
Listening to Jazz. Engle-
wood Cliffs,New Jersey: Prentice-
Hall, Inc., 1978.
. Patternsfor Jazz. Engle-
wood Cliffs,New Jersey: Prentice-
Hall, Inc., 1970.
Deutsch, Maury.Improvisational
Concepts. New York: Charles Colin,
1973.
Dobbins, Bill. The Contemporary
Jazz Pianist. 2 vols. Jamestown,
Rhode Island: GAMTMusic Press,
1977.
Dunbar, Ted. A System of Tonal
Convergence. Kendall Park,New
Jersey: Dunte Publishing Company,
1977.
- New Approaches to Jazz
Guitar. Kendall Park,New Jersey:
MATERIA
through college, and it is not being
limited to instrumental jazz pro-
grams. It promises to assume even
more importance in the eighties as
progressive educators find that im-
provisation can be an effective, ver-
satile vehicle for probing, discov-
ering, and experimenting with
music concepts. But many will have
to do some careful searching to
find materials and resources to help
Dunte Publishing Company, 1976.
Encyclopedia of Improvisation. 6
vols. New York: Charles Colin, 1972.
Haerle, Dan.Jazz/Rock Voicingsfor
the Contemporary Keyboard Player.
Lebanon, Indiana: Studio P/R, Inc.,
1974.
. Scales for Improvisation.
Lebanon, Indiana: Studio P/R, Inc.,
1975.
Mehegan, John.Jazz Improvisation.
2 vols. New York:Watson-Guptill
Publications, 1959.
Nelson, Oliver. Patterns for Jazz.
Hollywood, California:Nolsen Mu-
sic, 1966.
Ricker, Ramon.New Concepts in
Linear Improvisation. Lebanon, In-
diana: Studio P/R, Inc., 1977.
Pentatonic Scales for Jazz
Improvisation. Lebanon, Indiana:
Studio P/R, Inc., 1975.
. Technique Development in
Fourths. Lebanon, Indiana: Studio
P/R, Inc., 1976.
Stuart,Walter.The Chord Approach
to Improvising. New York: Charles
Colin, 1972. Ai
them integrate improvisatory activi-
ties and skills into their curricu-
lums. Much fine material is already
available, but not all the bases are
covered.
Jazz education
Insofar as improvisation has been
recognized as a fundamental ele-
ment of jazz since its beginnings,
jazz educators have led the way in
mej/jan '80 51
developing methods and materials
for learning improvisatory skills, al-
though as recently as thirty years
ago the prevalent attitude toward
jazz among music educators was
that you either knew how to play it
or you didn't. In the sixties, as
more colleges and universities be-
gan expanding their curriculums to
introduce jazz programs, jazz band
and combo charts and improvisa-
tion materials began being pub-
lished and jazz clinics and festivals
became more common. At the Tan-
glewood Symposium in 1967,
MENCadvocated the inclusion of
"youth music" in schools, and the
National Association of Jazz Educa-
tors (NAJE)was organized the fol-
lowing year. In the seventies jazz
education moved into many public
school programs, spawning not on-
ly traditional jazz bands but also
combos, electrified string en-
sembles, swing and jazz choirs,
studio orchestras, and jazz-rock
ensembles.
In 1975 NAJEdistributed a ques-
tionnaire to 161 selected music
educators in thirty-one states to get
a closer look at trends in jazz-ori-
ented band, string, vocal, and gen-
eral music programs. More than 90
percent of the performance-related
teachers in the survey reported they
taught improvisation. The pre-
dominant setting for improvisation
instruction was in large classes: jazz
ensemble, and swing or jazz choir.
A few instructors said they taught
improvisation in small groups or in
private lessons. Less than 30 per-
cent of the teachers in the survey
used method books for improvisa-
tion instruction; the explanation
they gave was that most published
jazz improvisation materials are
geared to individual lessons and
not to group instruction in a heter-
ogeneous classroom. The texts most
frequently cited, in order of fre-
quency, were those by Jamey Ae-
bersold, Jerry Coker, David Baker,
Dominic Spera, and Dick Grove.
Jazz improvisation materials for
instrumentalists generally divide in-
to two types: methods that attempt
to conceptualize the theory and
techniques of improvisation on an
in-depth basis, and supplemental
materials that specialize in a limited
area of improvisation instruction.
