What Is Jazz Education
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What Is at Stake in Jazz Education? Creative Black Music and the Twenty-First-Century Learning Environment DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Norman Michael Goecke, M.M., M.A. Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2016 Dissertation Committee: Graeme M. Boone, Advisor Ryan T. Skinner William T. McDaniel Copyright by Norman Michael Goecke 2016 Abstract This dissertation aims to explore and describe, in ethnographic terms, some of the principal formal and non-formal environments in which jazz music is learned today. By elucidating the broad aesthetic, stylistic, and social landscapes of present-day jazz pedagogy, it seeks to encourage the revitalization and reorientation of jazz education, and of the cultural spaces in which it takes place. Although formal learning environments have increasingly supported the activities of the jazz community, I argue that this development has also entailed a number of problems, notably a renewal of racial tensions spurred on by 1) the under-representation of non-white students and faculty, especially black Americans; 2) the widespread adoption of 'color-blind' methodologies in formal music-learning environments, which serve to perpetuate ambivalence or apathy in the addressing of racial problems; 3) a failure adequately to address cultural studies related to the black heritage of jazz music; and 4) the perpetuation of a narrow vision of jazz music that privileges certain jazz styles, neglects others, and fails to acknowledge the representative intersections between jazz and related forms of black music. The study seeks to answer two main questions: What is the nature of the twenty- first-century learning environment? Moreover, how do cultural and racial dynamics affect the ways in which jazz is taught and understood in formal and non-formal settings? My proposition is that teaching jazz as a part of a broad spectrum of black musical styles and ii cultural traditions, which I shall call the black musical continuum, provides solutions for the dearth of cultural competency and narrow vision of jazz found in many learning environments. Through a continuum theory, I seek to provide a framework for viewing, teaching, learning, and performing jazz that situates it within the larger socio-cultural context of black American music. I argue that such a reorientation toward African- American cultural studies will help jazz musicians, jazz educators, and school administrators better understand how to solve problems of racial disparity and cultural awkwardness or ineptitude in both formal and non-formal environments. Chapter 1 elucidates significant problems that arise from the lack of attention to appropriately targeted cultural competency within jazz education, with particular attention to the racial tensions within jazz programs and the praxis of color-blindness. Chapter 2 draws upon ethnographic methods, notably as promoted by Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr. and Bruno Nettl, to construct a critical autoethnography of jazz learning environments at the turn of the twenty-first century. Chapter 3 provides the ethnographic study of a Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop, to explain the workings of a unique milieu that influences not only how jazz is taught in schools around the world, but also how the music is culturally perceived and understood within and outside of academia. Chapter 4 delves deeper into the Aebersold Workshop community to examine dynamics of race and gender in that environment. Chapter 5 provides a second ethnographic study, conducted in New Orleans, Louisiana, in which I explore the intersection between non-formal and formal jazz learning environments by shadowing jazz trumpeter Mario Abney. The final iii chapter synthesizes data from these three ethnographies and explores the administrative and curricular implications of the study. iv Dedication To Aunt Alice and Mee Mee who fostered my creativity and love of music. v Acknowledgments Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Dr. Boone for his continuous support of my doctoral work. He has been a tremendous mentor and inspiration for me as I endeavor to address the challenging problems of race within jazz education. I would also like to thank my committee members, Drs. Skinner and McDaniel. I truly appreciate their willingness to sit on my committee and provide me with helpful comments and suggestions. They both have been strong supporters of my work, for which I am very grateful. I give special thanks to my mentors from the Musicology department, whose efforts influenced this dissertation—especially Margarita Mazo, Udo Will, Danielle Fosler-Lussier, and Charles M. Atkinson. I would also like to thank Dr. Lois Rosow for her administrative guidance and support as I endeavored to sort out the particulars of simultaneously working on dual degrees from two different departments. My field research was funded by two generous grants from the Ohio State University's School of Music, for which I am exceedingly grateful. A number of individuals who deserve special mention here (in no particular order) facilitated my primary research: David Baker, Steve Davis, Pat Harbison, Rick Simerly, Tim Coffman, Jamey Aebersold, Sharrieff, Tom, Jerron, Alex, Amanda, Mario Abney, Harold Battiste, vi Ellis Marsalis, Brian Seeger, Julian Addison, Josh Starkman, Michael Watson, and Ivory Holmes. A special thanks to my secondary school jazz ensemble directors, including Johnny Williams, Clark Lucky, and John Beasley. Thanks are also in order for my friend and mentor from Northern Kentucky University, Dr. Michael Washington, and my professors from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, including Rick VanMatre, Brad Goode, Marc Fields, Chris Berg, Kim Pensyl, and Phil Degreg. I would like to offer a special remembrance to Clarence Slaughter, who we lost much too soon. I would also like to give special thanks to my friend, mentor, and jazz drummer Willie Smart, who provided me with direct access to the jazz tradition that existed within the black community in Cincinnati, Ohio. I would also like to thank Chuck Young and John "Whitie" White for teaching me not what to think, but how to think about jazz theory. In addition, a special thanks to my band mates Ryan Wells, Haneef Smart, and Eddie Brookshire for their patience and support while I completed my doctoral studies. Lastly, I wish to thank my family. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my Aunt Alice for raising me and supporting all that I do. I would not be where I am if it were not for her love and selflessness. Moreover, I appreciate the love and support of Dad, Aunt Mary, Aunt Judy, brother Philip, sister Meryl, stepmother Merle, nephews, and nieces. I would also like to thank all of my friends who supported and encouraged me to strive for my goals. To the memories of my beloved Mother and Grandmother, thank you! vii Vita 2001................................................................Princeton High School, Sharonville, Ohio 2005................................................................B.M. Jazz Trombone Performance, University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music 2006................................................................M.M. Jazz Studies, University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music 2006 to 2008 ..................................................Adjunct Instructor, Department of Music, Northern Kentucky University 2008 to 2009 ..................................................Graduate Research Associate, Musicology, The Ohio State University 2010 to 2011 ..................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Musicology, The Ohio State University 2014................................................................M.A. African-American and African Studies, The Ohio State University Publications Goecke, N. Michael. "Archie Shepp." In Great Lives from History: African Americans, vol. 4, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, 1344-45. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2011. Goecke, N. Michael. "Henry Threadgill." In Great Lives from History: African Americans, vol. 4, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, 1430-31. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2011. Goecke, N. Michael. "Louis Armstrong." In Thirties in America, edited by Thomas Tandy Lewis, 51. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2011. viii Goecke, N. Michael. "Miles Davis." In Great Lives from History: African Americans, vol. 2, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, 461-63. Pasadena. CA: Salem Press, 2011. Goecke, N. Michael, Thomas Albright, and Judson Jeffries. "A Ruckus on High Street: The Birth of Black Studies at the Ohio State University." Journal of Race & Policy 9, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2013): 23-53. Goecke, N. Michael. "What Is 'Jazz Theory' Today? Its Cultural Dynamics and Conceptualization." Masters Thesis, The Ohio State University, 2014. Fields of Study Major Field: Music ix Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ......................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi Vita ...................................................................................................................... viii Table of Contents ...............................................................................................................