resource guide 2012-2013 From the Cass Corridor to the World
Transcript of resource guide 2012-2013 From the Cass Corridor to the World
From the Cass Corridorto the World
resource guide 2012-2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
11 am – 12 Noon
Detroit School of the Arts
school day Performance
uMs YouTh
educaTion PrograM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
03FOrEwOrd: AN INTErvIEw wITh MArk
04ATTENdING ThE PErFOrMANCE05 Being an Audience Member
06 The Details
08ThE ArTISTS09 Artist Bios
12CULTUrAL CONTEXT: dETrOIT13 Map + Basic Facts
14 Timeline
16ThE ArT FOrM: INTrOdUCTION TO JAZZ17 Jazz 101
18 Elements of Jazz
20rESOUrCES21 Online Resources
23 Recommended Reading
24UMS: BE PrESENT25 About UMS
26 Thank You!
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sigal heMY (sh): WhaT Was Your ThoughT behind PuTTing This ProJecT TogeTher?
Mark Jacobson (MJ): The city of Detroit has such a storied history as an incubator for some of
the great music and musicians of the second half of the 20th century. As UMS is celebrating
our 100th season in Hill Auditorium, we really wanted to shine a spotlight on this astounding
period of creativity.
sh: WhaT Made You decide on The forMaT of a house band and roTaTing
Wind PlaYers?
MJ: Pianist and composer Geri Allen was at the very top of our list to lead the artistic direction
of this project – a concert project that is trying to encompass a very broad period of time and
many musical sub-genres. The house band – actually, a piano trio comprised of Geri, Bob
Hurst, and Karriem Riggins – are all native Detroiters who are unquestionably “top-shelf”
soloists and collaborators in their own regard. This format immediately seemed to be the
perfect vehicle to showcase some of the most special instrumental and vocal soloists from
the city. Geri and her trio are an extant group that has already enjoyed performing together
in many of the greatest jazz clubs and venues around the world.
sh: hoW do You Think The Jazz TradiTion in deTroiT is differenT froM The
TradiTion in anY oTher ciTY? WhaT has Made iT ThaT WaY?
MJ: The history of jazz in Detroit certainly can be attributed to three things: 1) the high
standards of music education in the public school system; 2) music in the church; 3) music
in the home. That being said, other cities including New Orleans, Kansas City, St. Louis, and
Chicago have storied histories, as well. African-American families relocated in significant
numbers to Detroit in the ‘40s and ‘50s for jobs and a high-quality life. This migration
contributed to Detroit becoming an important American jazz center, especially in the hard-
bop and post-bop styles prevalent in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. The dedication of musical
mentors (such as Marcus Belgrave) and one of the strongest public school music programs
in the country kept Detroit at the forefront.
sh: WhaT does holding This PerforMance in deTroiT, raTher Than ann arbor,
Mean To You?
MJ: In addition to our School Day Performance in Detroit, UMS is partnering with the 2013
University of Michigan MLK Day Symposium for an evening-length concert at Hill Auditorium
on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. There is no denying the direct link between the freedom
communicated and personified in jazz improvisation with America’s civil rights movement.
Geri and I knew all along that this concert project needed to directly impact today’s youth
living in Detroit and we seized the opportunity to share this incredible music and history with
Detroit Public School students at the Detroit School of Arts Auditorium. Building a figurative
bridge that connects Hill Auditorium to the Cass Corridor was an essential component that
needed to be realized.
Mark Jacobson,
curaTor
FOrEwOrd:INTErvIEw wITh MArk
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ATTENdING ThE PErFOrMANCE
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BEING AN AUdIENCE MEMBEr
aTTending The PerforMance
When preparing students for a live performing arts event, it is important to address the concept of “concert
etiquette.” Aside from helping prevent disruptive behavior, a discussion of concert etiquette can also help
students fully enjoy the unique and exciting live performance experience. The following considerations are
listed to promote an ideal environment for all audience members.
Your surroundings
• Concert halls and performing arts venues are some of the
most grand and beautiful buildings you might ever visit, so be
sure to look around while you follow an usher to your group’s
seats or once you are in your seat.
• UMS Ushers will be stationed throughout the building and
are identifiable by their big name badges. They are there
to help you be as comfortable as possible and if you have
a question (about the performance, about where to go, or
about what something is), please ask them, and don’t feel
shy, embarrassed, or hesitant in doing so.
sharing The PerforMance hall WiTh oTher
audience MeMbers
• Consider whether any talking you do during the performance
will prevent your seat neighbors or other audience members
from hearing. Often in large rock concerts or in movie
theaters, the sound is turned up so loud that you can talk
and not disturb anyone’s listening experience. However,
in other concerts and live theater experiences, the sound
is unamplified (or just quiet), and the smallest noise could
cause your seat neighbor to miss an important line of
dialogue or musical phrase. Movements or lights (from cell
phones) may also distract your audience neighbors’ attention
away from the stage, again, causing them to miss important
action...and there’s no instant replay in live performance!
