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Implementing New Orleans Brass Band Playing Into a Tuba and Euphonium Applied Lessons Course

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Authors Rifkind, Justin

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IMPLEMENTING NEW ORLEANS BRASS BAND PLAYING INTO A TUBA AND

EUPHONIUM APPLIED LESSONS COURSE

Justin Rifkind

A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the

FRED FOX SCHOOL OF MUSIC

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

2016

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE

As members of the Document Committee, we certify that we have read the document prepared by Justin Rifkind, titled “Implementing New Orleans Brass Playing Into a Tuba and Euphonium Applied Lessons Course” and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the document requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts.

______Date: 7/20/2016 Matt Tropman

______Date: 7/20/2016 Moisés Paiewonsky

______Date: 7/20/2016 Edward Reid

Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the document to the Graduate College.

I hereby certify that I have read this document prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the document requirement.

______Date: 7/20/2016 Document Director: Matt Tropman

STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

This document has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.

Brief quotations from this document are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder.

SIGNED: Justin Sidney Rifkind

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

There are numerous people that I would like to thank:

To Rex Martin at Northwestern University, thank you for a great foundation and teaching me the art of storytelling through music.

To John Stevens at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, thank you for daring me to take risks and just be myself.

To Dr. Kelly Thomas, thank you for bringing me to the University of Arizona and for your mentorship. I miss you every day.

To Dr. Matt Tropman, thank you for stepping up in a tough situation and helping to guide me for the finale of my degree.

To Professor Moisés Paiewonsky, thank you for your guidance and your extensive musical knowledge.

To Professor Edward Reid, thank you for being supportive and kind.

To my parents, I could never have done this without you. Your unwavering support and guidance throughout my life has led me to where I am today. All of those trips when I was younger paid off. I love you!

To Casey, You are my rock. It hasn’t always been easy, but we did it. Thank you. I love you!

DEDICATION

To Dr. Kelly Thomas for being a mentor, a teacher, and a friend. We all miss you down here.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ...... 7 ABSTRACT ...... 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...... 9 Intent and Scope of Study ...... 9 Review of the Scholarly Literature ...... 14 History of New Orleans Brass Bands ...... 17 Thesis ...... 23 CHAPTER 2: IMPLEMENTATION ...... 24 Creation of the Supplement ...... 27 Learning Goals ...... 29 Teaching and Learning Activities ...... 30 Feedback and Assessment ...... 34 How Components Are Connected and Integrated ...... 37 CHAPTER 3: EXERCISES AND ASSIGNMENTS ...... 39 Exercises ...... 39 Method Books ...... 47 Listening Assignments ...... 48 CONCLUSION ...... 53 APPENDIX: NEW ORLEANS BRASS BAND SUPPLEMENT ...... 57 REFERENCES ...... 64

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

Musical Example 1. I-ii-V-I Arpeggios ...... 41 Musical Example 2. i-iio-V-i Chord Progression ...... 42 Musical Example 3. Syncopated Bass Line from “Do Watcha Wanna” ...... 43 Musical Example 4. Sousaphone Groove from “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up” ...... 44 Musical Example 5. “When the Saints Go Marching In” Bass Line ...... 45 Musical Example 6. Twelve Bar Blues ...... 46

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

ABSTRACT

The focus of this project is to examine current tuba and euphonium applied lessons syllabi and to create a New Orleans brass band curriculum supplement to enhance those existing courses. Through the addition of new method books, exercises, historical texts and articles, listening assignments, and performing experiences, collegiate tuba and euphonium students will be able to apply the knowledge gained in core academic music courses, such as music theory and music history, to mastering a new style of music. Emphasis has been placed on learning chord progressions, stylizations, and how to improvise and walk a bass line.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Intent and Scope of Study

“For such a large instrument the tuba is perhaps more agile than might be expected. Though there are definite limits to the speed and complexity of the parts it can play, double- and triple-tonguing are entirely feasible.”1 This sentiment, which primarily has to do with orchestration, puts limitations on the agility and technical facility of the tuba. It is not only the foundation of many instrumental ensembles, but also has the capability of virtuosic playing while still maintaining much of its foundational role. There are composers and performers bringing musical innovation to the tuba, including Nat McIntosh, who is the sousaphonist with the Youngblood

Brass Band and formerly with the Dallas Brass. New Orleans sousaphonists, such as

Kirk Joseph of Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Philip Frazier III of Rebirth Brass Band, are dazzling listeners with bass line grooves and melodies. There is a great deal that college tuba and euphonium students can learn from these great New Orleans brass band musicians.