Approximately 80 percent of pub-
lished improvisation materials can
be classified as supplemental mate-
52 mej/jan '80
rials and about 20 percent as methods.
Of the methods, about 10 per-
cent are designed for the heter-
ogeneous classroom. Some materials
can be used at several levels of
instruction, such as junior high and
high school or high school and
college. About 90 percent of avail-
able improvisation materials are
suitable for high school instruction.
Junior high and college instruction
are the next most frequent areas,
with about 25 percent of the mate-
rials applicable for each. The least
represented level of instruction is
at the elementary school level, which
can claim only about 3 percent of
the published market.
From 1975 to 1978, the number
of publishers of jazz improvisation
materials increased from fifty-sixto
seventy-two. Today there are at least
450 improvisation publications
available, many produced by small
or individually owned companies
that are not commonly known to
music educators. Areas of current
concentration include play-along
materials, rhythm pattern books,
and instrumental techniques (partic-
ularly for rhythm section instru-
ments). Supplemental recordings
(sound sheets, discs, and tapes) are
frequently being included with
method books today.
The most often used teaching ap-
proaches to instrumental jazz im-
provisation encompass ear training,
scales and chords, rhythm patterns,
and theory. Methods usually incor-
porate more of these teaching ap-
proaches.within a given publication
than supplemental materials do.
Most improvisation methods con-
tain notated examples or transcrip-
tions of solos, but very few of
them-about 5 percent-include
recorded examples of complete
solos. Independent play-along
recordings, however, have been
available since the mid-fifties. The
play-along disc or tape has distinct
advantages not found in other teach-
ing tools and techniques. First, it
offers the value of repetition. A
student can play a problem passage
over and over, and his or her re-
corded accompanist is always there.
Second, the rhythm sections a stu-
dent may encounter in live playing
sessions can be more of a hin-
drance than an aid, while recorded
rhythm sections are almost always
competent. Third, some play-along
materials have stereo channel sepa-
ration that allows a student to ei-
ther eliminate or isolate a particular
instrument. Some play-along materi-
als also include a soloist on one of
the stereo tracks, thus making it
possible to better conceptualize an
improvised solo. Less common but
equally important are play-along
materials that use call-and-response
concepts, with the demonstrator
playing patterns and the student
playing them back. In sum, the best
play-along materials offer consid-
erable potential for aural training as
well as for conceptual and technical
growth. Jamey Aebersold has been
a pioneer in this direction, produc-
ing a number of quality play-along
albums devoted to the solo styles of
Miles Davis, Charlie Parker,and
other jazz greats (available from
Jamey Aebersold).
A useful resource found in many
jazz history texts is a discography
that can be specifically correlated to
the material in the text. No amount
of written explanation about jazz
should ever dominate a text to the
point of excluding aural references.
Unfortunately,most improvisation
materials do not include either cor-
related or general discographies.
Another helpful tool in devel-
oping improvisation skills is the
transcribed solo. Collections of
transcriptions have mushroomed
within the last five years. They en-
able both students and teachers to
study prominent artists' phrasing
styles, chords, scales, rhythm pat-
terns, and melodic creativeness and
to play along more accurately with
an original recording or a compat-
ible play-along recording. The first
published solos frequently did not
list companion recordings, or the
solos were taken from out-of-print
recordings. Presently, however,
most new transcribed solos of se-
lected artists are readily available
on current or reissued recordings.
Another positive change has been
the emphasis on publishing tran-
scribed solos in a collection of dif-
ferent artists on a given instrument,
or a collection of solos by one art-
ist. This approach gives the player
an opportunity to study and emu-
late a number of contemporary
players and their styles from a
single source. Jamey Aebersold and
Ken Sloane's collection, 28 Modern
Jazz Trumpet Solos (Studio P/R,
1977), is an example of one such
contribution.

Jazz educators have led
the way in developing
methods and materials
for learning improvisa-
tory skills, although as
recently as thirty yeari
ago the prevalent attitude
toward jazz among music
educators was thatyou
either knew how to play it
or you didn't.
