Jazz Sits In on the Curriculum and Moves a Young Audience

[Pete C]

From the NY Times.


October 8, 2003
Jazz Sits In on the Curriculum and Moves a Young Audience
By ROBERTA HERSHENSON

Before Billie, Dizzy and Miles melted the hearts of the sixth graders at Public School 156 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, the students viewed jazz as old people's music, their parents' music, as unhip as Beethoven and Brahms.

But that all changed when jazz became part of daily life at the school this spring. There was the music itself, a panoply of new rhythms and sounds. There was the cast of colorful characters, each one a revelation. And there was the subject of jazz history, reflecting social concerns from segregation to the civil rights movement.

No saxophones or slide trombones were in sight — just a CD player — the day in June when Tracey Bean, a sixth-grade teacher, played Billie Holiday's recording of "In My Solitude" in her classroom.

"How did the music make you feel?" Ms. Bean asked when it was over.

"Sad," several students said in unison.

"I felt alone," Elise Long volunteered.

"I feel like I want to cry," Jameel Baker said.

Then Ms. Bean played an upbeat song, Ella Fitzgerald singing "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," and the students happily sang along.

For the second year, jazz will be an academic subject at P.S. 156 and 1,900 other schools nationwide, thanks to a curriculum produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to jazz performance and education.

The curriculum, aimed at upper elementary and middle schools, was developed with Scholastic, the children's publishing and media company, and financed mainly by the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation.

Wynton Marsalis, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, wrote and narrated 17 lessons on the history and significance of jazz, telling stories about important figures and providing 120 musical examples performed by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, with Mr. Marsalis himself on trumpet. The lessons, which range from the roots of New Orleans jazz to the latest Latin and Afro-Cuban music, are intended to be used without a visiting artist. More information about the curriculum is available at www.jazzatlincolncenter.org/. The lessons are on 10 CD's, so that teachers need only press start.

But the teachers at P.S. 156, an arts-centered school from prekindergarten through eighth grade, took a more intensive approach.

They added films, videos and recordings to the Lincoln Center materials to create a tapestry of African-American history, racial politics, artistic innovation and poetry for use in their social studies and language arts classes. The curriculum's music lessons were left to Jose Ramos, the music teacher, who led the students in Latin jazz and "stomp" performances.

For 12 weeks, the sixth graders kept journals, recording their thoughts about hot jazz, cool jazz, bebop and the blues. They expressed in poetry and prose their feelings about the pioneering black musicians who spawned a new, uniquely American art. They learned of the toll that prejudice, alcohol abuse and drug addiction took on the artists.

"They got so worried about these people," said Leonore Gordon, a consultant from the Teachers and Writers Collaborative who led the poetry sessions. (The collaborative is a nonprofit Manhattan group that sends professional writers into the schools to teach creative writing.) "When they began liking someone, they would ask, `Did he die?' "

Mr. Marsalis provides vivid character studies on the CD's, telling how Louis Armstrong was sent to a correctional home "for young trouble-makers," calling Dizzy Gillespie "a hell raiser" and describing the diamond in Jelly Roll Morton's front teeth. He calls Morton "a pool shark" and "a con man," revealing the artists' flaws as well as their genius, because, he said in an interview, "the lesson to the students was imitate what you like about the people you idolize; don't imitate what you don't like."

He promotes the curriculum as a tool for self-discovery that reveals the virtues of individuality (solo improvisation) and the benefits of cooperation (letting other soloists have their turn). He says that studying jazz "can give us a painless way to understand a new American mythology."

He also feels that academic attention to the subject is overdue. "Jazz is our principal art form," he said, "and we've never taught it or went out of our way to be sure that our nation was informed about it."

Oswaldo Malave, the principal of P.S. 156, said the schedule changes that had led other schools to cut arts programs had not affected P.S. 156 so far. The school was failing eight years ago, he said, but since it reorganized around the arts, reading scores have gone up. "We have been successful at integrating the arts into reading, social studies and especially writing," he said. "We're going to continue the same way."

Ms. Gordon, who coaxes images from the students as they listen to jazz recordings, says her goal as the school's poetry consultant is to become obsolete by enabling the teachers to take over.

Celeste Thompson, one of the teachers, is well on her way, provoking students with tapes by John Coltrane and Miles Davis, movies like "Cabin in the Sky" and songs like "Strange Fruit," as sung by Billie Holiday.

One sixth grader wrote:

Billie Holiday, your voice sounds like a

bell

shaking through

a windy world.

The students say that they still prefer Destiny's Child, 50 Cent and Ashanti, the music of their own generation, but that they were glad to be introduced to artists like Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

"It's exciting to learn about how people lived before we were born," Shanice Schoolfield said. "Like Lady Day. She kept going on and believing in her dreams."

[Dibble]

How fascinating..

just want ot add a little to this

Recently my 11 year old daughter was in a music class at school and the teacher played the kids Rhapsody In Blue..and asked them to relate what they thought ..

