- Should music teachers be experts on jazz or American folk music?
- What American songs should all students know?
Let me start off by saying I am by no means an expert on either jazz or folk music. I do not believe that music educators need to be experts in these genres. However, I do believe that all students who get the opportunity to experience jazz and folk in the general music classroom should be able to make the following connections.
For the past two years I've worked at the Newport Festivals Foundation' International Jazz Day Concert held every April. Last year's act was Danilo Perez along with students from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. The students were from across the globe, from South American and the Caribbean, to Germany, Israel, and even Japan. Here they shared the same stage performing jazz together. Their solos and improvisations reflected not only their individuality, but their unique cultural and musical traditions while still following the form of the song. From this experience, I hope to teach my students that jazz is a style of music that is truly universal and multicultural.
Jazz is an embodiment of African and European music traditions. More specifically, it combines Western melodies and harmonies with the polyrhythmic characteristics of West African music traditions. It is performed with a "swung" rhythmic pattern and members of the ensemble take turns performing improvised solos over a particular set of chord changes. American folk songs collectively tell the story of American History. Our own national anthem is a folk song. Through folks songs we learn about life on the frontier, life in the city, and life on the battlefront. Folk songs even provide first hand accounts of political movements. Both jazz and folk offer opportunities to integrate American history into the music curriculum. Most importantly, students should recognize that without jazz and folk music, there is no rock n' roll, blues, pop, Motown, disco, grunge, punk, metal, or hip hop.
What American songs should all students know? Most my fellow classmates have talked specifically talked about certain folk songs and patriotic songs. I agree that students should know all of those songs. Taking the topic a bit further, what songs truly capture an American childhood and an American upbringing? The first thing that popped into my head wasn't My Country tis of Thee or Home on the Range, but songs from broadway musicals, Disney movies, and other American films; from Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, When you Wish Upon a Star, and Doe, a Deer... all the way to Let it Go! Although the themes and settings of many of these musicals are not American, the movies themselves are example of American theater and cinema, thus they are imbedded into one's American upbringing just as much as the patriotic songs.
For the past two years I've worked at the Newport Festivals Foundation' International Jazz Day Concert held every April. Last year's act was Danilo Perez along with students from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. The students were from across the globe, from South American and the Caribbean, to Germany, Israel, and even Japan. Here they shared the same stage performing jazz together. Their solos and improvisations reflected not only their individuality, but their unique cultural and musical traditions while still following the form of the song. From this experience, I hope to teach my students that jazz is a style of music that is truly universal and multicultural.
Jazz is an embodiment of African and European music traditions. More specifically, it combines Western melodies and harmonies with the polyrhythmic characteristics of West African music traditions. It is performed with a "swung" rhythmic pattern and members of the ensemble take turns performing improvised solos over a particular set of chord changes. American folk songs collectively tell the story of American History. Our own national anthem is a folk song. Through folks songs we learn about life on the frontier, life in the city, and life on the battlefront. Folk songs even provide first hand accounts of political movements. Both jazz and folk offer opportunities to integrate American history into the music curriculum. Most importantly, students should recognize that without jazz and folk music, there is no rock n' roll, blues, pop, Motown, disco, grunge, punk, metal, or hip hop.
What American songs should all students know? Most my fellow classmates have talked specifically talked about certain folk songs and patriotic songs. I agree that students should know all of those songs. Taking the topic a bit further, what songs truly capture an American childhood and an American upbringing? The first thing that popped into my head wasn't My Country tis of Thee or Home on the Range, but songs from broadway musicals, Disney movies, and other American films; from Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, When you Wish Upon a Star, and Doe, a Deer... all the way to Let it Go! Although the themes and settings of many of these musicals are not American, the movies themselves are example of American theater and cinema, thus they are imbedded into one's American upbringing just as much as the patriotic songs.
This is a very interesting post. I agree that Broadway musicals and popular films are an intrinsic part of American culture, and their songs should be a part of the musical landscape in a well-rounded
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