Transcribed jazz solos need con-
siderable development in terms of
notating articulations. The norm is
not to notate any articulations in
transcriptions, and thus conceptual-
ization is further removed from the
student who tries to read the solo.
Though listening to and studying a
solo from its original recording is
helpful, it is still a welcome step to
see the phrasing nuances, special
fingerings, and other indications
marked as played by the artist.Two
outstanding collections of tran-
scribed solos with full articulations
are The Artistryof Joe Henderson
and The Artistryof John Coltrane,
both transcribed by Don Sickler
and edited by Bobby Porcelli (Big 3
Music Corporation, 1978 and 1979,
respectively).
Many rhythm pattern books now
are written for individual instru-
ments in the styles of noted jazz art-
ists. Early pattern books were writ-
ten primarily to play harmonic
passages in an exercise manner
rather than as rhythmic/melodic
licks more characteristic of impro-
vised styles.
Combo charts also have become
more sophisticated and contempo-
rary. Current combo charts fre-
quently include such features as a
full score, an accompanying record-
ing, notated solos, and variable in-
strumentation to meet individual
needs.
Though there has been a tremen-
dous improvement in the quantity
and quality of instrumental jazz im-
provisation materials over the past
fifteen years, notable gaps remain
to be filled. The most serious weak-
ness is the limited number of im-
provisation methods suitable for the
public school heterogeneous class-
room. Eleven such methods are
available-about 2 percent of avail-
able improvisation publications.
Only one, Take One Improvisation
by MattBetton and Charles Peters
(Neil A. Kjos Music Company,
1973), is designed for the elemen-
tary school level. The junior high
school level is well represented by
Dominic Spera's Blues and the Bas-
ics (Hal Leonard Publishing Corpo-
ration, 1976). At the high school
level there are a few more choices,
but there is still much development
that needs to be made, especially
since so much public school jazz
improvisation instruction occurs in
the heterogeneous classroom (jazz
band, concert band, and so on).
Perhaps the most practical junior
high/senior high single-volume het-
erogeneous improvisation method
is Willie Thomas'Jazz Anyone... ?
(Willie Thomas, 1978). It is exem-
plary for two reasons: it can stand
on its own with or without a teach-
er's assistance, beginning with pen-
tatonic and blues scales and pro-
gressing through the playing of
changes, and it incorporates the
skillful use of call and response
with emphasis on musicianship.
Though ear training is fundamen-
tal to successful jazz improvisation,
only three ear-training texts deal
with jazz-oriented ear-training skills.
Most notable are David N. Baker'sA
New Approach to Ear Training for
Jazz Musicians (Studio P/R, 1976)
for melodic/scalar development and
Mitch Farber'sRock Chord Progres-
sions (Alfred Publishing Company,
1976) for harmonic development.
No published ear-training materials
deal specifically with rhythm devel-
opment in jazz. Also surprising is
the scarcity of theoretical texts deal-
ing with the process of developing
jazz improvisation styles. Three note-
worthy examples are Dave Liebman's
Lookout Farm: A Case Study of Im-
provisation for Small Group (Almo
Publications, 1978) and David N.
Baker'sCharlieParker andJ. J. John-
son (Charles Hansen, 1978 and 1979,
respectively).
Though play-along materials have
become more prominent, only one
covers all twelve keys of the blues.
Playing in all keys develops im-
provisational facility and is particu-
larly relevant at the intermediate
and advanced levels. The first play-
along material to encompass this
consideration is Ramon Ricker's
Blues in All Keysfor All Instruments
(Studio P/R, 1979).
Relativelyfew improvisation
methods or materials deal with
brass or stringed instruments, al-
though rhythm section instruments,
especially piano and guitar, enjoy
vast quantities of fine texts to
choose from. Only one currently
available jazz trumpet book deals
with valve and articulation tech-
niques-John McNeil'sJazz Trum-
pet Techniques (Studio P/R, 1976)-
though these techniques are funda-
mental to all jazz trumpet playing.