The words “sousaphone” and “tuba” will be used interchangeably throughout this document. Though the sousaphone is constructed differently than the contrabass tuba, it is still a member of the tuba family and has an identical range to

1 Donald Grantham and Kent Kennan, The Technique of Orchestration, 6th ed. (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002), 157. 10

the BBb concert contrabass tuba. The sousaphone wraps around the musician’s body and has a front-facing bell that is detachable. This design allows for greater mobility for the player, especially during marching band or second line situations. It should also be noted that there are three types of tubas: contrabass tubas, bass tubas, and tenor tubas. This document will only be dealing with the contrabass and bass tubas.

The contrabass tuba has longer tubing and has a lower fundamental pitch than the bass tuba. Contrabass tubas are in the keys of CC or BBb and have acoustic lengths of 16 and 18 feet, respectively. Bass tubas are generally pitched in F or EEb with acoustic lengths of 12 and 14 feet respectively Contrabass tubas are usually considered large ensemble instruments, while bass tubas are generally used as solo instruments or if the range of a piece is not well suited to the contrabass tuba.2

When “New Orleans brass bands” is mentioned in this document, “second line” brass bands are most often the intended subjects. The “second line” tradition

“refers to people from the neighborhood who would join in the celebration as the band marched away.”3 Nat McIntosh describes the traditional instrumentation of

New Orleans brass bands as “’…trumpets, trombones, saxophones, drums, and tubas…’”4 These brass bands have been associated with parades and funeral

2 Barton Cummings, “Thoughts On Tuba,” http://www.dwerden.com/tu-articles-thoughts.cfm (accessed July 9, 2015).

3 Matthew Thomas Driscoll, “New Orleans Brass Band Traditions and Popular Music: Elements of Style in the Music of Mama Digdown’s Brass Band and Youngblood Brass Band” (DMA diss., University of Iowa, 2012), 20.

4 Ibid. 11

marches, but the genre has expanded and now includes many groups that fuse different styles of music together, such as jazz, hip hop, and R&B.

The New Orleans brass band tradition emerged from the early brass band tradition in nineteenth-century America. William J. Schafer says, “Against the background of the development of the brass band or silver cornet band of nineteenth-century America is the parallel history of brass bands in New Orleans, with their Afro-American adaptation of the tradition.”5 There is a link between this early history of the brass band and the early development of jazz, but the two are not necessarily the same. Many of the brass band musicians at the turn of the century in New Orleans moved to dance bands or jazz bands, but “the brass band served as the training ground for many black musicians, and many of these men preferred parade work to any other.”6 Though the New Orleans brass bands use some of the same techniques as jazz bands, such as improvisation, the two traditions are not one and the same.

The New Orleans brass band idiom features the tuba as its low end instead of the electric or double bass found in other popular styles. In a National Public Radio article of 2011, Geoffrey Himes states that, “because it’s a wind instrument rather than a string instrument, the tuba gives New Orleans music a bottom that bubbles

5 Driscoll, 7.

6 Schafer, 32. 12

rather than twangs.”7 The sousaphone adds depth and power that one does not always experience with the string bass. The role of the sousaphone in the brass band is to generate a bass line to serve as a harmonic and rhythmic foundation for the group. Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen, a New Orleans sousaphone legend, said in an interview in October 2002, “I know how to play rhythm and blues changes, as well as traditional changes…I used to listen to string bass players–that was my thing.”8

Though they take on the role of the string bass, tubists in New Orleans brass bands maintain a different sound concept from the bass, which stems from the sheer volume that is produced by a sousaphone. The sound that is created is generally bright in timbre, which is different than the wide, dark sound that is customary in the wind band or symphony orchestra. The directness comes from the bell facing forward, as opposed to the traditional concert band tuba that faces skyward. Many

New Orleans brass bands march in second line parades and jazz funerals, so using a sousaphone is the best option.

Over the past 10 to 15 years, there has been an emergence of brass bands that blend the New Orleans style with other musical styles, such as hip-hop, rock, and soul. According to Mick Burns, there were more brass bands in New Orleans in

7 Geoffrey Himes, “Where The Tuba Lives: 5 New Orleans Songs Featuring the Fat Horn,” A Blog Supreme from NPR Jazz, entry posted April, 26, 2011, http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/04/29/135709278/where-the-tuba-lives-5-new- orleans-songs-featuring-the-fat-horn (accessed January 15, 2015).

8 Mick Burns, Keeping the Beat on the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 2006), 33. 13

2006 than ever before.9 Sousaphonist Nat McIntosh’s “mastery of numerous extended techniques and the infusion of these with simulated D.J. cuts and scratches, pseudo-electronic effects and the imitation of instruments ranging from an electric guitar to a didgeridoo created an entirely new and inimitable approach to the (tuba).”10 Philip Frazier III and Kirk Joseph are also well-respected tuba players from the New Orleans brass band style.

