El Paso Jazz Girls by Amanda Ekery Plan I started planning for El Paso Jazz Girls, a clinic for female identifying high school students, after discovering that in the last decade only seven girls had made Texas All-State Jazz Band – less than 2% of all participants. As a Texas native, that demographic was shocking. […]
How to Get the Most out of Summer Jazz Camp By Ernie Rideout Summer camps can help supercharge your passion for music. When you spend time attending a summer camp, you can improve your tone, technique, master new styles, and acquire new skills and repertoire. You can hear things that you never thought were possible […]
What is Jazz? By Carl Dershem JEN Member (San Diego, CA) So the first day of class, the professor looked at us and asked “Just what is jazz? We have all heard it, and like many things, you know it when you hear it, but just what is it?” Many hands went up, but he […]
Back to School Tips for Your Jazz Program By Bob Sinicrope President, JEN Music Educator No matter how strong your jazz program is there is always room for growth. Teaching and learning is a never-ending process. The ideas below have greatly enhanced my program and some of them might be beneficial to yours. Perform as […]
Outreach Idea: Play for Students During Their Lunch Hour By Kim Aubuchon From the moment the “big kids” walked into the building, we turned the heads of the students of River Bend Elementary School. Through a partnership with JEN and the help of a JAZZ2U grant, we had arranged for our quintet of local St. […]
7 Improvisation Experiences for Young Children By Dr. Darla S. Hanley Dean of the Professional Education Division, Berklee College School of Music; JEN Past Board Member One of the new components of JEN is our focus on jazz for K-8 musicians. Our intent is to offer information throughout the year and at our conference designed […]
Two Simple Ideas to Improve Ensemble Intonation By Ryan Adamsons This article is an excerpt from The Jazzer’s Cookbook, edited by JEN Co-Founder and Past President Mary Jo Papich, with contributions from JEN members. Part of the books proceeds help fund JEN programs. Ensemble tuning and intonation are subjects that affect every music educator. Thinking about […]
Leading by Example: Jazz in 21st Century Education By JR Gould When John Adams said, “There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other should teach us how to live,” he didn’t fully succeed in making the point he intended. Inherent in his well-meaning statement is a separation […]
Jazz Pedagogy for Music Educators By Patrick Brown, Musician and Educator INTRODUCTION Jazz is often taught through performance at the college/university level and is usually aimed towards those already interested in jazz. In this performance-based setting, jazz education is commonly based around jazz theory and improvisation specific to performers. Teaching jazz courses specifically designed for […]
How to Establish a Jazz Program, and Ideas to Jumpstart Your Existing Program By Steve Holley, Educator and JEN Membership Committee Chair As the chair of the JEN Membership Committee, I spent a good amount of my time at our conference sitting down and asking you, our members, what resources you would like to see […]