Instructional materials for vocal
improvisation and scat singing are
still in their infancy, with only
about six vocally oriented jazz pub-
lications on the market. Most jazz
choir directors either use instru-
mental materials or make up their
own. Of those six publications, only
two are entirely devoted to vocal
improvisation, while the others sim-
ply devote a chapter to it. Com-
posers and publishers apparently
still find it necessary to focus their
efforts on vocal charts rather than
on improvisation materials. The two
most organized vocal improvisation
materials that deal completely with
the subject are Bert Konowitz' Vo-
cal Improvisation Method (Alfred
Publishing Company, 1970) and Jon
Hendricks'Jon Hendricks on Vocal
Improvisation (Hinshaw Music,
1978). The latter is a unique cas-
sette tape recording of a workshop
with actual improvisation demon-
strations;oddly enough, no other
materials are available with record-
ed scat singing demonstrations. Jazz
educator and researcher Dan
Schwartz comments that "materials
published so far expect the teacher
to digest the concepts and then
present material to students in his/
her own special way. There are suf-
ficient materials on articulation and
inflections, but they do not teach
one to improvise, rather they just
show some possible tools."' Jazz
educator Waldo King concurs:
'Schwartz to Kuzmich, 28 March 1979.
mej/jan '80 53
"Mostvocal jazz teachers and direc-
tors I know use their own individ-
ual methods, which simply involve
a program of selective listening and
the application of scat syllables to
chord changes, usually beginning
with the blues."2
Clearly we need more books and
materials that deal primarily with
vocal jazz improvisation techniques.
Particularlyneeded are vocal dem-
onstrations on tape, cassette, or
disc. One new publication, Joni
Metcalfand Jan Stentz' Learn To
Sing Jazz Scat (Mitchell Madison,
Inc., 1979), represents a major
breakthrough in this direction. It
builds on a dynamic call-and-re-
sponse approach that can lead to
authentic jazz improvisation. Most
available methods and materials are
treble-clef-oriented and do not offer
music examples for lower voices.
Virtuallyno play-along materials are
designed for vocalists to improvise
with, and instrumental play-along
materials are not in the best keys
for vocalists, which would be in
concert F or E-flat,gradually mov-
ing upward. Desirable character-
istics in future vocal play-along
materials might include solo
demonstrations on one stereo track
and a rhythm section on the other,
with a supplemental instruction
manual on rhythmic patterns and
scat syllables. Another might be
transcribed solos of vocal demon-
strations to serve as guidelines from
which to improvise.
Class piano materials
Teaching keyboard skills in
groups has been encouraged since
1963 by the National Piano Founda-
tion, which strives to enrich the
music curriculum in the public
schools, to foster continued learn-
ing among professional teachers,
and to help teachers develop the
special techniques of group teach-
ing. As a result of the efforts of this
group and other authors and pub-
lishers, a wide range of materials is
available today for class piano in-
struction. Some of these materials
are specifically designed for use
with electric as well as acoustic pi-
anos. Lawrence Rast,professor of
music at Northern Illinois Universi-
ty and a proponent of class piano
instruction, has noted that "the
character of the material varies
from traditionally diatonic ap-
'King to Kuzmich, 4 May 1979.
54 mej/jan '80
proaches for learning to read music
to very avant-gardemusic experi-
ences of a more comprehensive na-
ture, including free and directed
improvisation and composition.
While there appears to be a larger
quantity of traditional materials with
rather of a redundancy of ideas, it
is encouraging to see the quality of
the more nontraditional materials
which are emerging for use with
the contemporary piano class."3
During the last five years,
keyboard instructional materials
have increased in the areas of jazz-
rock styles, pop tunes, and espe-
cially in multiple piano ensembles.
The quality of materials also has im-
proved significantly. There appears
to be a move toward encouraging
students to plan their own music
experiences, with greater emphasis
on the whys and hows than on the
reproduction of fairly meaningless
folk tunes. A small percentage of
method books now are including
an introduction to jazz harmonies.
Though most class piano methods
are not intended to be jazz meth-
ods, jazz-related activities in im-
provisation are a good way to stim-
ulate interest and develop students'
creativity.A number of fine jazz im-
provisation methods and supple-
mental materials are available for
the intermediate and advanced pi-
ano student that are appropriate for
private study, class or group in-
struction, or for self-teaching. At the
elementary level, fewer materials
are available. One exception worth
mentioning is Joyce Collins'Jazz
Rockfor Kids (GWYNPublishing
Company, 1974), which includes
chords, rhythm patterns, theory, im-
provisation, and a play-along rec-
ord. Teachers of class piano at this
level will find it worth their while
to seek out appropriate instrumen-
tal jazz materials, particularlyplay-
along recordings, to supplement
their improvisation instruction.
