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Keeping the Beat – NJPAC’s Jazz for Teens 25th Anniversary
Jenifer Braun | September 5, 2022By Jenifer Braun, New Jersey Performing Arts Center When the multiple-Grammy-winning alto sax player and jazz composer Mark Gross was only 21 years old and starting out as a musician, he had a chance to tour with Lionel Hampton. As the youngest musician on the tour’s roster, he sat at the very back of the tour […] Read More... -
Small Band Ideals for Leading Big Band
Matthew Steckler | November 12, 2021In my teaching practice overall, I have alluded to the following five core learning values: whole-body, social, personalized, language-based, and creative. I espouse these same values when it comes to the details of leading a big band program. An example of whole-body learning in this context might involve harnessing the aural and kinesthetic aspects of […] Read More... -
Learning to Play Ghosted Notes, the Cannonball Trill, and the Texas Wobble to Enhance Jazz Saxophone Performance
Tracy Heavner | October 9, 2021When playing in the jazz style, performing with correct notes, rhythms and using authentic jazz articulations are necessary requirements for creating a great improvised solo. However, in addition to these requirements, many jazz saxophonists also use other special techniques which add a great deal of expressiveness and excitement to their performance. Some of these techniques […] Read More... -
How to Make a Good Band Sound Better
Dr. Jared Sims | October 9, 2021Many of our students are drawn to jazz because of the complex rhythms and the excitement of the live performance experience. Beyond the aesthetic level, the performance of jazz requires a keen ear and balancing a musical intuition with knowledge of theory and an ability to play an instrument well. Jazz occupies a unique place […] Read More... -
The Art of Jazz Festival Performing
Tom Lizotte | October 9, 2021The success or failure of your students’ jazz festival performances and experience is inextricably dependent on the quality of your programming. In many cases, a group’s fate is determined before a note is taught or performed. The music performed is the curriculum the director provides. Quality curriculum makes the enterprise educationally valid and gives an […] Read More... -
Jazz Focus: Creating Intervallic Phrases on Guitar Using Pedal Tone and Slide Patterns
Dylan Edwards | September 6, 2021The vertical nature of scale positions found on the neck of the guitar has an unavoidable conditioning effect on a player’s phrasing tendencies. Selecting notes that lie on the same string or adjacent strings to each other within whichever “box” a player is occupying is common due to our comfort zones and muscle memory. This […] Read More...