The incorporation of different styles into New Orleans brass band music can be found in the music of Rebirth Brass Band, which is led by its sousaphone player

Phillip Frazier III, and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. ReBirth Brass Band was founded in the early 1980s by New Orleans natives Phillip Frazier III, Keith Frazier, and John

Gilbert. They were inspired by the music of The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, generally regarded as one of the first New Orleans brass bands to integrate different musical styles into their songs. Rebirth Brass Band had a “fierce blend of hard second line beats, ‘70’s R&B/funk grooves and go-go swing…”11 The tuba is a prominent voice in both groups, and the overall balance of the tuba within the group is mirrored by

Youngblood Brass Band.

It is important for teachers to instruct students on the fundamentals of playing, but it is also important for teachers to prepare their students for the highly

9 Ibid., 4.

10 Miraphone, “Nat McIntosh,” http://www.miraphone.de/en/artists/articles/nat-mcintosh- 457.html (accessed October 2, 2015).

11 Tom Terrell, “ReBirth Brass Band,” Jazz Times, October 1997, http://jazztimes.com/articles/24768-rebirth-brass-band (accessed July 30, 2015). 14

competitive job market, where versatility and the ability to perform in different styles are valuable. Learning the New Orleans brass band style of playing would add a completely new skill set for students in a tuba and euphonium studio. Knowing how to walk a bass line and play in a unique style adds to students’ technical studies and helps them to be better overall musicians.

This document will explore how New Orleans brass band playing can be integrated into a tuba and euphonium studio curriculum in order to develop essential skills on the instrument and to add an entirely new skill-set for collegiate music students.

Review of the Scholarly Literature

Primary sources are desirable when one wants to get a true perspective on a time period or event. Several sources were found that contain interviews and stories told by musicians pertaining to the New Orleans brass band tradition. These sources give insight into how the brass bands function and how the modern bands formed and developed their signature sounds. Interviews in these sources are with members of famous bands, like Rebirth Brass Band, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and the

Tremé Brass Band.

River of Song by Elijah Wald and John Junkerman contains primary sources from cultural and musical leaders from the area along the Mississippi River. Wald was a roots music writer for the Boston Globe for many years, in addition to being an avid blues musician and music historian. He also won a Grammy Award in 2002 for 15

the liner notes to Arhoolie Records: 40th Anniversary Box.12 John Junkerman is a noted documentary filmmaker who has been nominated for an Academy Award for

“Best Documentary Feature.”13 This resource provides precise historical background on brass band music of New Orleans.

Keeping the Beat on the Streets by Mick Burns is another book of primary accounts, and it also contains a series of interviews with several prominent figures in the New Orleans brass band scene, including legendary tubist Anthony “Tuba

Fats” Lacen. Mick Burns was an English-born jazz musician who is noted for his expertise in the New Orleans style of jazz. He made appearances on trombone and tuba with such famous New Orleans musicians as: Tuba Fats, Milton Batiste, and

Dejan’s Olympia Brass Band.14 This source gives insight into how the New Orleans brass bands operate and how musicians perceive their role within the ensemble.

There are few scholarly resources available about the newer brass bands, such as Youngblood Brass Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Several articles and blog posts have been written about the new wave of New Orleans-inspired brass bands, but there are no books or peer-reviewed articles on the subject matter.

Matthew Thomas Driscoll wrote a DMA dissertation about the modern American

New Orleans brass band movement, but there is little mention of the tuba or its role

12 Elijah Wald, “Biography,” http://www.elijahwald.com/bio.html (accessed February 15, 2015).

13 Elijah Wald and John Junkerman, River of Song: A Musical Journey Down the Mississippi (New York: Saint Martin’s Press, 1998), 352.

14 Mick Burns, “Mick Burns (17th Feb 1942-13th Feb 2007),”http://www.mickburns.co.uk/home.htm” (accessed February 13, 2015). 16

within these bands. This paucity of scholarly or other resources discussing the role of the tuba in New Orleans brass bands is perhaps a reason that the study of this style has not found its way into college tuba and euphonium studios already. While the study of this style can have many benefits for tubists, it is a style that has not been widely studied, with many tubists possessing only a vague general awareness of brass bands. Musicologists and other scholars have largely ignored specific investigation and discussion of the role of the tuba.

There are multiple sources used in this document written by Dr. Matt

Sakakeeny, a professor of musicology at Tulane University in New Orleans who specializes in New Orleans music. His book Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of

New Orleans contains great insight into the contemporary brass band scene in New

Orleans and the continuation of the second line tradition. It also contains good detain about the role of members within the brass bands and the style of music that they play.

There are a few vitally important music books that will be discussed in this project. The first book is by Jon Sass, an American jazz tuba player and virtuoso who lives in Vienna, Austria. His introductory book, The Jon Sass Bass Line Book for Tuba, could play an integral part in teaching a tuba and euphonium studio the basics of playing a jazz bass line. The book includes a play-along C.D.

