Australian jazz musician-educators: An exploration of experts' approaches to teaching jazz

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the approaches of expert jazz musicians actively involved in teaching, or jazz musician-educators, towards teaching jazz. The participants were six jazz musician-educators, whose experiences cover a wide range of musical styles and educational settings including classroom teaching, big bands, small ensembles, improvisation classes and workshops for Musica Viva in Schools. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate how each participant taught jazz and jazz improvisation within their individual scenarios. A range of approaches was used for teaching improvisation, with participants focussing on simplicity and student confidence. A number of issues emerged as important to the jazz musician-educators, including the role of listening, style, and the emphases of big and small ensembles. They also felt that the study of jazz helped students' confidence in playing and making music. Recommendations are made for further study, particularly regarding how these expert approaches might be adapted for general music classrooms, where teachers are often not as confident in using jazz as they are with other music styles.