THE EFFECTS OF A SEQUENCIAL JAZZ STYLE …

THE EFFECTS OF A SEQUENCIAL JAZZ STYLE INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM ON THE RECOGNITION AND APPRECIATION OF VARIOUS STYLES OF JAZZ

By

DAVID BECKER

A PROJECT IN LIEU OF THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF MUSIC EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

2014

SEQUENTIAL PROGRAM OF JAZZ STYLE RECOGNITION AND APPRECIATION

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Content Page Introduction 3 Review of Literature 4-‐6 Methodology 6-‐9 Data Analysis 9-‐15 Discussion 15-‐16 References 17-‐18 Appendix 19-‐21 Qualtrics questionnaire IRB Approval Form Parental Consent Form

Introduction

October is Jazz Awareness Month. April is Jazz Appreciation Month. The

month that just finished, March 2014, was both for the elementary, middle, and high

school students that participated in this study. The purpose of this study is to

increase the recognition and appreciation for jazz as a result of a sequential jazz

styles program. Jazz is not a mandatory part of elementary music, middle school, or

high school curriculum. To the countless students in music programs that don’t

personally experience playing in a jazz ensemble, the exposure and awareness of the

diversity and complexity of jazz is, for the most part, very limited.

Null Hypothesis: There will be no significant statistical difference on style

recognition between the experimental and control group, in other words, the group

that is exposed to jazz styles and the group that is not exposed to jazz styles. Put

another way, there will be no significant statistical difference on style recognition

between the scores of those who were exposed to jazz styles and those that were

not exposed to jazz styles.

Research Hypothesis: Students who have exposure to jazz styles will have a

greater recognition of jazz styles than students that do not. Based on the results in

the data analysis section of this study, this hypothesis was true in two of the three

grade levels overall. Furthermore, when comparing the results of the individual

questions covering the different styles, those treatment groups scored higher in

three out of four style categories.


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Review of Literature

Practice that involves finding innovative and mutually supportive ways to

share musical space creates opportunities for collective growth (Custodero, p. 24).

Using recordings of jazz that I wrote, recorded, and produced, I played these

recordings of various styles of jazz for my experimental groups over several

sessions. These recordings are being used as part of an arts database the State of

Florida Educators will be using to assess the arts in K-‐12 education.

Many teachers have a tremendous natural passion for jazz, which holds a

respected place in any comprehensive general music curriculum (McDonald, Fisher,

Helzer p. 43). The elementary school teacher at J.J. Finley Elementary School

displayed this passion during my session in her classroom. This presence of

excitement could be felt in the students’ energy every time I gave one of my

presentations.

Beginning this April (2002) and every April thereafter, Jazz Appreciation

Month will serve as an annual affirmation of jazz. The month will encourage

schools, colleges, musicians, jazz societies, concert halls, museums, libraries, public

broadcasters, and other organizations to develop programs of their own every April

to celebrate jazz (Hasse, p. 40). This is an excellent start to what can be

accomplished in our public schools on a regular basis. Adding a steady infusion of

jazz in its many styles and forms into the curriculum can bring awareness and

appreciation to our youth and foster the longevity of its existence.

Beyond the brick and mortar of our public school walls, other opportunities

exist like the Nashville Jazz Workshop that began in 1998. The NJW cites three

major objectives in its mission statement:

• Creating a workshop environment in which seasoned professionals can pass on their knowledge and experience by way of a journeyman/apprentice system;

• Offering classes in jazz styles, history, and repertoire that would be accessible to players and non-‐players alike; and

• Presenting performances of student and professional artists in a variety of public venues designed to elevate the community’s awareness and appreciation of the art of jazz (Wynn, p. C60) Being a private teacher of music for so long, I was pleased to find an article in

the American Music Teacher (Stewart, p. 17, 19) that addresses the private teachers’

responsibility for implementing the National Standards for Music Education in their

practice, particularly the standard addressing improvisation. Unfortunately, many

teachers have no experience in jazz and this standard more often than not does not

end up being included in their curriculum.

What happens in public and private schools and what happens in private

music studios is closely connected (Maris, p. 36). Music teachers are the ones

teaching music to the children that are experiencing their first tangible musical

learning events. These teachers are the most important facilitators of what is good

and eternal about music. Independent Music Teachers or IMT’s in the community

can serve as important role models and as mentors to college students and faculty

(p. 38).