A few jazz bass resources have been considered for use in the studio curriculum. David Baker was Distinguished Professor of Music (Jazz Studies) and

Director Emeritus of the Department of Jazz Studies at Indiana University- 17

Bloomington. His book Jazz Bass Clef Expressions and Explorations: A New and

Innovative System for Learning to Improvise for Bass Clef Instruments and Jazz Cello is an excellent step-by-step resource for any instruments that play in the bass clef. It takes the student through every key using chord and scale studies to help the student become intimately familiar with each key. This resource can help to strengthen students’ music theory knowledge, as well as their ability to play any scale or key that they could be called upon to play.

History of New Orleans Brass Bands

The beginnings of New Orleans music has been traced back to the slave culture of the Deep South. Many areas of the Deep South during the time of slavery did not let slaves congregate due to concerns about a potential revolt against the slave owners. This was a real concern due to the overwhelming number of enslaved people compared to the small number of plantation owners. New Orleans, however, took a different approach. Matt Sakakeeny explains, “The European Catholics who initially governed New Orleans established a slave society that was distinct from the

Anglo-Protestant model that prevailed elsewhere in the United States. A large number of slaves were imported from a single source, Senegambia, and shared an unusually high degree of cultural and linguistic commonalities.”15 Scholars link the

15 Matt Sakakeeny, “New Orleans Music as a Circulatory System,” Black Music Research Journal 31, no. 2 (Fall 2011): 6. 18

percussive, polyrhythmic music made in “Congo Square” to the future jazz and brass band traditions.16

The “shout ring” used at the funerals of African slaves has also been linked to the second line tradition that is carried on by brass bands in New Orleans. This form of grieving also employed call and response, which is featured prevalently in New

Orleans brass band music. In a sense, the mourners were escorting the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., in his article “Ring Shout! Literary Studies,

Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” describes the link of the “ring shout” to second line music in New Orleans:

[F]rom these burial ceremonies, the ring straightened itself to become the Second Line of jazz funerals, in which the movements of the participants were identical to those of the participants in the ring---even to the point of individual counterclockwise movements by Second Line participants, where the ring was absent because of the necessity of the participants to move to a particular remote destination (the return to the town from the burial ground). And the dirge-to-jazz structure of the jazz funeral parallels the walk-to-shout structure of the ring shout17

Many of the New Orleans brass bands of today were formed through the tradition of second line parades.

The New Orleans brass band tradition also emerged from the American brass band tradition of the nineteenth century and military band tradition of the

16 Mary Ellison, “Dr. Michael White and New Orleans Jazz: Pushing Back Boundaries While Maintaining the Tradition,” Popular Music and Society 28, no. 5 (December 2005): 619.

17 Samuel A. Floyd Jr., “Ring Shout! Literary Studies, Historical Studies, and Black Music Inquiry,” Black Music Research Journal 22, Supplement (2002): 51. 19

nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The brass band tradition in New Orleans dates back to the time of the Civil War. Mary Ellison writes:

African American Soldiers helped to usher the brass band movement into New Orleans…The Excelsior Brass Band and most of the Civil War era New Orleans brass bands were as comfortable with syncopation and improvisation as they were with the more conventionally structured marches…Every public ritual or ceremony was usually accompanied by a brass band…Along with that tradition went one of the quintessential hallmarks of New Orleans music–the second line. Just as alternative rhythms were seat up by those who followed the mourners at a funeral, so musical youths followed the army bands and established harmoniously discordant second line rhythms of their own.18

The traditions of these Civil War brass bands have evolved, but the brass band tradition in present day New Orleans mirrors much of the older, traditional second line playing.

The development of military band music in the United States also coincided with the development of the New Orleans brass band scene. Many of the prominent brass band musicians in New Orleans got their start playing military band music.

Philip Frazier III, tuba player and leader of Rebirth Brass Band, says, “I played the usual high school stuff. Marching in Mardi Gras parades, football games, stuff like that. We would play regular military marches for the most part.”19 Countless other brass band musicians got their start in school bands or were band directors themselves.

18 Mary Ellison, “African-American Music and Muskets in Civil War New Orleans,” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 35, no. 3 (July 1994): 316–317.

19 Burns, Keeping the Beat on the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance, 108. 20

Second line parades in New Orleans have occurred regularly throughout the city for the better part of the last one hundred years. A traditional parade is broken up into two different lines: “The band and club members make up what is known as the first line, while the rest of us marching behind, and along the sides, make up the second line.”20 People on the street join the second line during jazz funerals to dance and celebrate the life of the person who has died. The people partaking in the parade are celebrating the soul of the dead moving on to the afterlife. William J.