Mine piped up with " Thats Gershwin isnt it..and the beginning reminds my Mum of of staring from the pavement towards the sky to look at the Empire State building....the teacher was lost for words..this had never happened to him before in a suburb of Manchester UK..that a primary school student knew about Gershwin

The same daughter had a moment with Billie too..and Strange Fruit..she asked me when it was recorded..and was incredulous,,and she became interested in the civil rights movement, and has a pic of Dr King on her bedroom wall..(next to Justin Timberlake)!!

Cant win 'em all!!

[Pete C]

Originally posted by Dibble

Cant win 'em all!!

Hush now, don't complain!

[Dibble]

Im not I suppose..just a bit incredulous...lol..its such a bizarre sight..it raises a wry smile from me when I go into her room to find the floor every day..lol

Another jazz(ish) moment from my far too many children..

Quote

What is that?

Scatting

What is scatting??

Its making the sound of instruments in a band with your voice..

OK.....5 minutes passes..Why??

Because she can..and she understands how it works..so she sings the instrument parts..instead of playing them

OK...anoher five mins


Shes clever isnt she

Yup..she is indeed

Im going to try that

Ok ..chuckle to myself..

HUGE cacophany from upstairars..to "Cry Me A River"

But Im not complaining!!

[mke]

Originally posted by Dibble
HUGE cacophany from upstairars..to "Cry Me A River"

Justin's or Julie's?

[Pete C]

There was a cacophony in the kitchen to "Fry Me a Liver."

[Gary Sisco]

Our lost bbs buddy Josh was doing his own similar curriculum last year in the Bronx, with his own compilations and etc.

Put the music out there and a few of those kids will grow up to be jazz weirdos like us.

On second thought ...

[jazzy mary]

No one has noticed that this whole curriculum is from "Jazz@LC"? Once again, it's Wynton's view. Also, while I'm obviously all for studying jazz, I don't think it should be a whole curriculum for these students, but rather part of the curriculum of a music class--all music! What these kids in Brownsville really need is better reading, writing and math skills.

My daughter Liz has music and her teacher was reading out some titles of songs they could sing (obviously form some plan) and she came to "Lulluby of Birdland" and the teacher said "I have no idea what that is" and of course, Liz did! On another note in 2nd grade my daughter Catherine was in music class and they were talking about Charlie Parker and Catherine was the only one who knew Bird's nickname!

[Pete C]

What was Bird's nickname?

[Gary Sisco]

Charles.

[mke]

Originally posted by jazzy mary
What these kids in Brownsville really need is better reading, writing and math skills.

Apparently results have improved since focusing on the arts.

[Pete C]

Originally posted by mke
Apparently results have improved since focusing on the arts.

Results tend to improve with engagement.

And I think this is one case where we don't need to get worked up about JALC. It looks like this is one of the more positive programs they have to offer, and I'm not too worried about thought control.

[cookie]

To my knowledge, music/art study is a New York State requirement. However, in many NYC schools, music programs are very limited or even absent. To me, as a music teacher, this is an abomination.

Programs like the J@LC thing and the Midori Foundation (I have a friend that teaches at a NYC middle school through a grant from that foundation) are well and good, but limited. They appear to be simple stop-gap measures. I agree with Jazzy Mary that children deserve a well-rounded music education that includes jazz as well as classical, folk, and pop musics from around the world and throughout history. Students need to learn not just *about* music, but how to actually make it and interact with it. I notice the article only mentioned the collaboration with the music teacher on the "stomp" performance. I do hope the music teacher was involved beyond the activity mentioned in the article. Being an arts centered school, that's likely, but not necessarily a given. It appears to me, from the article that kids were expected to react verbally (poetry, journals, class discussion) but nowhere does it mention that they learned to actually perform a standard or explore musical improvisation. These kids seem to be learning the history and the general personalities of jazz greats; they're learning about the political and cultural milieu surrounding the creation of the music. But they're not necessarily learning HOW the music works. They're just learning *about* the music.

I don't think the J@LC program is bad. It's better than nothing. But it's a real shame IMO that NYC, one of the true music capitols of the world, provides such limited music education to some of their clientele (I'm sure it varies widely by neighborhood and by school).

[jazzy mary]

Pete, I *knew* you would say that! BTW, I like your new avatar--I was hoping you would change it soon--I like looking at different art.

Of course, studying the arts helps with everything. I think it's been proven that kids who study music are better at math. Some schools in NYC are better than others re: the arts. My older daughter's middle school is well known for their "talent" programs. Students can take Theater (the guy teaching it is reknowned for staging Shakespeare for students. He gives seminars on it and everything. Last year they did a really nice "Twelth Night" and these are 11-13 years old, they also have dance, photography, a very well known show choir and I don't know what else. But no band!

My other daughter takes band but that is a new thing and this is at the "best" grade school in Park Slope. She's also in "drama" once a week which she adores. They are learning "Macbeth" and she always doing the speeches. It's really adorable. She's *good*!!. Thank goodness she was able to do it. But as far as music goes in New York you really have to do that stuff yourself. That's why I pay about $3,000.00 a year in piano and guitar lessons.