Jazz is an American art form and must be preserved and passed on to all

generations going forward. ‘Although we cannot replicate the social fabric that


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nurtured and continues to nurture jazz music, it is not beyond our capabilities to

look deeper into our claims, evaluate our labor, and create new possibilities (Javors,

p. 51). As music educators, we must remember how important jazz is to our

country’s identity and artistic fabric and make sure its awareness continues in our

public schools and musical teaching community.

Methodology

The design for this study is a quasi experimental/control group posttest only

design.

To introduce four different styles of jazz, audio examples composed,

recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by myself were used. The four styles were

swing, latin jazz, funk, and jazz ballad. Each was presented individually with

explanations of how these styles are identified by listening. Each session was

approximately 15-‐20 minutes of presentation combined with any questions that

were asked by the experimental groups. The amount of questions varied from

session to session but seemed to be proportionally consistent with the age of the

group. The younger the listeners, the more the amount of questions asked. The

order of presentation was Swing: session 1, Latin Jazz: session 2, Funk: session 3,

Ballad: session 4. I presented to three different age groups. Group 1 was a third

grade music class containing approximately 17 students at J.J. Finley Elementary

School in Gainesville, FL. Group 2 was a beginning band class at Fort Clarke Middle

School in Gainesville, FL consisting of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders totaling approximately

32 students. Group 3 was the Concert Band at Buchholz High School in Gainesville,

FL containing approximately 20 students in 9th through 12th grade. The style

sessions were presented over a three-‐week time span concluding with a brief

questionnaire to identify the different jazz styles presented as well as general music

style preferences. Also, the students were asked if they like jazz more as a result of

exposure. The exposure was simply the sessions this study contains. The

questionnaire was also given to a control group of approximately the same size in

each academic grade level that had no exposure to jazz before taking the survey.

Session 1 (Swing)

The way to think of swing and how it feels and sounds is reflecting back to

that time in your childhood when you learned how to skip. To learn, coordinate, and

instill the hop, step-‐hop, step-‐hop, step-‐hop into our bodily-‐movement motor-‐skills

skill-‐set is a great example to the young listener of how to conceptualize the motion

of swing music. To the older student with experience playing written music

containing a 6/8 time signature, thinking of swing as a quarter, eighth-‐quarter,

eighth-‐quarter, eighth-‐quarter rhythmic pattern gives a visual equivalent to the

player of how swing eighth notes are executed. Key listening focal points of

identifying swing music are the patterns played by the drummer on the cymbals, as

well as similar rhythmic patterns used by the melodic instruments. When those


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instruments are not present, the “comping” or backing up of a soloist played by a

keyboard or guitar will contain swing rhythms.

Session 2 (Latin Jazz)

This session being the one that followed the swing presentation, the first

thing to clarify is the difference of rhythmic placement. The eighth note division is

like most music played by the novice musician up to this point in his or her

performing career. Latin rhythm evenly divides the beat or quarter note. The

eighth notes are worth 50% of the beat where swing divides the beat up with a two-‐

thirds/one-‐third relationship. Once the difference is understood, the listener must

understand other key components of latin jazz music. Firstly, the importance and

prevalence of percussion instruments must be discussed. Timbales, congas, bongos,

cowbell, guiro, clave, and other auxiliary percussion instruments are utilized in latin

jazz music. Secondly, the use of improvisation, as in all jazz styles, is an important

component of latin jazz.

Session 3 (Funk)

To understand funk, you must divide the beat into 16th notes. The way swing

and latin styles differ is how the eighth notes are executed. What makes funk

identifiable is the use of 16th notes in a syncopated way. There are several

combinations of 16th note patterns and when eighth notes are included, the

combinations are increased. These combinations make up several funk rhythm

scenarios. Below are some of the most common possibilities of funk rhythms.

It must be noted that when explaining rhythms of this complexity to students

who do not read music, it is more difficult to for them to comprehend these terms

and descriptions. I found it helpful to get a slower steady beat going in their feet

and have them clap eighth notes along with a quarter note tapping of the feet. If

when listening, they here notes that are faster than their hands, then they are

hearing 16th notes.

Session 4 (Jazz Ballad)

This type is probably the easiest to recognize but ironically will contain one

or more elements of all three previously presented styles. Most people think of

ballads as slow tunes and for the most part this is true. However, some ballads can

be very complex containing both swing elements as in a 12/8-‐feel ballad combined

with funk-‐like rhythms. For the most part, the rhythmic usage creates a calmness to

convey the mood of the ballad and the purpose it serves. Ballads can act as the best

way to showcase the strongest improviser in an ensemble.

My data was collected through the use of a brief eight-‐question survey I

created in Qualtrics, a survey application provided through the online platform at

the University of Florida.