• At a performance, you are sharing the physical components
of the performance space with other audience members. So,
consider whether you are sharing the arm rest and the leg
room in such a way that both you and your seat neighbors
are comfortable.
• As an audience member, you are also part of the
performance. Any enthusiasm you might have for the
performance may make the performers perform better. So, if
you like what you are seeing make sure they know it! Maybe
clap, hoot and holler, or stand up and cheer. However, when
expressing your own personal enjoyment of the performance,
consider whether your fellow audience members will be able
to see or hear what’s happening on stage or whether they will
miss something because of the sound and movement you are
making. Given this consideration, it’s often best to wait until a
pause in the performance (a pause of sound, movement, or
energy) or to wait until the performer(s) bow to the audience
to share your enthusiasm with them.
• Out of respect for the performer(s), if you do not like some
part of the performance, please do not boo or shout anything
derogatory. Remember, a lot of hard work went in to creating
the performance you are watching and it takes great courage
for the performer to share his or her art with you.
share Your exPerience WiTh oThers
• An important part of any performing arts experience is
sharing it with others. This can include whispering to your
seat neighbor during the performance, talking to your friends
about what you liked and didn’t like on the bus back to
school, or telling your family about the performance when
you get home.
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Venue
Detroit School of Arts Auditorium, 123 Selden Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201
TickeTs
We do not use paper tickets for School Day Performances. We hold school reservations at the door and
seat groups upon arrival.
arriVal TiMe
Please arrive at the Detroit School of Arts between 10:30-10:50am to allow you time to get seated and
comfortable before the show starts.
seaTing & ushers
When you arrive at the auditorium, tell the Head Usher at the door the name of your school group and he/she
will have ushers escort you to your block of seats. All UMS School Day Performance ushers wear large, blue
laminated badges with their names in white letters.
before The sTarT
Please allow the usher to seat individuals in your group in the order that they arrive in the auditorium. Once
everyone is seated you may then rearrange yourselves and escort students to the bathrooms before the
performance starts. PLEASE spread the adults throughout the group of students.
during The PerforMance
At the start of the performance, the lights wIll dim and an onstage UMS staff member will welcome you to the
performance and provide important logistical information. If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints
(for instance, about your comfort or the behavior of surrounding groups) please IMMEDIATELY report the
situation to an usher or staff member in the lobby.
PerforMance lengTh
One hour with no intermission.
ThEdETAILS
aTTending The PerforMance
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afTer The PerforMance
When the performance ends, remain seated. A UMS staff member will come to the stage and release each
group individually based on the location of your seats.
bus Pick uP
When your group is released, please exit the performance hall through the same door you entered. A UMS
School Day Performance staff member will be outside to direct you to your bus.
losT sTudenTs
A small army of volunteers staff School Day Performances and will be ready to help or direct lost and
wandering students.
losT iTeMs
If someone in your group loses an item at the performance, contact the UMS Youth Education Program
([email protected]) to attempt to help recover the item.
sending feedback
We LOVE feedback from students, so after the performance please send us any letters, artwork, or academic
papers that your students create in response to the performance: UMS Youth Education Program, 881 N.
University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011.
no food
No food or drink is allowed in the theater.
PaTience
Thank you in advance for your patience; in 20 minutes we aim to get 1,000 people from buses into seats and
will work as efficiently as possible to make that happen.
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ThEArTISTS
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ArTISTBIOS
The arTisTs
geri allen
Geri Allen is an internationally known composer and pianist.
Since 1982, she has recorded, performed, or collaborated
with artists as diverse as Ravi Coltrane, Dianne Reeves, Liz
Wright, and Simone, Howard University’s Afro Blue, Dewey
Redman, Jimmy Cobb, Sandra Turner-Barnes, Marcus Belgrave,
Betty Carter, Paul Motion, Terri Lynn Carrington, Hal Wilner,
Mino Cinelu, Dr. Billy Taylor, Joan Rivers, Mary Wilson and the
Supremes, and many others.
Allen has released a number of recordings and will be
releasing her new work for solo piano in the new year entitled,
Refractions: Flying Toward the Sound, which was composed
during the period of her Guggenheim Fellowship.
Recently, Geri Allen was recently invited by Ms. Jessye Norman
to participate in “Honor, A Celebration of the Legacy of African
Music,” held at Carnegie Hall Spring, 2008. She has received
the key to the city of Cambridge (during “Geri Allen Week”
at Harvard University) and the key to the city of Cleveland.
Howard University has honored her with its Benny Golson
Award, while Spelman College bestowed its African Classical
Music Award on her in 2007. She was the first artist to receive
the “Lady of Soul” Award in Jazz, and was also the youngest
person—and the first woman—to receive the Danish Jazzpar
Prize. She is also a 2008-2009 Guggenheim Fellow for Musical
Composition.