Cookie, I completely agree with you. It's great to learn *about* music but *how* music works is better and in knowing *how* you gain a much better understanding.

My kids have been studying piano for about 8 months now and I *thought* I knew a lot about music (at least jazz) but my daughters will talk about *making* the music and work things out on the piano--which key, which major, hand, finger placement, beats, pauses, rests, sustain this, sustain that etc. and I realize I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!!! Actually, it makes me even more respectful and in awe of artists--and you all know I was pretty damn respectful already!!

[cookie]

Jazzy Mary--
I think it's sooo great that you buy your kids music lessons. It is expensive but worth it.

You would expect cities with vibrant art scenes to place more value on the arts as a core of public education. I've observed, though, that it often works the opposite way: because there is so much art and art instruction available in the community, school arts programs are often subject to cuts because schools figure kids can get enough art in the wider community. I know that's what happened here several years back. I (along with many other parents and educators) had the opportunity to speak at a board meeting regarding music cuts and made the point that school music programs offered instruction to students who couldn't AFFORD to study privately.

I didn't have the greatest music education in my rural school, but I had a decent one with plenty of opportunities to sing a variety of music and study instruments. I think in our small community, school art and music was valued because of the culture it brought to the community. They couldn't afford to pay much for it, but they figured it out.

The public school brought the gospel of Jazz to me. I played flute, piano, and sang in high school. When it looked like music was going to be more than an avocation for me, my parents could only afford to pay for lessons on one instrument. I chose voice because I love to sing, it's easier and I knew I stood a better chance of getting into music school as a singer. I was glad that I was still able to learn something about flute (and percussion---I played vibes in jazz band) in public school.

I don't think the schools need to be under any pressure to turn out professional musicians or anything, but I think they are important in offering OPPORTUNITIES for musical performance and study. Many people who choose not to play music as a vocation choose to play it as a serious avocation. I heard a very good student jazz drummer sub in rehearsal last night. Kid's a math major but he also happens to be a damn good drummer, too.

Music is an essential part of human culture and should be taken as seriously as math, science or language. The Greeks viewed music as science as much as they regarded it as art. Music is fundamental.

Of course, I'm completely biased and I admit it. Without public school music I would likely be a lawyer or an English teacher. Nothing wrong with that, but I really love working as a musician.

BTW: Jazzy Mary: we watched "Drumline" on your recommendation from waay back. It is now a family favorite which we must purchase. Great movie. Thanks. PS: I think it's great that your girls are into Shakespeare. I can dig it!

[jazzy mary]

Glad you enjoyed "Drumline". thanks. Yeah, I have to say my kids are extraordinary (but doesn't everyone think that way about their kids?). They're into opera, ballet, music and baseball!

[Pete C]

Originally posted by jazzy mary
Pete, I *knew* you would say that! BTW, I like your new avatar--I was hoping you would change it soon--I like looking at different art.

You knew I'd say it because I'm the voice of reason, right?

I hope you're not insinuating that my prior avatar was "art."

[jazzy mary]

What I meant was that when I said she knew Bird's nickname, I figured someone, i.e. you, would say "what was his nickname". I guess your prior avatar was art of some sort. Could you give me the details on oyur current avatar? Thanks.

Did you go to Barbes last night? I couldn't go.

[Pete C]

Originally posted by jazzy mary
What I meant was that when I said she knew Bird's nickname, I figured someone, i.e. you, would say "what was his nickname". I guess your prior avatar was art of some sort. Could you give me the details on oyur current avatar? Thanks.

Did you go to Barbes last night? I couldn't go.

I only know that my current avatar is a piece by Arp--I think a painted wood relief. Arp is another artist I go gaga over.

I didn't go to Barbes last night, but I may go tonight to hear:

MUSETTE EXPLOSION with Will Holshouser and Matt Munisteri and special guests. An exploration and re-creation or the music of the great French Accordionists of the 30's and 40's: (Gus Viseur, Tony Murena, Joe Privat et al) who, along with Django Reinhardt, borrowed from American Jazz to create Hot Swing, Gypsy Swing and other delightful hybrids, injecting the dance music of its time with both excitement and unparalleled musical creativity.

I love musette.

[RainyDay]

I don't know about schools in NY but Oakand schools would probably love to have a program like this because it is better than nothing, which is pretty much what there is now for most schools in the district.

Maybe there could be some consenus among the JC faithful that nothing Wynton does has any value and just stop the threads that have any connection to him.

By the way Dibble, I thought your stories about your daughter were terrific.

[Dibble]

Originally posted by mke
Justin's or Julie's?

Justin...rolls eyes skyward..but still..having a go nevertheless!!

[Nate Dorward]

Originally posted by Pete C
Arp is another artist I go gaga over.

Not gaga--dada.







(You can stop laughing now.)