Education News

Dave Douglas on Ear Training

Source: All About Jazz
July 8, 2008

You can't deny the power of raw talent in music, but it is possible there is an even greater strength in the human capacity for self-transformation, growth, and genius. Some people have enormous natural talent and ability. Some have to work really hard. One way or another we're all striving to find a true expression in sound, one that touches on something universal, and we all have to strive to find our own path, no matter how gifted or challenged ...

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New on JazzPianoOnline.com

Source: All About Jazz
June 27, 2008

Star Spangled Banner Celebrate Independence Day with this jazz arrangement of our national anthem. Incorporating a wide range of reharmonization and arranging devices- substitutions, upper structures, deceptive cadences and non-functional harmony among them- you will no doubt enjoy hearing this familiar melody juxtaposed with the chromatic sounds of the reharmonized chords. What is JazzPianoOnline.com? JazzPianoOnline is Online, Interactive, Streaming Video Jazz Piano Lessons. Watch Watch high-quality streaming video lessons with synchronized annotated notation on ...

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MENC to Serve Jazz Educators

Source: All About Jazz
June 24, 2008

The National Association for Music Education announced plans to form a Society for Jazz Education to serve the unique professional needs of jazz educators. “According to the MENC Constitution and Bylaws, the National Executive Board may establish 'Societies' to foster communication among and meet the needs of specific segments of MENC's membership, “ said Barbara Geer, MENC president-elect. “With the recent demise of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), the time is right for an MENC Society for Jazz ...

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A Horn Blows in Brooklyn

Source: Michael Ricci
June 22, 2008

And the Band Honked On THE classroom filled with the sounds of a band struggling to be born, a cacophony of squealing and buzzing. Middle school students in a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood were trying to produce the note F.

ALANA VEGTER built her credentials as a professional musician while coaching students in Brooklyn. Ms. Vegter, 25, was there as part of a well-financed experiment by some of the nation's most powerful musical institutions. The experiment is called, clumsily, the Academy ...

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Listening Tip: Abene with Kirchner

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
June 18, 2008

Saxophonist, composer, arranger, band leader and educator Bill Kirchner is also a broadcaster. For several years, his Jazz From The Archives series has been airing on Sunday nights on WBGO-FM in Newark, New Jersey, just across the river from New York City. It is also heard on the worldwide web. His next program will feature another musical polymath. Here's Kirchner's announcement.

Pianist/composer/arranger/producer Michael Abene (b. 1942--pronounced uh-BEN-ee) is one of jazz's “quiet as it's kept" heroes--hugely respected by ...

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Music Empowerment Program for La Paz, Bolivia

Source: All About Jazz
June 15, 2008

David Haney Presents a Two Week Workshop in Improvisation for Orphaned Boys Ages 14-18 in la Paz, Bolivia

THE PROGRAM In conjunction with Creative Corners of London, England, David Haney, a Seattle based pianist, improviser, and composer will teach a two week residency at the State Orphanage in La Paz, Bolivia. During the two week period, boys ranging in ages from 14 to 18 will learn the basics of improvisation and musical dialogue. Using specific rhythms from around the world ...

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Thelonious Monk Institute New Home

Source: Michael Ricci
June 14, 2008

Inside the Thelonious Monk Institute Last September the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, a postgraduate training program headed by the trumpeter Terence Blanchard, relocated to Loyola University New Orleans after a dozen years at the University of Southern California. The move was partly a practical matter, but also a symbolic gesture, announced as the signal gesture of a “Commitment to New Orleans" initiative. It may have been one of the happiest cultural developments in this city over the past ...

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Alaadeen's The Rest of the Story

Source: All About Jazz
June 11, 2008

Alaadeen Writes “The Rest of the Story" Jazz Master Alaadeen has been awarded a grant from the Fund for Folk Culture to write “The Rest of the Story", a jazz methods manual based on his approach to teaching. This project is made possible by a grant from the Fund for Folk Culture's Artist Support Program, underwritten by the Ford Foundation with additional support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Based in Austin, Texas, the Fund for Folk ...

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