Education News

USC Adds Pop Music Program

Source: Michael Ricci
October 22, 2008

CLASS IN SESSION: The Thornton School of Music bucks ivory tower convention with a program for rock, R & B and more.

USC's Thornton School of Music will make room starting next year for singers and instrumentalists who play pop music, breaking a long-standing tradition in higher education that requires students to dedicate themselves either to classical music or jazz.

Today the school is announcing its new bachelor of music degree in pop music performance, said to be the first ...

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Correspondence and a Clip: A Fifth More Perfect...

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
October 22, 2008

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Economy Has You Stressed Out? Try Music Therapy!

Source: All About Jazz
October 20, 2008

Its a daily assault of panic, crisis and upheavals being thrown at us practically 24/7. Listen to the radio, and its gloom and doom. Turn on the TV, and every talking head has another scenario of calamity. Pick up the newspaper, and the headlines are practically screaming disaster. Its enough to make you wish for some hermitage in the Himalayas. But musician Edward Weiss has a better idea: Play some New Age Music and beat the stress. As Edward says: ...

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Northwestern Jazzes up Its Faculty

Source: All About Jazz
October 17, 2008

Remember that famous scene in “Citizen Kane," in which the title character decides he wants to have an all-star newspaper staff—and hires one, en masse? The musical equivalent unfolded Monday night at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, where Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music unveiled its all-star jazz faculty—newly hired, en masse. Suddenly, Northwestern's jazz department, which never commanded much of a national profile, was reaching for the big leagues. And though it obviously takes more than a high-powered faculty to build ...

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New on JazzPianoOnline.com: Londonderry Aire Reharmonized

Source: All About Jazz
October 14, 2008

Londonderry Aire

This old irish folk tune (aka Danny Boy) is the perfect choice for reharmonization. When it's familiar diatonic melody is set against the highly chromatic harmonic treatment given here, the tune takes on a new life as a true jazz piece. Watch this lesson to see how JazzPianoOnline.com contributor Steve Anderson uses a range of reharmonization techniques to transform the piece from a simple three chord tune to a lush and complex jazz ballad. After the lesson, you ...

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Fire and Ice in American Culture

Source: Michael Ricci
October 13, 2008

ESSAY Politics highlight a faceoff of cool and hot in the United States' state of mind.

Forget about red state versus blue state, Prius versus Hummer, Wall Street versus Main Street or whatever other pop culture yardstick we've been using to measure the state of the nation recently. The real choice facing Americans this election year is much more simple: Cool or hot?

Let me explain. Three-score years ago, or thereabouts, some cats named Miles, Dizzy ...

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San Francisco State University Announces Second Annual Generations Jazz Program International Competition and Fellowship for Emerging Jazz Combos

Source: Rocket Words
October 9, 2008

The International Center for the Arts at San Francisco State University invites up-and-coming jazz combos in all countries to enter its second annual Generations Jazz Program International Competition and Fellowship for Emerging Young Combos. The winning combo will earn a year-long fellowship, with stipend, at San Francisco State University studying with the all-star Generations Band, including jazz masters Jimmy Cobb, Ray Drummond, Eric Alexander and Andrew Speight. Deadline for entry is March 23, 2009. The Generations Jazz Program represents an ...

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Health and Financial Fitness Fair Will Focus on Jazz Musicians

Source: All About Jazz
October 8, 2008

What’s the best way for a jazz musician to obtain health insurance? And how should musicians best invest and save their money in this economy? On Saturday, the first Coda Jazz Fund Health and Financial Fitness Fair will attempt to provide answers to those and other questions. Since the Coda Jazz Fund was formed in 2001, the foundation has addressed the end-of-life needs of area jazz musicians. In 2008 alone, the fund has assisted at least eight families of jazz ...

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