The Real Jazz Pedagogy Book

Written by a jazz teacher for jazz teachers, "The Real Jazz Pedagogy Book" is based on the premise that successful jazz teachers must be constantly working four main areas: 1) the wind instruments-including tone production, intonation, and section playing skills; 2) playing styles correctly-such as rhythmic and time feel approach, articulation approach, and phrasing; 3) the rhythm section-playing the instruments, time feel and concept, coordination of comping, harmonic voicings, drum fills and setups, stylistic differences; and 4) the soloists-developing improvisational skills (both right brain and left brain), jazz theory, the ballad soloist, and the vocal soloist. Ray Smith, who has taught and directed jazz ensembles, including the acclaimed Brigham Young University group, Synthesis, and given private lessons for over forty years, also discusses the details of running school programs. Smith's YouTube channel complements "The Real Jazz Pedagogy Book."

DVD provides over three hours of audio and video demonstrations of rehearsal techniques and teaching methods for jazz improvisation, improving the rhythm section, and Latin jazz styles.

The Science and Art of Saxophone Teaching will become a standard resource for saxophone teachers the world over. Perhaps no other book has brought so many practical ideas and approaches for the saxophonist and the pedagogue under one cover. This book can be equally valuable for the serious intermediate to advanced saxophone student. The video demonstrations that are paired with the book will be invaluable to all saxophonists.

This volume was the first published jazz teaching method. One of America's greatest musician-teachers, David Baker, shows how to develop jazz courses and jazz ensembles, with lesson plans, rehearsal techniques, practice suggestions, improvisational ideas, and ideas for school and private teachers and students.

The same notes can sound square or swinging, depending on how the music is phrased. This revolutionary book shows how many people misunderstand jazz phrasing and shows how to replace stiff phrasing with fluid lines that have the right jazz feeling. In this book, master pianist Hal Galper also shows how get that feeling of forward motion and also how to use melody guide tones correctly, how to line up the strong beat in a bar with the strongest chord notes, and much more!

The Jazz Rhythm Section introduces the basics of this very important part of the jazz ensemble. They are the foundation of any jazz group, so improving the rhythm section will result in a stronger sounding band. This book is intended to be a practical guide with chapters on each of the primary instruments in the rhythm section: bass, drums, piano and guitar. Key topics include: Equipment and setup issues: from drum heads to bass amps to guitar pickups to mic’ing a piano on stage, each instrument presents unique equipment issues that the director must face. Performance practice: including tips on constructing walking bass lines, learning voicings and comping rhythms and creating drummer’s setup fills. Additionally, there is a chapter on the rhythm section itself that details all of the inter-relationships, suggestions for count-offs and metronome exercises that will help improve your band. The Jazz Rhythm Section is intended for novice directors, but directors of all levels will benefit as well.

(Piano Method). Here is a fun, easy course that teaches children how to improvise and play jazz piano faster than ever before. Kids will stay motivated as they improvise on popular children's songs arranged in a jazz style, while the opportunity to play alongside video accompaniments will inspire a love for performance. Every song seamlessly integrates a new improvisatory skill, systematically building upon previous learning and enabling the student to progress with confidence. Including exclusive access to video tutorials, this book is the definitive introduction to improvisation and jazz piano. The method can be used in combination with a teacher or parent. Topics covered include: swing and syncopation * echo playing * call and response * rock and swing grooves * improvising on 1-5 notes * hearing chord changes * 12-bar blues * and more.

Ken Prouty argues that knowledge of jazz, or more to the point, claims to knowledge of jazz, are the prime movers in forming jazz's identity, its canon, and its community. Every jazz artist, critic, or fan understands jazz differently, based on each individual's unique experiences and insights. Through playing, listening, reading, and talking about jazz, both as a form of musical expression and as a marker of identity, each aficionado develops a personalized relationship to the larger jazz world. Through the increasingly important role of media, listeners also engage in the formation of different communities that not only transcend traditional boundaries of geography, but increasingly exist only in the virtual world. The relationships of "jazz people" within and between these communities is at the center of Knowing Jazz. Some groups, such as those in academia, reflect a clash of sensibilities between historical traditions. Others, particularly online communities, represent new and exciting avenues for everyday fans, whose involvement in jazz has often been ignored. Other communities seek to define themselves as expressions of national or global sensibility, pointing to the ever-changing nature of jazz's identity as an American art form in an international setting. What all these communities share, however, is an intimate, visceral link to the music and the artists who make it, brought to life through the medium of recording. Informed by an interdisciplinary approach and approaching the topic from a number of perspectives, Knowing Jazz charts a philosophical course in which many disparate perspectives and varied opinions on jazz can find common ground.