The preschool level of contempo-
rary keyboard instruction, however,
is being pursued rather diligently
today. Many published methods
teach creative playing and improvi-
sation techniques on the keyboard
to beginning students. Examine the
catalogs of the following publishers
for some pertinent materials avail-
able: Heritage Music Press (Walter
and Carol Noona); Mel Bay (Gail
Gilbert); Carl Fischer (Lynn Olson,
3Rastto Kuzmich, 9 April 1979.
Louise Bianchi, and MarvinBlicken-
staff);and G. Schirmer (Robert
Pace, Bert Konowitz, and Don
Fornuto).
Another area of class piano in-
struction that increasingly is incor-
porating improvisation is instruc-
tion for adults. Beginning group
instruction frequently is offered at
the college level; skills taught some-
times include jazz harmony, realiza-
tion of popular lead sheets, and jazz
improvisation. Many fine materials
are available for this level. Some
publishers who offer quality materi-
als include Creative Music Publish-
ers (Allen Swain), Stipes Publishing
Company (James and Muriel Lyke,
Ron Elliston), and Myklas Press (Ed-
win McLean).Stipes also has play-
along recordings and cassette tape
lessons correlated with their text-
books.
Improvisation instruction for in-
experienced pianists could be en-
hanced if more play-along materials
and transcribed keyboard solos
were designed for beginning levels
of instruction. At present, most
available play-along and transcribed
materials are intended for use at
the high school level by pianists at
an intermediate or advanced level.
Rastpoints out that "there remains
a need for more extensive experi-
ences in improvisation which en-
courage students to expand their
mental and physical capabilities.
Too frequently improvisation is
considered to be the following of a
set formula-a chord progression,
chart, or whatever. The need exists
for suggestions to help children
and adults learn to make their own
music come out their own fingers
without interference from anyone."4
Class guitar materials
According to a recent survey by
the Guitar and Accessory Manufac-
turers Association, about 25 percent
of middle, junior, and senior high
schools offer guitar classes. Of these
schools, 96 percent offer beginning-
level lessons; 60 percent offer inter-
mediate lessons; and 16 percent of-
fer advanced lessons. The music
industry has followed this pattern
by primarily offering instructional
materials for the beginning level.
Relativelyfew classroom-oriented
materials are available for the in-
termediate and advanced levels,
and improvisation is not empha-
4Ibid.
sized as much in class guitar mate-
rials as it is in class piano.
Guitar class methods commonly
emphasize either note-reading or
chordal song accompaniment. Some
methods use visual aids, and others
include play-along tapes or record-
ings. Some are multilevel to handle
a variety of degrees of competence
among students in a single class.
Other methods cover stylistic dif-
ferences between various types of
music. Regardless of which method
teachers use, supplemental materi-
als can help meet individual prefer-
ences and needs, particularlyfor
improvisation. A rather thorough
approach for beginning instruction
is Mel Bay's Guitar Class Method
(Mel Bay Publications, 1972) with
its cassette recordings for students
at the fifth grade and beyond. Most
guitar improvisation materials are
written for private instruction rather
than the class setting. Guitar meth-
ods for the class setting deal more
with note-reading and melody play-
ing, presenting a number of dif-
ferent styles for the beginner. Music
theory is usually related to the gui-
tar fingerboard as a supplement. A
notable exception is the Learning
Unlimited Audio-Visual Guitar Se-
ries (Hal Leonard Publishing Corpo-
Five years ago, little had
been published about
music improvisation for
young children. Now
hundreds
of materials
are available, most of
them dealing with Orff-
based activities.
ration; jazz course, 1975; rock
course, 1971), which deals with
both beginning and intermediate
instruction and branches out to cov-
er specialized jazz, rock, and other
popular techniques. This series has
coordinated teacher-on-tape cas-
settes for each of its ten instruction
books. For improvisation instruc-
tion, class guitar teachers should in-
vestigate instrumental jazz materials
to supplement their class methods.