A Detroit native, Geri Allen graduated from Cass Technical High
School, Detroit’s magnet school for music. She has a bachelor’s
degree from Howard University, where she later served as
Assistant Professor of Music and was honored with the
university’s Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Professor
Awards. Her master’s degree in ethnomusicology is from the
University of Pittsburgh and she is currently on faculty at the
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Professor Allen has participated in many artistic collaborations,
most recently with Trio 3, which includes Oliver Lake, Andrew
Cyrille, and Reggie Workman, and they produced a CD entitled
At This Time released by Intakt Records. As a composer, Geri
Allen has been honored by SESAC, and her skills have won
her commissions from Jazz at Lincoln Center, Music Theatre
Group, American Music Theatre Festival, Stanford University,
and, most recently, from The Walt Whitman Arts Center and
Meet the Composer who commissioned For the Healing of
the Nations, a Sacred Jazz Work, composed in tribute to the
victims and survivors of the 9/11 tragedy. Currently, Professor
Allen has been commissioned to compose an Opera for
Trilogy: An Opera Company.
GErI ALLEN music director and piano
rOBErT hUrST bass
kArrIEM rIGGINS drums
MArCUS BELGrAvE trumpet
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ArTISTBIOS
The arTisTs
roberT hursT
Robert Hurst, also known as Bob Hurst, is a highly respected and
well recognized composer, bassist, educator, recording artist,
and business man. A native Detroiter, Hurst burst into national
repute as a teenager in the late 1970s. He was only 15 when he
started playing gigs around Detroit with
his mentor, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave.
He recorded with Out of the Blue in
1985 and worked with Wynton Marsalis
from 1986 to 1991. He then switched to
Branford Marsalis, joining his band on
the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Over
more than eight years, Hurst performed,
directed, composed, and arranged
music for the television program and has
scored original music for three films. His
cultivation into a membership of talented
musicians from around the world was
fostered by lengthy tours and Grammy
Award winning recordings featuring:
Charles Lloyd, Dave Brubeck, Harry
Connick Jr., Terrence Blanchard, Tony Williams, Nicholas Payton,
Sting, Carl Allen, the legendary Pharaoh Sanders, Chris Botti
and Diana Krall. In 1993 he released his first album as a leader to
critical acclaim, and has gone on to establish his own recording
company, Bebob Music Inc. After decades based in Los Angeles,
he has returned to Metro Detroit.
Unrehurst Vol.1, which was truly unrehearsed and Family Album
Vol. 1 (Bebob Records) a sophisticated jazz and multi-cultural
vocal and instrumental collection of childhood melodies, are
recent releases of Robert Hurst’s catalog.
Over the years, Robert Hurst has won four Emmy Awards, five
Grammy Awards, performed on several RIAA Gold recordings,
and has received Top 10 and Five Star recognition around the
globe. Hurst has scored original music for several films: The
Wood- MTV/ Paramount Productions, Brown Sugar- Fox
Films, has performed music for: Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s
Twelve, Ocean’s Thirteen, and Good Night, and Good Luck the
soundtrack, featuring Dianne Reeves, on Concord Records (A
2006 Grammy Awardee Jazz Vocal). His recent recordings with
Kenny Garrett and Diana Krall were each nominated for a 2007
Grammy.
Professor Hurst has been involved with the education of jazz
and jazz history from a very young age. During the 1980’s, Robert
Hurst was awarded a Presidential Scholarship from President
Ronald Reagan. He has taught master classes at the Thelonious
Monk Institute of Music at the University of Southern California
as well as at other educational settings. Hurst will continue
to mold the future with his recent appointment as Associate
Professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Music,
Theatre & Dance (Ann Arbor), and exercise his artistic influence
as a member of the Board of Directors for the John
Coltrane Foundation.
karrieM riggins
Born in Detroit, Mich., Karriem Riggins’ parents realized their
son was gifted when he began digging through their records.
He joined his father Emmanuel, a Motown Records session
musician who performed with jazz guitarist Grant Green, in the
studio to play with instruments in the likeness of a musical great.
Riggins continued his ongoing affair with music in his education
and made hip-hop music in his spare time. Perhaps best
known as a jazz drummer and hip-hop producer for artists like
Common, Slum Village, Talib Kweli, and The Roots, he doesn’t
categorize himself as anything but an artist. “You don’t have to
put yourself in a box…there’s so many different ways to go.”
