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Winter, 2000 Education: Thoughts And Ideas From One
Who Cares! Jack Cooper is that rare individual who is a complete musician--a great player, wonderful writer and first-class educator. He has all the attributes of an "old-time" teacher in that he cares greatly and invests himself totally in his music and his students. That said, he also demands much from his students. His expectations are high, both for himself and for his students. He asks nothing from them that he doesn't ask more of himself. He is truly the example of what a real teacher of today should be about. I asked Jack to write this article because he was so enthused after we performed at IAJE this last January following the great performance his band gave. He felt he wanted to reach out to other educators, so I asked him to write this article. But, so you know a bit more about Jack, let's get a snapshot of what he has done so that we may understand where he is coming from. Jack Cooper is a saxophone/woodwind performer and director of Jazz Studies at the University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee. He has a BA and MA in music from California State University, Los Angeles and holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin. Jack joined the University of Memphis as a faculty member in 1998. Jack Cooper served from 1989-1995 with the U.S. Army performing, recording and touring with the "Jazz Knights" from West Point. As a free-lance woodwind doubler, he has performed with Manhattan Transfer, the Temptations, the Lettermen, Shari Lewis, Kenny Rogers, and Bob Newhart among others. His compositions and arrangements have been performed and/or recorded by Doc Severinson, the U.S. Army "Jazz Ambassadors," the U.S. Navy "Commodores," the Rob Parton Jazz Orchestra, the Cavani String Quartet, and the Brass 5 as well as many other performing groups around the world. Dr. Cooper's television music credits included "the Jenny Jones Show," "Hollywood X-tra," SOCAN, and news broadcasts in the Washington D.C. area. He has served as a staff arranger for Warner Brothers Publications since 1992. His music also is published by the UNC Jazz Press, ReallyGoodMusic.com and Three-Two Music. One Who Cares Last week, my #1 jazz ensemble from the University of Memphis was fortunate enough to perform at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference with Marvin Stamm as our guest soloist. This concert was the culmination of a year and a half of very hard work. In terms of the music/jazz educational learning process, I have had to re-build a jazz ensemble program that had inherent problems before I arrived at the school in August of 1998. The first month of rehearsals was quite rough, but hard work on fundamentals and focusing on good music-making is beginning to pay off. Before I came to the University of Memphis I was fortunate enough to observe the ups and downs of numerous jazz programs across the country as performer, composer, clinician. I know my success with the program at the U of M is not a fluke, but rather due to the unique combination of experiences and great passion that both my students and I bring to the music. I have seen too many instructors at both the high school and college level get their priorities mixed up along the way and lose track of how music (specifically jazz) is supposed to be taught in our schools. The following might be helpful to jazz instructors in terms of what are the important goals to keep in mind when trying to make your program grow. 1. Stay passionate about your art form! Students can sense if you are not into the music-making process with them. If producing good music is not the top priority at your teaching job then it is time to start evaluating what you are doing. We all have to deal with our daily problems with administrators, students and colleagues, but when I step into our rehearsal those things all fall away. I just want to make good music with my students. After rehearsals, I am tired because the intensity is always kept high. Making good music is work, but it also should be fun. 2. Find out what the music is all about! Go back to the fundamental recordings of this art form and have the students LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN! A great example of material to which your students should be exposed is The Smithsonian Set of Classic Jazz. This set is standard fare at every school with which I have been associated and takes a person from Scott Joplin through Ornette Coleman. Mosaic Records (associated with Blue Note) also is putting out some wonderful sets these days spanning the period from Chicago jazz of the 20's through fusion/free jazz of the 70's. In my book, there should be no excuses about school budgets regarding buying recordings. As an instructor, YOU need to be buying these for both the students and YOURSELF! The CD collection in my office numbers close to 500 items ranging from James Reese Europe to Michael Brecker. While doing a clinic a few weeks ago with the Westside High School jazz band (good group!) out near Jonesboro, Arkansas, the director admitted to me that they are a bit isolated from a lot of music. But he certainly had his students well prepared to rehearse their arrangements with me when I arrived. It was VERY clear that the director had them listen to the original versions of the Ellington pieces a few times before I got there. Once again, this strongly confirms my conviction that listening to jazz is vital; you must convey your passion about listening to this music to your students. 3. Play the repertoire! You need to learn what the real repertoire of the big band is, and too many directors fall short in this area. Just as the school orchestra needs to be exposing its students to Beethoven or the wind ensemble to Percy Grainger, the school jazz ensemble needs to be exposed to the following: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, and Thad Jones as well as good arrangements of pieces by Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Rogers & Hart, Gershwin and many of our other great song writers whose music is now standard jazz fare. I do understand that, at the high school level, directors feel obligated toplease the parents with pop tunes written for the jazz ensemble (I am one of those who arranges them for publishers). A few of these pieces performed at your own school concerts is fine; but when I adjudicate bands that perform a whole program of non-jazz tunes at a jazz festival, I immediately suggest that the director find REAL repertoire. There are many very fine, yet easier, arrangements of big band/jazz repertoire now being published. COLLEGE DIRECTORS SHOULD BE ASSAMED IF THEY ARE NOT PLAYING SOME OF THIS REPETIORE ON EVERY CONCERT! And why not create repertoire yourself by commissioning new works. Having a piece written for your students makes them feel they are an integral part of the music-making process. There are many writers, such as myself, who love to do school commissions. 4. Stick to the fundamentals! There is absolutely no replacement for a group that plays with a good ensemble sound, excellent tuning, good technique, time concept, style and dynamics. I, many times, am dismayed by the number of high school and college directors who bring the "marching band concept" from the field into the classroom. While the Concord Blue Devils may win many drum corps championships, they DO NOT play at the level of musical sophistication of the Village Vanguard or Count Basie Orchestras. Do not listen to the Madison Scouts (another fine drum corps) version of "Channel One Suite" to discover how it should be played; you must go back to the original Buddy Rich recording. Jazz ensembles are not supposed to sound like marching bands. 5. Seek HELP from among your own musical community. Find out who are the best jazz musicians in your area and take your students to hear them play. Invite those musicians to come to your school to help you with rehearsals; most will be flattered and very happy to do this. I go out to schools in my immediate area for basically a nominal sum and minimal expenses depending on the driving time if the schools are farther out. I know a number of people around country who do this...for the music and for the students! Do not feel like you are in this all by yourself. Have your students study privately in order to be exposed to a variety of good educators. 6. DO NOT BE A TROPHY HUNTER! First and foremost,
we are in this field to educate students about the art form.
If you, at any level, are constantly thinking about what
your administration, parents, and students want (trophies),
it is time to find a new profession. While the trips and
jazz Teach music; don't teach to a manufactured standard. I
have heard fundamentally poor school bands that earn #1
ratings at contests. A contest only tells people you
are "good enough," not "good." At the college level, I
feel that there should be no competitive contests. This is
the time to In closing, you would not be teaching music if there were not a burning desire to do so. Please keep in mind that you are looked upon as the resident musical expert by your students. Continue to grow and learn, and to be open to new musical ideas with your students. |
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