In my experiences, jazz as a genre is a topic often left out of band classrooms for whole class learning. Jazz is often reserved for Jazz Band (which takes place outside of classroom music) and is mostly geared towards select instrument families, which often excludes students who don’t play typically “jazz” style instruments from being able to experience and play jazz themselves. This unit gives them a chance to experience and be creative with jazz on their own terms. Jazz also gives those in a music classroom an opportunity to make a cross-curricular links and connections to the history classroom. This is done through talking about the time period and societal context that jazz developed in, as well as the diversity of people involved in the creation of jazz as a genre (specifically by highlighting the contributions of African-Americans and Canadians). Why have students find and create an arrangement of a jazz standard? Jazz standards are short but repetitive songs that have manageable chunks for students work with while they learn how to arrange music, and this also give students an opportunity to explore their personal creativity while having structure to work and play around with.
The goal of this unit is to provide students with an experience in creating and playing music in the jazz genre. In addition, students will use this unit as an opportunity to study musical history through the context of jazz. This unit will also bring attention to artists of African-American/Canadian descent. Students will begin each class listening to jazz in order to foster an appreciation as well as an understanding of a possibly new-to-them style of music.
1.2 make informed judgments to select appropriate materials, techniques, and forms to enhance the expression of meaning in music
1.4 analyze and interpret music notation, traditional and non-traditional
3.3 analyze the richness of cultural contributions to music, local and global
4.1 make connections between their own music and the music of others in cultural and historical contexts
5.1 pursue possibilities for connecting their own musical activities and other curriculum areas
6.1 apply their knowledge and understanding of music to solve problems during the music-making process
8.1 analyze and make decisions about their musical work in relation to the artistic intent
8.3 analyze and make decisions about their musical work, using available technology and feedback from others