Real Life Skills That Come From Jazz
Top 3 things students get from learning jazz in a classroom
As an educator, I seek to provide students with real, tangible, applicable, valuable knowledge that will get them A’s in school and prepare them for a lifetime of music after graduation. I want my undergrad students to be prepared for graduate study but also for gigs in a non-academic setting. Jazz training uniquely exists in both academic and non-academic spaces.
But…what about jazz in high schools and public schools? What is the goal of jazz teaching in a high school and what should the students be learning? There are huge numbers of individuals who only get their jazz and/or music training at the high school level, so this is a crucial aspect of jazz education.
Today I visited a high school jazz band rehearsal—a large jazz ensemble with a full horn instrumentation and rhythm section. I have been on countless visits to high schools, but what was remarkable about today’s visit was that the students were:
playing music that they learned by ear without sheet music
reading and interpreting music from lead sheets (a simple melody and chords)
soloing by referencing the melody and chord changes
More often than not, school bands sit down and read through fully notated big band arrangements. The emphasis is generally on how well a student reads off of the page and the soloing is generally very limited.
In my experience as an educator, the best jazz bands have many soloists. The students’ abilities to solo, make musical phrases, interact with other musicians, and memorize melodies and chord changes provide a depth that is evident when the full band interprets fully notated big band charts.
The skills that these students are learning are all valuable life skills regardless of whether or not they choose to become “professional” musicians. (I do not wish to attempt to define what a “professional” musician is!)
Here are the top three life skills learned from jazz improvisation in the classroom:
1. KNOWLEDGE
Critical Thinking
There is an increased awareness about the repertoire that is being played—the harmonies, key centers, form of a piece, and other distinguishing characteristics of a piece.
There is a greater investment in learning as students don’t just “go through the motions.”
Theory
Students learn theory such as ii-V-I progressions, arpeggios, chord scales, altered chord structures, etc.
The theory knowledge is not just written theory knowledge, but is real, tangible, hands-on skills that are applied directly to their instruments.
Jazz theory is universal and will apply regardless of what instrument a student plays later in life or what subgenre of jazz or American music that the individual pursues. For example, a 10th grade saxophone student may be a guitarist 10 years from now, but the jazz theory learned today applies directly to his/her future pursuits.
2. INCREASED ABILITY and FLEXIBILITY
The ability to play a variety of styles and genres
Much of the music from the African diaspora (if not all) can be approached using the techniques we use to learn and play American jazz music — learning by ear, reading lead sheets, etc.
These genres include reggae, music from the Caribbean, various styles from Latin America (ranging from Cuban clave son to Mexican bolero to Puerto Rican plena, etc.), Brazilian music, Afrobeat, etc., etc., etc.
The ability to play in various instrumentations
If we train students to play by ear and to play using lead sheets it sets them up for a future of being able to play duos, trios, quartets, or larger ensembles with a variety of different instrumentations.
Genre-bending and hybrid instrumentations might be the future of music.
3. CREATIVITY
Improvisation - A musician creating melodies by ear is inherently a creative activity. Everyone that improvises is exercising their creative brains!
Composition and Arranging
When we teach students about lead sheets and the theory of harmony, we are setting them up with the tools to be able to write their own music.
Similarly, the arranging skills that we teach students will have an impact on their ability to organize their music later in life.
Leading a Band
Students who know how to improvise and play off of lead sheets are getting the training they need to lead a band. These skills include choosing:
instrumentation
repertoire
keys/tempos/forms
Just to be clear, I am not advocating for high schools to stop teaching bands, choirs, and orchestras, but am rather encouraging teachers to contemplate the balance of activities that they are presenting to their students. It is my hope that there can be a balance of activities such that students are able to participate in a variety of activities and for jazz/Black music/American music/improvisation to not be forgotten or short-changed. The reality is that the life lessons learned through jazz are extremely valuable—while so many of our students that do not play jazz forget how to read sheet music and forget their instrumental fingerings soon after high school!