Jazz Update

Remember that post I made a few weeks ago about the improvisation curriculum we were going to put in place in my jazz band class? Remember how uplifting it was and how I was going to lift my students out of their musical shells and take musical risks and create? We were going to gel as a musical unit and overcome our instrumentation problems and our shyness. Remember how musically and personally rewarding it was going to be?

My kids hated it.

The entire concept was met with incredible resistance, as my kids wanted nothing to do with musical risks, creativity, and self expression. It really is hard for me to describe how much they resisted participation in our improvisation games, in the idea of playing for playing's sake, and in the value of playing this type of music.

Needless to say, this was super frustrating. I was so excited about the prospect of making improvisation the centerpiece of the class (since the instrumentation stinks and they read really poorly anyhow), and I couldn't believe it when I saw it completely fall apart.

So I want to briefly analyze the failure, because I want to put it in my back pocket to try it again later, I think it is incredibly valuable, and I want to see how I can improve as a teacher. I see two main reasons why it didn't work.

1) One of the key components of the failure of the improv curriculum lies in the fact that it was completely different than anything they had done before. People hate change. Kids hate change. It is clear to me that they are very used to a very different system than what I was trying to implement. That system, which is probably practiced by the majority of band directors (which I have resorted to often this year, sad to say) goes like so: 1) Pass out some music, 2) sightread it terribly, 3) kids wait for band director to tell them how to play it, 4) perform at a concert with varying quality.

In this system, the kids learn nothing, don't do any of the work, and the director does all the work. (I've already had to do this with my 6-8 grade band that marches parades, because we had a parade right at the beginning of the year. I see how easy it is to slip into this system).

Well, the kids are very used to this system, and when I presented a different approach to our class, they did not handle it very well. They responded to the improv curriculum with comments like "when are we going to play real music?" "this sounds dumb," etc. (The irony of the first comment is that they can't read a lick, which is one of the reasons I went the improv route in the first place. If I put music in front of them, at this point it's pretty much always a disaster).

So this is one of those things that, as the students get used to me and as I develop a reputation over months and years and I get to start doing things they way I think they ought to be done, this'll change. They won't be so used to it anymore. Our fellow blogger Nick sagely reminded me that "Rome wasn't built in a day."

2) The second point of failure in the improv curriculum is a classroom management one. This lies on me and the teacher before me. It was clear from day one that my kids are used to talking whenever they want, getting up whenever they want, and pretty much controlling the class. Obviously, that's something I wanted to change, and I'm working hard at it. My mentor teacher said that it's going to be December before I make a lasting dent, but I'm working hard at it, and we're getting better, but man, it is exhausting.

The 8th graders in particular are tough to deal with. They think they know it all, are super cool, and they are used to having zero structure and zero consequences. So they didn't immediately see the value of the improv lessons, and they just went buck wild. They didn't do what I requested of them, sometimes flat out refusing to do so, and they just wouldn't focus or work toward any goal. They're content with sub-mediocrity and goofing off.

And I guess this comes back to a problem that's even larger than the failure of the improvisation lessons. I hate being the bad guy. I have this concept of a good classroom manager in my head as someone who just doesn't have to punish students because of their mystical, esoteric ability to inspire respect, motivation, and a healthy amount of fear in their students. And man, I am so not there. If I were totally consistent with my rules, I would hand out 20 demerits a day, and that just seems ridiculous to me. I am striving for consistency and firmness, and it's easier in jazz band with just 12 kids, but in band with 45, it is just out of my reach right now. It's overwhelming.

So I guess the nexus of the problem really lies in motivation. If I can sell to my kids the value of my educational vision for them, then they'll focus, do what I ask of them, and put in the work. If I don't, then I'll be fighting my kids, dragging them along forever.

Wow, this reflection was helpful. And now I'm pumped! I have a renewed zeal to just impart my passion for music and music making in my students. I know it's not gonna stick for all my kids, especially some of these hardened 8th graders, but 5th grade beginning band is just around the corner.

The Dreaded Standard 3

So one of the neat perks of my job at my middle school is that Jazz Band is a class that I get to work with 5 days a week, as opposed to an extracurricular. Now, this jazz band has a really diverse group of learners as well as a diverse instrumentation. As per last year's auditions (don't forget, I'm the brand new teacher), they have a couple of trumpets, some saxes, a few flutes, etc. It's a real grab bag, which means that we are incredibly limited in what literature we play. Without tenor and bari saxes, trombones 2-4, a piano player, etc., we're not playing Basie charts. We're not even playing Victor Lopez charts. There are too many holes. It'd be like playing football with no offensive line.

So I've been preparing a lot to make this class more rooted in improvisation than anything else. The traditional jazz band format (which I don't dislike at all) is to build up a book thick with swing tunes, jazz waltzes, ballads, sambas, and other appropriate charts. But since that is not really possible for us, my vision for the close is some kind of exploded combo where we do learn jazz idioms and rhythms, and we learn how to read, but we also spend a lot of time trying to help kids find a creative, improvisatory voice, and just playing.

This is a daunting, scary task. I'm dealing with middle schoolers. Girl middle schoolers. The thought of sticking out in anyway can send them into a full on freak out. All kidding aside, middle school students are still in an awkward emotional and social stage, where taking risks and expressing themselves and being vulnerable is just not done. There's so much self-consciousness. Especially with me, their new, goofy teacher who they don't know.

And even more than that, it's....improv. We're all more at home teaching most any other standard. We're given a big bag of tricks and rehearsal techniques, rehearsal frameworks, strategies, etc. But teaching improvisation seems so nebulous and impossible. It seems like improvisation is just for the Bela Flecks and the Tito Carrillos (my jazz improv teacher in college) of this world. But I don't think that needs to be the case. I think we can and should teach students the deep musical, emotional, and interpersonal joy of spontaneous creation.

So in order to do this, I want to establish the right classroom tone and sequence it correctly. From day one, we are constantly reinforcing that this jazz band classroom is a safe classroom. Nobody gets made fun of. Everybody takes risks and stretches themselves. We all support each other. We're going to talk about Miles Davis' quote: "Don't fear mistakes. There are none." We're going to put an emphasis on taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from them. I realize that it's certainly going to be a long process, but the goal is to foster an environment where students overcome their self-consciousness and their fears of sticking out and just go for it, and where we all support each other in doing so.

But I also have an instructional sequence to work out. We can't start by turning on Aebersold tracks and saying "have at it." (Admit it, you just heard "One, Two, One Two Three Four" in your head.) They don't know any applicable theory. They don't know how to swing. They're still afraid to play and abandon themselves to music making. So we're going to start with some general improvisation games to try to loosen us all up and start to get a hang of the whole improvisation concept. We'll be doing a lot of "Yes, And" theatre type games during the first week. These type of games will lead into carefully limited improvisation games on our instruments (for example, we have a drummer who can play some pretty sick beats. He'll play a general groove for us, we'll get the bass player to play a simple Bb major ostinato, and we'll just trade fours throughout the class on anything in the Bb scale. From there, I hope to go pentatonic, because it's just so easy and fun sounding. And from there, blues scale).

This is dangerous, for me and my students. I hope they buy into it. If they do, we can have some amazing musical experiences where students are truly in the moment, truly creating, truly taking risks, and reaping the rewards. I'll keep you updated on how that goes throughout the year. Any comments, suggestions, or critiques are welcome!

Glenn