Schafer sets the scene of an early New Orleans parade:

To envision a New Orleans parade, on a day in any year from 1900–1960, imagine a sunny forenoon in New Orleans, a holiday. On a side street a band forms for a parade. The bandsmen are black; most are in their fifties or sixties. Dressed in white shirts, dark ties and trousers, black shoes, each wears a dark uniform cap, like a policeman’s or bus driver’s, with a grand name stitched across it in gold thread…There are a couple of trombones, a clarinetist…an alto sax, a tenor sax, a bulky sousaphone, a bass drum with one small cymbal mounted atop it and the band’s name painted in bold block letters on the left- hand head. There is a snare drummer, with a shallow dance-band drum hitched high on his belly, and there are three trumpets.21

This vivid description paints a picture of what an early, traditional second line New

Orleans brass band would have been like. Bands like Rebirth Brass Band, Dirty

Dozen Brass Band, and the Hot 8 Brass Band have strayed somewhat from the strict tradition that was common in the first half of the twentieth century.

Brass bands over the past 30 years have begun to incorporate R&B, hip -hop, funk, and other popular music into their repertoire. Bands like Dirty Dozen Brass

20 Matt Sakakeeny, Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), x.

21 Schafer, 52. 21

Band, Rebirth Brass Band, and Hot 8 Brass Band have strayed somewhat from the traditional New Orleans brass band sound and parade style. For example, Hot 8

Brass Band released a version of “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye.22 Their new version blends their own New Orleans style with the R&B style of the original artist.

Matt Sakakeeny describes a starkly different second line parade from the one mentioned by Schafer:

My eyes are fixed on eight men in their twenties and thirties leaning against the brick wall of the Rock Bottom, in a strip of shade underneath the roof overhang. They mill about, in no particular hurry, until the tallest of them picks up a street-worn tuba from the sidewalk and the others gather around him with their instruments: two trumpets, two trombones, a saxophone, bass drum and snare drum…Together we move through the backstreets, maneuvering through parked cars. Roving vendors wheel ice chests and yell “Ice cold beer. Get your water,” while others set up “car bars” on the roofs of pickup trucks parked at designated stops. Plumes of marijuana smoke fill the air.23

The dressed-up, proper bandsmen of the earlier account have, for the most part, given way to dressed-down, less formal performances. Bands are now playing in clubs and at ticketed events. Some traditional brass bands still operate in New

Orleans, such as the Tremé Brass Band and the Liberty Brass Band.

The influence of New Orleans brass bands has been felt far outside of the city limits of New Orleans. In Madison, Wisconsin, a group of high school students formed a brass band that eventually became known as Youngblood Brass Band. Nat

McIntosh, the sousaphonist of the group, says, “The band started during my sophomore year of high school at Oregon High. My brother and I were itching to put

22 Hot 8 Brass Band, Rock With the Hot 8, Tru Thoughts Records TRUCD141, 2007, CD.

23 Sakakeeny, Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans, x. 22

together some kind of group and we’d both been listening to a lot of Dirty Dozen and

Rebirth, so a brass band seemed the obvious way to go.”24 Nat has become somewhat of a cult hero to many young tuba players. He has even performed as a soloist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s (his alma mater) marching band.25 He has shown young tuba players a whole new world of possibilities.

One cannot discuss the history of any music in New Orleans without discussing the impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When the storm hit, New

Orleans musicians were sent scattering across the United States. In the wake of the storm, many people were concerned that the city would lose its identity because of the massive numbers of people that were unable to return to their homes due to the devastating damage the storm left in its wake. John Autin, pianist and owner of

Rabadash Records, vocalized these fears:

The black neighborhoods are the incubator neighborhoods. That’s where there are neighborhood bands and neighborhood bars. That’s where the churches are. Those are the places where the feel of the music is taught from generation to generation. That’s where the brass bands and the rappers and the R&B singers come from in New Orleans. Great musicians who really have a groove and a feel keep coming out of New Orleans.26

Many feared that the tradition would not survive the storm, due to many musicians fleeing the city ahead of the storm. This was chronicled in the 2006 documentary

24 Driscoll, 106.

25 David, “UW Varsity Band Spring Concert: Watch the Excitement” http://wptschedule.org/bemoretunedin/uw-varsity-band-spring-concert-watch-the-excitement/ (accessed January, 19 2016).

26 Garth Alper, “New Orleans Music and Katrina,” Popular Music and Society 29, no. 4 (10/2006): 461. 23

entitled New Orleans Music in Exile, which includes footage of New Orleans musicians in various cities across the country directly after the storm. Luckily, the music has survived and is thriving.

Thesis

Incorporating New Orleans brass band music can complement the classical tuba and euphonium curriculum found in many universities. Through study of its stylistic approaches, improvisatory nature, and bass line construction, tuba and euphonium players can acquire skills, including greater music theory and history knowledge, the ability to walk a bass line, and an understanding of a style of music they would not be exposed to in an applied lessons curriculum.