Riggins studied music in high school in Southfield, Michigan and
at Cass Tech in Detroit before moving to New York City in 1994
at the age of 19. He played drums in Betty Carter’s band “Jazz
Ahead.” While Riggins strengthened and developed his forte,
the jazz world became enraptured with such an exceptional
performer. He followed Gregory Hutchinson into Carter’s band
and they had also shared sideman roles with Hargrove, Reed,
and Whitaker. Next, he followed his fellow drummer into Ray
Brown’s trio, another high profile engagement. With Brown, he
backed numerous artists and went on several tours. Along with
the gigs with Brown was a 1998 appearance with Oscar Peterson
and Milt Jackson, fortunately recorded, at which he was by no
means outshone. Riggins went on to perform with and appear
on recordings with other various jazz greats such as Hank Jones,
Donald Byrd, Cedar Walton, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Burrell,
Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller, Ron Carter, Gary Bartz, and Diana
Krall. He even collaborated with former Beatle Paul McCartney
in concert and on Kisses on the Bottom in 2011, McCartney’s first
studio release in five years.
he Was onlY 15 When he sTarTed PlaYing gigs around deTroiT WiTh his MenTor, TruMPeTer Marcus belgraVe.
Not one to abide musical boundaries, Karriem has made major
accomplishments within the hip-hop world as a musician
and producer. He has produced album tracks for Common,
Slum Village, The Roots, and Erykah Badu. He’s toured with
Common three times, and produced his “Play Your Cards Right”
for Paramount Picture’s feature film Smoking Aces. He helped
Kanye West demo some theme songs for Mission Impossible
III featuring Twista and Keyshia Cole. One of Karriem’s most
personal and esteemed projects was finishing and producing
J Dilla’s last project, The Shining. Karriem released his first self-
titled album, Music Kaleidoscope showcasing his unique range
as a hip hop producer and established jazz musician. More
recently, Karriem has played drums and collaborated with Mad-
Lib for his High Jazz album. Set for an October 23 release on
Stones Throw Records, Riggins solo CD Alone Together plants
him firmly as a hip-hop producer, with a 34-track instrumental
odyssey through nearly every influence on his career thus far. The
project was inspired by much of the music he was creating while
living in Los Angeles, and also by the love of his son and family.
He is a drummer with great technical ability and a considerable
measure of taste and finesse and brings vibrancy and
exhilaration to his playing. Karriem Riggins continues to embark
on a musical voyage, developing and creating music that will
captivate audiences and entice the musical senses.
Marcus belgraVe
Marcus Belgrave is Detroit’s internationally recognized jazz
trumpet great. He came to prominence in the late 50’s, touring
and recording with the late great Ray Charles’ Orchestra, at the
height of Ray’s hit-making era. Marcus is heard as a trumpet
soloist on some of Ray’s most famous hits, both albums and
singles. He always pays tribute to Ray, who mentored him from
the young age of 19. He is the only living member of Ray Charles’
small band horn section. He was also mentored by the Great
Clifford Brown. Clifford’s early influence on the young Belgrave
can still be heard in his tone. Belgrave then spent the early 60’s
spearheading the modern jazz movement in New York working
and recording in the bands of such major innovators as Charles
Mingus, Eric Dolphy, and Max Roach. Many of these classic
recordings (on Atlantic, Columbia, and other major labels) have
now been re-issued on CD. Belgrave moved to Detroit in the
early 1960s to join Motown Records as staff trumpeter, playing
on most of the Motown hits. Marcus has established himself
as Detroit’s foremost jazz musician. He was recently awarded
the singular title of the official “Jazz Master Laureate for the
City of Detroit,” as well as a fifty thousand dollar Kresge 2010
Eminent Artist award for his 46 years of service to the young
musicians of Detroit. His performances encompass the history
of jazz musical styles from early New Orleans, to Swing, Bebop,
and on to the latest contemporary sounds. Marcus continues
to tour and record in the world’s major jazz centers. He was an
original member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Marcus
has performed the music of Louis Armstrong to ovations with
Symphonies across America. He was a featured soloist as part
of the Detroit Jazz Master’s concerts with the Lincoln Center
Jazz Orchestra at Frederick Rose Hall in New York, a concert that
included other Detroit Jazz Master’s Yusef Lateef, Ron Carter,
Curtis Fuller, Charles McPherson, and his protégé’ Geri Allen.
Always the teacher, Marcus continues to mentor the next
generation of jazz musicians. His protégés include the who’s
who of young jazz musicians: violinist, Regina Carter, bassist,
Robert Hurst, saxophonist, Kenny Garrett, pianist Geri Allen,
saxophonist James Carter, guitarist, Ray Parker Jr., drummer Ali
Jackson, the list goes on and on.
ArTISTBIOS
The arTisTs
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CULTUrAL CONTEXT: dETrOIT
Can place create identity? Think about where you grew up – how has it defined you? Has Detroit
defined its group of jazz musicians in the same way?