Data Analysis

Using SPSS data analysis software, the data was analyzed in a number of

different ways. Firstly, since the questionnaires were filled out by hand, the

answers were manually inputted one by one into Qualtrics. The grand total of

surveys containing both experimental and control groups at each grade level totaled


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134. Once they were loaded into Qualtrics, the data was exported into an Excel

spreadsheet to properly format the data for importing into SPSS. Upon importing

the data into SPSS, a series of statistical tests analyzed the data overall, and then

within each academic level (elementary, middle, and high school). Furthermore, the

data was analyzed within each of the first four questions of the survey. These were

the questions showing the answers to the recognition of the various styles of jazz

audio played to them through my portable sound system. The results were very

interesting. When separating the data question by question, the null hypothesis was

rejected for all styles except Swing. This rang true for all grade levels. This result

was very curious and one could speculate as to why, but without further testing on a

much larger group of subjects, any speculation would lack validity.

The study tested for normality, however all variables were not normally

distributed. Thusly, non-‐parametric statistics were used for this reason. Due to the

small number of participants at each grade level, a pre-‐determined random

selection of 15 per group scenario to increase validity was not an option. Pertaining

to the analysis on increased appreciation of jazz as a result of exposure, there was

no significant increase based on the results of this study. After reflection, the

wording of the appreciation question needs revision. Here are the results of each

individual question in each age group. Style #1 is Swing, Style #2 is Latin, Style #3 is

Funk, and Style #4 is Ballad Jazz.


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The results of the Elementary Groups are not supporting the hypothesis

based on the maturity of each class as explained earlier. The experimental group is

known to be a difficult class for the teacher to control in a normal day and the

control group is the teachers’ best class overall. These numbers therefore are

askew. The results of the middle school do support the research hypothesis. The

control group scored better on each style. The high school experimental group

scored higher in two styles and there was a perfect score by both experimental and

control group on two styles. Here are the overall data numbers:

Discussion

The students that participated in this study were found to be typical students

on a common track in our country’s educational system. Within the elementary

classes, the difference between the experimental group and control group was

noticeable. The experimental group, while very enthusiastic and inquisitive, was

out-‐performed from an assessment point of view based on the results of the

questionnaire. After a discussion with the instructor, the result was not surprising.

Her opinion of the normal behavior patterns of those classes explains how one class

with no exposure would out-‐perform one that had treatment. That being said, the

middle and high school groups were consistent with each other. This study proved

to have multiple limitations pertaining to scheduling and optimum age group

selection. All levels had a Spring Break fast approaching with limited the number of

potential sessions. The middle and high schools also had upcoming festivals

conflicting with potential session scheduling. The elementary teacher was


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mentoring an intern so testing on fifth graders as originally planned was not a

possibility. These factors contributed to a study that has great potential for proving

the research hypothesis. In the future, solid statistics can be gathered by using a

larger group at each grade level. Also, at the elementary grade level, fifth graders

would be the most mature and appropriate for this type of study. The time of year is

important also as to not be limited by a busy festival season. In regards to the

results of the Swing style data, possibly more comparative style sessions are needed

to disseminate swing from other jazz styles, particularly after all styles have been

presented.

Furthermore, in future studies, 5th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grade should be tested

specifically for more accurate comparative analysis. Larger subject groups are

needed to adequately use random sampling to increase validity. Involving multiple

schools at each grade level will help achieve this. Also, having access to a computer

lab at each school will aid in obtaining efficient and accurate data when

administering the questionnaire to the experimental and control groups.

References Custodero, L. A. (2008). Living jazz, learning jazz: Thoughts on a responsive

pedagogy of early childhood music. General Music Today (Online), 22(1), 24-‐29. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/753584711?accountid=10920

Hasse, J. E. (2002). Launching jazz appreciation month. Jazz Education Journal,

34(5), 40-‐42, 44-‐45. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1370895?accountid=10920

IAJE president's award. (2000). Jazz Educators Journal, 32(4), A20. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1368351?accountid=10920 Kubik, G. (2005). The african matrix in jazz harmonic practices. Black Music Research

Journal, 25(1-‐2), 167-‐222. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1336645?accountid=10920

Maris, B. E. (1998, 06). Independent music teachers and other people who are

involved in music. American Music Teacher, 47, 36-‐41, 92. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/934839?accountid=10920

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Wynn, R. (2003). Nashville jazz workshop: The history behind the great experiment. Jazz Education Journal, 35(4), C60, C62-‐C63. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1370836?accountid=10920


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