CHAPTER 2: IMPLEMENTATION

Constructing a curriculum is a lengthy and detailed process. Instructors spend hours carefully crafting their syllabi and course materials, which they change and refine over many years using new techniques, scholarship, and insight in their respective fields to create a class that will help students to be successful. Upon analysis of current tuba and euphonium syllabi, it has been revealed that they share much in common. The focus of the applied tuba and euphonium courses tends to be on symphonic music style, which turns out to be mostly European and American music. This project is setting forth a supplement for studying New Orleans brass band music that can be added to a curriculum that is currently in use and can be easily adapted to any school setting. It does not matter if the instructor teaches at a community college or a four-year university; the supplemental material can help an instructor to add a new dimension to what their students are learning. This material can be used by instructors that do not have experience playing in a New Orleans style brass band. New Orleans brass band music employs skills that can be used across many different areas, such as learning to create a bass line, improvising over chord changes, and music theory knowledge.

Several applied tuba and euphonium lessons syllabi were surveyed in the process of the creation of this supplement. Studios of various sizes and pedigree were investigated in order to cover a wide spectrum of tuba and euphonium courses 25

offered throughout the United States. The syllabus of Professor David Zerkel,

Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Georgia, was used based on the successful students he has taught since he joined the faculty in 2000.27 The Fall

2014 syllabus of Dr. Deanna Swoboda, Assistant Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Arizona State University, was used due to her output of commercially released solo albums and her tenure with the Dallas Brass. Dr. Swoboda is also a Past

President of the International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA).28 The syllabus of Dr. Chris Dickey, Clinical Assistant Professor of Music, Tuba, Euphonium, and Music Theory at Washington State University, was chosen because he teaches music theory in addition to applied lessons. Dr. Christian Carichner, Assistant

Director of Bands and Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium at Iowa State University, brings another perspective that is unique. A large part of his job is as an assistant band director. The syllabus of Professor Fritz Kaenzig, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Michigan, was also used.

In order to integrate New Orleans brass band music into an applied tuba and euphonium lessons curriculum, it is important to discuss what is included in existing courses. Many professors in the country, including Professor David Zerkel of the University of Georgia and Dr. Deanna Swoboda of Arizona State University,

27 University of Georgia Tuba/Euphonium Studio, “About the Studio,” “Student Accomplishments,” http://www.ugatubaeuph.com/#!about-the-studio (accessed March 27, 2016).

28 Deanna Swoboda, “About Me,” http://deannaswoboda.com/about-me/ (accessed July 12, 2016). 26

include many similar elements in their syllabi. In his Fall 2015 syllabus, David

Zerkel describes his course as the following:

The basic principle behind applied lessons is to teach you as much about the performance of your instrument that the time we have together will permit. While I will strive to teach you all aspects of music performance to include technique, tone production, tonguing, articulation, and phrasing, my emphasis in teaching will be based largely on coaxing the most musical performance out of you as possible. Music is a communicative art form, not just notes and technique. Since many of you will go out into the big wide world to teach younger students about music, it is my goal to incorporate concepts that we discuss into situations that you will undoubtedly encounter as a band director.29

While the studios discussed have produced many students employed in the field of tuba and euphonium, the syllabi do not make reference to non-classical styles. This project will seek to inject New Orleans brass band music into course narratives in order to enhance a course that is already impactful.

Dr. Christian Carichner lists his “course topics,” which include many standard topics covered in private tuba and euphonium lessons:

All major and minor (all forms) scales as well as all arpeggios in two octaves. Development of breathing, embouchure, tone production, daily routine, tonguing technique, sight-reading, flexibility, intonation, legato study, technical facility, phrasing, interpretation, performance skills, rhythm, and vibrato. Required listening throughout entire course of study to establish familiarity with standard tuba literature in all media and representative performers. A proportional amount of standard literature will be chosen in accordance with each student(‘)s current level of achievement. The development of evaluative skills will be stressed so awareness of self-improvement will lead towards self- teaching.30

29 University of Georgia Tuba/Euphonium Studio, “Document Library,” “Syllabus F15,” http://www.ugatubaeuph.com/#!document-library (accessed January 23, 2016).

30 Iowa State University School of Music, “Tuba Euph Syllabus,” http://www.music.iastate.edu/courses/119/g/Tuba%20Euph%20Syllabus.pdf (accessed January 31, 2016). 27

A set of course topics, such as the ones set forth by Dr. Carichner, can be readily adapted to include a New Orleans brass band supplement. The new set of skills, such as walking a bass line or improvising a bass groove, will be added to the long list of technical and musical skills gained through private lessons without changing the overall objectives of the course.