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MAP + BASIC FACTS
culTural conTexT: deTroiT
PoPulaTion:
713,777 (2010 Census)
sTaTe:
Michigan
geograPhY:
Detroit is located in southeastern
Michigan. The city was originally named
Ville d’Etroit, “city of the straight,”
because of its location on the narrowest
portion of the Detroit River, the natural
border between the United States and
Canada. Its current downtown areas,
the Woodward and Cass Corridors, run
perpendicular to the river.
cliMaTe:
Designated a humid continental climate,
Detroit’s weather changes dramatically
with the seasons. It features cold winters,
with regular snow (averaging about 48
inches a season) and temperatures
dropping below freezing nightly, and hot
summers.
deMograPhics:
Detroit is mainly populated by African
Americans, who make up 82.7% of
its population. The remainder of the
population is 10.6% White and 6.8%
Hispanic/Latino.
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T IMELINE
culTural conTexT: deTroiT
1697
1805-1847
1701
1896
While Detroit is no longer a French territory, we can still see its French heritage in the names of many city streets.
Below is a small sampling. How are they pronounced in both French and English?
graTioT dequindre charleVoix JosePh caMPeau
French missionary Louis Hennepin
sails up the Detroit River and claims
the north side of the narrowest
portion for New France.
Detroit serves as the capital of
Michigan.
Henry Ford builds his first automobile
in a rented workshop in what is today
downtown Detroit.
French officer Antoine de La Mothe
Cadillac, along with fifty-one of his men,
builds Fort Ponchartrain, named for the
Marine Minister under Louis XIV. In an
effort to develop the area, the French
government offers French settlers free
land in the surrounding areas.
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1760
1960
1796
Motown Records is founded in Detroit.
The company records artists such as
Diana Ross & The Supremes, Jackson 5,
Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye.
During the French and Indian
War, British officers capture Fort
Ponchartrain and shorten the
surrounding area’s name to Detroit.
Britain cedes the Northwest Territory,
including all of present-day Ohio,
Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, to the
recently-founded United States.
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ThE ArT FOrM:INTrOdUCTION TO JAZZ
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JAZZ 101
The arT forM: inTroducTion To Jazz
The enTrY for Jazz in groVe Music online
The term ‘jazz’ conveys different though related meanings: 1) a musical tradition rooted in performing
conventions that were introduced and developed early in the 20th century by African Americans; 2) a set
of attitudes and assumptions brought to music-making, chief among them the notion of performance as
a fluid creative process involving improvisation; and 3) a style characterized by syncopation, melodic and
harmonic elements derived from the blues, cyclical formal structures and a supple rhythmic approach to
phrasing known as swing.
Writers have often portrayed the history of jazz as a narrative of
progress. Their accounts show jazz evolving from a boisterous
type of dance music into forms of increasing complexity,
gradually rising in prestige to become an artistic tradition
revered around the world. Certainly, attitudes towards the
music have changed dramatically. In 1924 an editorial writer
for The New York Times called jazz ‘a return to the humming,
hand-clapping, or tomtom beating of savages’; in 1987 the
United States Congress passed a resolution designating jazz
‘an outstanding model of individual expression’ and ‘a rare and
valuable national American treasure’. In keeping with this general
theme of progress, historians have emphasized innovation as a
primary force driving jazz forward, identifying new techniques,
concepts and structures that presumably helped push the
music to ever higher stages of development.
But tracing lines of evolution and innovation in jazz reveals
only part of a story much broader in scope and more complex
in structure. For if some musicians have sought to make a
mark as adventurous innovators, many others have viewed
themselves as stalwart bearers of tradition. If some have
struggled as uncompromising creative artists whose work
reaches only a small, select audience, others have flourished
providing entertainment for the masses. And if jazz has
undeniably accrued status and respect over the years, it has
also consistently provoked controversy. The term itself has often
carried negative associations, which is partly why Duke Ellington
and other musicians spurned the label, and why Max Roach
once told an interviewer, ‘I resent the word unequivocally’.
Several factors account for the volatility of jazz as an object of
study. First, its musical identity cannot be isolated or delimited.
Although often used to designate a single musical idiom, ‘jazz’
(like the signifier ‘classical’) refers to an extended family of
genres, with all members sharing at least some traits in common
yet none capable of representing the whole. Second, the varying
functions of jazz have made it difficult to perceive as a unified
entity. Jazz can be background sounds for social recreation,
lively accompaniment for dancing or music that invites close
listening and deep concentration – and the same performance
might operate on these different levels simultaneously. Third,
the subject of race has generated heated debate over jazz
and shaped its reception. While jazz is a product of black
American expressive culture, it has always been open to musical
influences from other traditions and since the 1920s has been
performed by musicians of varying backgrounds throughout the
world. In different eras, for example, commercially successful
white musicians such as the bandleader Paul Whiteman and the
saxophonist Kenny G have been identified by large segments of
the public as major exponents of jazz. Many others, however,
view these two as standing outside the tradition altogether
and consider jazz to be a form of ‘black music’ in which
black Americans have been the leading innovators and most
authoritative practitioners.
