How to Teach Jazz to Music Students
People often refer to jazz as purely American music. Like America, jazz developed from a seed of independence. At first, it both shocked and astounded listeners. But people kept coming back for more until jazz became a respected musical movement. Follow these steps to teach jazz to music students.
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Instructions
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Teach the evolution of jazz. Swing and bebop were earlier jazz styles. You now find jazz in pop, blues, rock and hip-hop music. One popular style of music is call jazz-rock fusion.
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Make sure students know the scales and other basics before moving into jazz. Teach frequently used chords and beats found in jazz. The musical notations of jazz can be complicated to read.
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Listen to different types and styles of jazz. Differences in jazz can be geographical like New Orleans or Latin jazz or by artist-Miles Davis versus Chick Corea. Listening to jazz often helps students develop an ear for it.
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Concentrate on different artists who made an impact on jazz. For example, Duke Ellington was an exceptional jazz composer who influenced the big band era.
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Show students the different rhythms found in jazz. Show how a jazz rhythm changes the spoken word by reading a book or poetry with different rhythms you find in jazz. Ask students to close their eyes and feel the music they're listening to. The rhythm and tempo or beat are very important to understanding jazz.
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Choose different jazz instruments to play or encourage students to branch out with different instruments. Jazz involves instruments from all categories: brass, woodwind, strings and percussion. In jazz, even the voice is an instrument.
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Show your students the importance of improvising with instruments. Jazz has a long history of playing live and improvising. Jamming makes a nice balance to structured lessons from books.
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