Creation of the Supplement

It is important to use modern scholarly materials when attempting to determine how certain supplements can fit into an existing curriculum. There are two sources that have been used in this project to identify how certain materials can be used within a course. Tools for Teaching by Barbara Gross Davis contains a valuable section on writing a syllabus and what sorts of areas it should address. She describes the syllabus:

Experts have identified various purposes a syllabus can serve: an implicit teaching-learning contract, outlining, the reciprocal roles and responsibilities of students and the instructor; a diagnostic tool, helping students assess their readiness for a course by identifying prerequisites and required levels of academic preparation and describing workload and course challenges; and unambiguous source of policies and procedures of course operations; a learning tool, piquing students’ interest and providing them with the information, resources, and links they will need to succeed in the course; and a set of promises–what the instructor promises students will learn and the activities students will undertake to fulfill these promises.31

31 Barbara Gross Davis, Tools for Teaching (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009), 21. 28

Though this project is not seeking to completely rewrite course syllabi, it is important to know how syllabi are constructed to see how a New Orleans brass band supplement can be inserted into an existing course syllabus.

Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing

College Courses by L. Dee Fink proposes five questions that can be addressed when crafting a course. Fink’s work is widely used in higher education as a guide to course design. His five questions include:

1. What are the situational factors in a particular course or learning situation? 2. What should our full set of learning goals be? 3. What kinds of feedback and assessment should we provide? 4. What kinds of teaching and learning activities will suffice, in terms of achieving the full set of learning goals we set? 5. Are all the components connected and integrated, that is, are they consistent with and supportive of each other?32

Four of these questions are especially pertinent to the New Orleans brass band supplement. The order of the questions has been rearranged and adapted to fit the purposes of this project. The following order will be used:

1. What should our full set of learning goals be? 2. What kinds of teaching and learning activities will suffice, in terms of achieving the full set of learning goals we set? 3. What kinds of feedback and assessment should we provide? 4. Are all the components connected and integrated, that is, are they consistent and supportive of each other?

These questions will be applied to current syllabi written by tuba and euphonium instructors across the country. They will be examined to show how New Orleans

32 L. Dee Fink, Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013), 67.

brass band playing can be added as a supplement in all of different areas of a course curriculum.

Learning Goals

L. Dee Fink’s second question from his Integrated Course Design Model asks about the learning goals for the course. David Zerkel lays out objectives for his students that take his applied tuba and euphonium lessons class. Upon reading Dr.

Deanna Swoboda’s Fall 2014 syllabus, many of their objectives reflect similar expectations. She lays out what she thinks each student should be able to demonstrate at the end of the course:

• An evolving technical ability on the instrument. • Knowledge and facilitation of all major and minor scale forms. • An understanding of musical phrasing and artistic interpretation. • The ability to evaluate performances critically and coherently–verbal and written format. • Take an active interest in their craft (read about it, listen to recordings, attend related events, etc.) • Develop a positive attitude and a commitment toward improvement and excellence. • Support your peers and colleagues in an active learning environment, including attending peer recitals.33

It is within similar objectives that instructors can add New Orleans brass band playing into their courses. Adding a new element into an existing curriculum does not change the existing objectives. It serves to enhance the objectives of the course that already exist and allows instructors to add new dimensions to the learning

33 Arizona State University School of Music, “Tuba/Euphonium Studio Applied Lessons Syllabus Fall 2014,” http://tuba-euphonium.faculty.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ASU- syllabus-applied-fall-20141.pdf (accessed February 20, 2016). 30

experiences of their students. The purpose of this project is to enhance current curricula and is not meant to be a critique or a dialogue on shortcomings or shortfalls of existing curricula.

Learning objectives can be adapted to include New Orleans brass band music.

Some of these objectives can include:

• Apply music theory and ear training knowledge to learning to walk a bass line and improvise a bass groove. • Gain knowledge of common chord progressions in New Orleans brass band music. • Listen to recordings to gain a better understanding of New Orleans Brass Band music.

The specifics of the implementation of these objectives will be included in the attached supplementary material.

Teaching and Learning Activities

Fink’s fourth question deals with what teaching and learning activities will be included in a course. Numerous teaching and learning activities are used by instructors across the United States to help their students reach the objectives that are set forth for their applied lessons courses.

Learning how to play New Orleans brass band music will be carried over into private lessons. Instructors can assign certain exercises for a weekly lesson that will be given in addition to etudes, technical exercises, or solos that are generally given on a weekly basis. These exercises can take mere minutes to cover and will not sacrifice time that is already being used for other areas of technical and musical proficiency. The specifics of these exercises will be covered in the exercises section. 31

All applied tuba and euphonium lessons curricula surveyed in this project include exclusively composed music, which is a term for “works by a singular mind, fixed and promulgated in written form.”34 A New Orleans brass band supplement will include activities that take students away from traditional etude books or method books. For instance, an activity that would be beneficial for students is to have them listen to a brass band recording and instruct them to play the bass line back to the instructor. The key and general form would be given, but the ear training aspect of the assignment will be left up to the student. Although a New Orleans brass supplement includes many written exercises and books, an important feature of it is activities that are not written down in music notation.