www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/subscriber/
article/grove/music/45011
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ELEMENTS OF JAZZ
The arT forM: inTroducTion To Jazz
iMProVisaTion
Perhaps jazz’s most essential ingredient, improvisation is spontaneous
composition; that is, each musician “makes up” what he is playing as
he is playing it (easier said than done). This is very similar to regular
conversation. In order to improvise, a musician needs to:
• be able to technically play her instrument well
• have an understanding of the way notes and chords go together
• be able to “play by ear” (i.e., the ability to play the music one “hears” inhis/her head without reading music)
• be able to play a wide variety of styles, for example jazz, blues, rock,pop, classical, etc.
rhYThM
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, rhythm is “a regular
pattern formed by a series of notes of differing duration and stress.”
Rhythm is also...
• that part of the music which concerns how long or short each noteis played
• the beat of the music
• that part of the music that makes the listener want to tap his/her foot
• the “feel” of a tune (song); a tune’s “groove” (i.e., rock, funk, swing,salsa, etc.)
Jazz rhythms can range from simple to extremely complex; however,
underlying even the most complex rhythms performed by each
individual musician in a jazz group is an underlying pulse (the beat), that
which makes the listener able to tap his/her foot with the music. While
most jazz utilizes a steady pulse (beat), certain styles of jazz are played
“freely” with no steady beat.
Below are a few other terms that relate to rhythm:
Tempo is the speed of the pulse (beat), and in jazz tempos range from
very slow (ballads) to extremely fast (tunes that are “burning”)
Syncopation is the accenting of beats that are normally not accented,
for example, stressing the notes that are on the up beat (i.e., when one’s
foot is in the air - or up position . when tapping normally with the beat
of the music).
Swing is a difficult-to-define rhythmic concept. For the musician, swing
is a manner of playing a steady stream of notes in a long-short-long-
short pattern. For the listener, swing feels like the music has buoyancy,
rhythmic lilt, and liveliness.
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sounds and insTruMenTs
Jazz musicians play their instruments utilizing the complete gamut of tone/sound colors that their instruments will allow. Jazz musicians will bend pitches, “growl,” “whine,” play “raunchy,” “dark,” “light,” “airy,” “raspy,” “bluesy,” “throaty,” “nasally” (anything the human voice can do to express emotion and then some) in addition to also playing with clear, focused, or pure tone. The most common instruments associated with jazz are as follows in order of the strength of their association:
Each instrument has its own general tone color and each musician has her own particular sound on that instrument. Although, for example, a saxophone sounds like a saxophone no matter who’s playing it, most jazz musicians and aficionados can distinguish one saxophonist from another by her tone alone...in the same way that we can distinguish one human voice from another. Even if we hear someone speak whom we haven’t talked to in months, we usually can distinguish who it is even after just one “hello” on the phone: that’s how distinctive one particular voice can be; that’s how distinctive one saxophonist’s sound can be! And many jazz musicians strive for that kind of distinction.
harMonY
Two or more notes played at the same time constitutes harmony; also known as a chord (also known as a “change” among jazz musicians). Each chord and each chord voicing (the way the notes are arranged) can depict a different emotion, e.g., happy, sad, angry, hopeful, etc. Most can’t be labeled as conveying a specific emotion because the feeling is different for every listener; “music is in the ears of the beholder”! A series of chords, known as a chord progression or simply the “changes,” accompanies the composed or improvised melodies tunes.
forM
Form can be considered a tune’s “musical blueprint,” allowing each musician -- and educated listener -- to keep his place in the structure. Each different section of a chord progression is assigned a different letter. For example: if a tune is 24 measures long and is divided into three eight-measure sections with the first two sections containing a set of identical chords and the last section containing a set of different chords, the form is AAB. In a jazz performance, the form of a tune, i.e., all the chords of the tune in a predetermined sequence (such as AAB, AABA, ABAC, etc.) will be repeated over and over; each time through is called a chorus.
ELEMENTS OF JAZZ
The arT forM: inTroducTion To Jazz
1 5
2 6
3 7
4 8
saxoPhone clarineT
TruMPeT TroMbone
guiTar all oTher insTruMenTs!
Piano, bass, and druMs (knoWn as The rhYThM secTion)
fluTe
*The Voice is also a Jazz insTruMenT, Though one builT inTo The huMan bodY.
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rESOUrCES
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ONLINErESOUrCES
resources
kennedY cenTer arTsedgewww.artsedge.org
spotlight: celebrating Jazz
www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3944/
rhythm & improv, Jazz & Poetry
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3654/
The musicality of words is an important element of poetry,
and many poets carefully consider the sound of the words
on the page. Students will listen to and analyze jazz music,
specifically considering sound, rhythm, and improvisation.