Few published class guitar mate-
rials will help guitarists reach an in-
termediate or advanced degree of
skill in improvisation, either in jazz
or other music styles. RichardCul-
ver, supervisor of music for the
Denver public schools, has pointed
out that "there is a whole raft of
guitarists out there who neither
play jazz nor play in a jazz en-
semble but who would enjoy im-
provising on the material they un-
derstand and perform if only they
could find some guidelines. For
that matter, published materials for
the guitar ensemble itself are hard
to come by."5
Elementary general
music materials
Five years ago, little had been
published about music improvisa-
tion for young children. Now hun-
dreds of materials are available,
most of them dealing with Orff-
based activities. The publications
range from such sophisticated texts
as Gunild Keetman'sElementarium
(Magnamusic-Baton,1974) to
simple beginning texts for record-
ers and Orff instruments such as
Carol King'sRecorder Routes (Pop
Hits Publications, 1979). A great
many of these materials have devel-
oped from workshops given by
leading Orff clinicians. Nancy Fergu-
son, an Orff specialist in the Mem-
phis, Tennessee, public schools, has
pointed out that "because Orff
people (as well as jazz people)
were hesitant to publish for such a
long time for fear that written mate-
rials would stifle creativity,the ma-
jority of the publications are worth
being purchased by teachers in the
elementary field to aid in teaching
techniques as well as for acquiring
improvisational skills."6Magnamus-
ic-Baton, Inc., offers the largest cata-
log of progressive elementary mate-
rials, including all the Orff-Schul-
'Culver to Kuzmich, 13 March 1979.
'Ferguson to Kuzmich, 9 April 1979.
werk publications and a substantial
collection of Dalcroze materials.
The one neglected area in ele-
mentary-level improvisation materi-
als is, curiously, jazz. Slowly but
surely, however, new areas are
being explored. Nancy Ferguson's
pop music book for Orff instru-
ments (Cherry Lane Music Com-
pany, forthcoming) includes ar-
rangements of John Denver songs
and sections on improvisation.
Electronic music materials
Synthesizers may prove to hold
more potential for improvisation
than any other instrument. But ma-
terials for using electronic music in
the classroom or in beginning en-
sembles have been particularlyslow
in publication. Don Muro has pub-
lished jazz band arrangements with
optional parts for synthesizer and
prerecorded tape, and he recently
issued a "creative listening pack-
age" (Electronic Music Products and
Services, 1978) that combines a
teacher's textbook and a disc for
use in a variety of different teaching
situations.
Otherwise, a decided gap exists
between theory-oriented electronic
music materials available and the
applied techniques evident on pro-
fessional recordings today. How to
integrate synthesizers into school
performing groups is an important
issue that needs to be addressed.
Transcribed solos of noted synthe-
sizer artists along with their sche-
mata patchings would be useful.
Another need is for play-along
material designed specifically for
the synthesizer.
The future
Music education in the 1980s
doubtless will continue to expand
its use of improvisation as a vehicle
for developing creativity and musi-
cianship and for mastering certain
music styles. Publishers should con-
tinue to support this movement by
supplying quality materials that at-
tempt to meet the needs of class-
room teachers.
An example of how much im-
provisation can offer to the public
school music curriculum is pro-
vided by the two years of high-
school-level improvisation instruc-
tion offered by the career education
center of the Denver public
Continued on page 161
mej/jan '80 55
MATERIALS
from page 55

schools. The first year alone covers

four centuries of improvisation,
from improvisation of the Baroque
era to the piano cadenzas of Bee-
thoven, the "field hollers" of early
American slaves, the early New Or-
leans jazz bands, and contemporary
free jazz. Students come to grips
with these various styles through
in-depth theoretical analysis and
practice of scales, chord changes,
and so on. This blend of perform-
ance, analysis, and spontaneous cre-
St>wAcontemporary
ativity is quite a contrast with the
training many current music educa-
improvisational course
tors had when they were students. designed especiallyfor the
We might well begin to think what
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I b~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Kuzmich,Jr.,John. "AnAnnotated
I Survey of Teaching Materialsfor
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April/May1975, p. 21, with sub-
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Containsreviewsof more than 1,000
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AUDITIONS
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toire for Piano Classes." Clavier, Leadingto
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