Students will identify jazz characteristics in poems by Yusef
Komunyakaa, Sonia Sanchez, and Langston Hughes, and will
incorporate these elements in their own original poetry.
You keep Making stuff up!
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3811/
Improvisation exists in many musical genres, from jazz to
Salsa to Afro-Cuban music. It is a concept and skill that often
seems daunting to the novice and music-lover alike, but it
doesn’t take an expert to learn to improvise. In this lesson,
student will explore the basics of improvisation, listening to
jazz and other genre excerpts and identifying elements of
improvisation in these genres. Students will learn to play and
sing the accompaniment and melody for an original song
about improvisation. Finally, students will perform the song as
an ensemble, taking turns to improvise on the music.
Jazz in Time
www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3949/
Developed for middle and high school audiences, this
interactive timeline follows the development of this great
American art form. Divided by decade, the timeline highlights
events that helped shape jazz and illustrates the styles of each
period through music and images.
nPr Jazz www.nprjazz.org
Jazzset with dee dee bridge Water
www.npr.org/programs/jazzset/index.html
Jazz Profiles hosted by nancy Wilson
www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles
This compelling documentary series chronicles the people,
places, and events in jazz history. By combining archival
recordings, interviews, and narration, each program in the
series tells an informative story that celebrates the music and
the musicians of this uniquely American art form.
Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz
www.npr.org/programs/pianojazz/
This Peabody-award winning show produced by South
Carolina Educational Radio features Marian McPartland and
her guests reminiscing, improvising, and swapping stories,
songs, and techniques about jazz each week.
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ONLINErESOUrCES
resources
Jazz aT lincoln cenTerhttp://jalc.org/jazzED
The Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) mission is to engage listeners,
performers, and educators of every age with a continuum of
experiences in appreciation and performance that reflect the
virtuosity, creativity, and inclusive spirit of jazz. Their Nesuhi
Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame Online chronicles the life and art
of each of the Hall’s inductees through dynamic interactive
timelines, extensive musical selections, rare photographs and
archival footage. (www.jalc.org/halloffame)
Jazz for Young People™ online
www.jazzforyoungpeople.org
Intended primarily for 4th-9th graders, the multimedia kit is
designed for both musicians and non-musicians and provides
flexible lessons that can be taught in one semester-long unit
or in shorter, individual units.
Jazz in the schools
www.neajazzintheschools.org
NEA Jazz in the Schools is a web-based curriculum and
dvd tool kit that explores jazz as an indigenous American
art form and as a means to understand American history.
In partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts
(NEA), Jazz at Lincoln Center has produced a free educational
resource for high school teachers of social studies, history, and
music. NEA Jazz in the Schools explores jazz as an indigenous
American art form and as a means to understand American
history. This web-based curriculum and DVD toolkit includes a
teacher’s guide of five curricular units with teacher tips, cross-
curricular activities, and assessment methods. Each kit also
includes student materials, a timeline poster, and audio and
video resources.
oTher
The Thelonious Monk institute of Jazz
www.jazzinamerica.org/
The mission of The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is
to offer public school-based jazz education programs for
young people around the world, helping students develop
imaginative thinking, creativity, curiosity, a positive self image,
and a respect for their own and others’ cultural heritage.
The National Jazz Curriculum: Located on the Web at
www.jazzinamerica.org, his Internet-based jazz curriculum is
available to every 5th, 8th, and 11th grade public school social
studies and American history classroom in the United States.
smithsonian Jazz class
www.smithsonianjazz.org
Visit “Jazz Classes” to hear the elegant Duke Ellington, the
scat singer extraordinaire Ella Fitzgerald, Louis “Satchmo”
Armstrong, and swingin’ Benny Carter. There is also a cool
Duke Ellington Interactive lesson. For those of you who want
to find out more about jazz, click on “What is Jazz” to answer
your questions.
Pbs Jazz
www.pbs.org/jazz/classroom/
The resources offered here are designed to help you use the
PBS JAZZ video series and companion Web site in music,
social studies, math, and language arts classes. The lesson
plans may also be adapted for use as stand-alone resources.
This site includes Lessons and Activities for Grades K-5,
Lessons and Activities for Grades 6-12, and General Motors
Music Study Guide for Grades 5-8. PBS has produced several
programs that touch on the music and the people of jazz.
Explore some of the best of PBS cultural programming.
www.pbs.org/jazz/links/
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rECOMMENdEdrEAdING
resources
eleMenTarY grades
• Hip Cat by Jonathan London, Woodleigh Hubbard (Illustrator)
• Mysterious Thelonius by Chris Raschka
• The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub, Karen Hanke (Illustrator)
• Ella Fitzgerald: A Young Vocal Virtuoso by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and his Orchestra by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• The Sound That Jazz Makes by Carole Boston Weatherford
• John Coltrane’s Giant Steps by Chris Raschka and John Coltrane
• Charlie Parker Played Bebop by Chris Raschka
• DJ and the Jazz Fest by Denise Walker McConduit
• The Jazzy Alphabet by Sherry Shahan
• Who Bop? by Johnathon London
• Bring on That Beat by Rachel Isadora
secondarY grades
• Jazz Makers: Vanguards of Sound by Alyn Shipton
• American Jazz Musicians (A Collective Biography) by Stanley Mour
• Jazz and Its History (Masters of Music) by Giuseppe Vigna
• The Golden Age of Jazz by William Gottleib
• Louis Armstrong - A Self Portrait by Richard Meryman
• The Art of Jazz by Martin Williams
• Sweet Sing Blues on the Road by Wynton Marsalis and Frank Stewart
• The Music of Black Americans by Eileen Southern
• The Duke Ellington Reader by Mark Tucker
BEPrESENT
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ABOUTUMS
be PresenT
One of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country, UMS is committed to connecting audiences with
performing artists from around the world in uncommon and engaging experiences. With a program steeped in
music, dance, and theater, UMS contributes to a vibrant cultural community by presenting approximately 60-75
performances and over 100 free educational activities each season. UMS also commissions new work, sponsors
artist residencies, and organizes collaborative projects with local, national, and international partners.
Learning is core to UMS’s mission, and it is our joy to provide creative learning experiences for our entire
community. Every season, we offer a spectrum of Education and Community Engagement activities focusing on
K-12 students, teachers, teens, university students, families, adults, and cultural and ethnic communities. We
exist to create a spark in each person, young and old alike, exposing them to things they haven’t before seen,
and leaving them with an ongoing and lifelong passion for creativity and the performing arts.
Mailing address
100 Burton Memorial Tower
881 North University Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011
interns
Emily Barkakati
Indira Bhattacharjee
Sigal Hemy
Charlie Reischl
uMs educaTion and coMMuniTY engageMenT deParTMenT
staff
ken fischer
UMS President
Jim leija
Director
Mary roeder
Associate Manager of Community Engagement
omari rush
Education Manager
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ThANkYOU!
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Thank you for your interest in learning about or attending one of our UMS School Day Performances.
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Bernard and Raquel Agranoff
Barbara A. Anderson and John H. Romani
Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation
Anonymous
Arts at Michigan
Arts Midwest Touring Fund
Association of Performing Arts Presenters
John and Linda Axe
Bank of Ann Arbor
Rachel Bendit and Mark Bernstein
Kathy Benton and Robert Brown
Richard S. Berger
Mary Ellen Brademas
David and Valerie Canter
Center for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Charles Reinhart Company, Realtors,
Nancy Bishop, Associate Broker
Clark Hill PLC
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan
Dallas and Sharon Dort
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund
DTE Energy Foundation
Kenneth and Frances Eisenberg
David and Jo-Anna Featherman
Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation
Anne and Paul Glendon
Fred and Barbara Goldberg
Kathy and Tom Goldberg
Drs. Patricia and Stephen Green
Robert and Ann Greenstone
Debbie and Norman Herbert
David and Phyllis Herzig Endowment Fund
Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP
Hooper Hathaway, P.C., Charles W. Borgsdorf
& William Stapleton, attorneys
JazzNet Endowment
Mark and Janice Kielb
Jean and Arnold Kluge
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Leo and Kathy Legatski
Mardi Gras Fund
Masco Corporation Foundation
Ernest and Adele McCarus
Merrill Lynch
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs
Michigan Humanities Council
Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C.
THE MOSAIC FOUNDATION [of R. & P. Heydon]
National Endowment for the Arts
NEA Jazz Masters Live
Quincy and Rob Northrup
Lisa A. Payne
PNC Foundation
The Power Foundation
Prudence and Amnon Rosenthal K-12 Education
Endowment Fund
Ren and Susan Snyder
John W. and Gail Ferguson Stout
Stout Systems
Karen and David Stutz
Robert S. and Julia Reyes Taubman
Toyota
UMS Advisory Committee
University of Michigan (U-M) Center for Chinese Studies
U-M Credit Union
U-M Health System
U-M Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
U-M Office of the Vice President for Research
Wallace Endowment Fund
Max Wicha and Sheila Crowley
The Andrew w. Mellon Foundation University of Michigan
This Teacher resource guide is The ProducT of The uMs YouTh educaTion PrograM.
researched and WriTTen bY
sigal hemy
ediTed bY
omari rush
additionally, we appreciate Mark Jacobson for his contribution to this guide and guidance in its development.
These performances are made possible through the generous support of individuals, corporations, and
foundations, including the following UMS Education and Community Engagement Supporters:
W W W. u M s . o r g