Many curricula include etude and method books that are stylistically similar.

These texts are used, generally, to help students to develop basic phrasing, musical, and technical skills. However, a New Orleans brass band supplement will add a new dimension to that aspect of the private lessons process. There are a few books that can help instructors teach their students about chord progressions, walking bass lines, and improvisation. Although they are not specifically tailored to New Orleans brass band music, they can be readily adapted to that style of playing. A good example of a list of required materials includes many of the books required by Dr.

Chris Dickey of Washington State University:

Arban’s Complete Method for Trombone and Euphonium edited by Alessi and Bowman

34 Craig Havighurst, Medium, https://medium.com/cuepoint/classical-music-needs-a-new-name- 2e07b084f4a3#.4gbuepk6m (accessed May 2, 2016). 32

Melodious Etudes for Trombone by Rochut, volume 1 Technical Studies for Bass Clef Instruments by Clarke Pares Scales for Trombone or Euphonium by Pares 36 Studies for Trombone by Blume 40 Progressive Studies by Tyrell Selected Studies edited by Voxman Advanced Band Method by Hal Leonard (with Special Studies by Arnold Jacobs) 66 Basic Studies by Slama 43 Bel Canto Studies by Bordogni 60 Selected Studies by Kopprasch Euphonium Excerpts from the Standard Band and Orchestra Library by Payne 70 Studies by Blazhevich Daily Drills and Technical Studies for Trumpet by Schlossberg Six Suites by J. S. Bach Legato Etudes for Tuba edited by W. Jacobs The One Hundred by W. Jacobs35

The New Orleans brass band supplement includes materials that are not seen in any of the syllabi that were surveyed. The objective of the course is still the same, but the new materials pull the students away from the European method and etude books that dominate the books lists for many applied tuba and euphonium lessons courses.

In addition to commonly used etude and method books that are used in tuba and euphonium studios, this project proposes that there are additional texts that will be added to a syllabus that can help students work on skills that are used by musicians in New Orleans brass bands. The Jon Sass Bass Line Book is a valuable resource that is utilized by students and instructors to improve their skills for improvising bass lines. It is a goal of this project to help professors to enhance their curricula with ways to discover how tubas can be used as a functional bass in a New

35 Dr. Chris Dickey, “Spring 2016 Tuba-Euphonium Studio Syllabus,” Washington State University School of Music. 33

Orleans brass band setting. This involves using sources that may also be categorized as “jazz” sources to help students achieve the desired skill set for playing New

Orleans brass band music.

David Baker was a Distinguished Professor of Music (Jazz Studies) in the Jacobs

School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington.36 His Jazz Bass Clef

Expressions and Explorations: A New and Innovative System for Learning to Improvise for Bass Clef Instruments and Jazz Cello is also a great educational tool for teaching students how to improvise bass lines and improvisation in general. Baker describes the use of his book:

While the information in this book–if understood, used diligently and intelligently, and applied practically–guarantees the prospective player a certain measure of success, it is by no means intended to replace the wealth of excellent available string materials aimed primarily at producing a classical player. The materials from classical studies should work in conjunction with the materials and information presented in this book.37

Baker’s sentiment echoes that of the author of this project. The addition of New

Orleans brass band music is meant to accent the existing applied curricula and not to replace it. Each section of the book goes through a different scale and allows the student to master the scale they are trying to improvise through. The book also offers a short index of jazz symbols and terms.

36 David Baker, “Faculty,” “David Baker,” http://info.music.indiana.edu/faculty/current/baker-david-n.shtml (accessed February 22, 2016).

37 David N. Baker, Jazz Bass Clef Expressions and Explorations: A New and Innovative System for Learning to Improvise for Bass Clef Instruments and Jazz Cello (New Albany, IN: Jamey Aebersold Jazz, Inc., 1995), Preface. 34

Feedback and Assessment

The third question proposed by Fink pertains to the types of feedback and assessment that the instructor can use. This question deals with how students will be evaluated and graded based on their knowledge of the subject. Tuba and euphonium studios use different forms of grading, with different areas of study weighted at different percentages. For instance, at Iowa State University, the weekly lesson grade accounts for 70% of the final grade, while reading discussions/participation/assignments accounts for 20%. A final jury accounts for

10% of the final grade.38 The Arizona State University tuba and euphonium studio syllabus lists weekly lesson preparation at 60% of the final grade, Studio class is

20%, and ASU Tuba Euphonium Ensemble is 20%.39 Although private lessons make up a majority of the final grade, there are other areas that vary from studio to studio that are a smaller percentage of the grade.

There are several different approaches to assessing the learning of students in different courses. Applied lessons courses tend not to use the traditional midterm and final exam in favor of weekly assessments in private lessons and masterclasses, which falls into what Fink calls “educative assessment.” Fink identifies four basic components:

38 Iowa State University School of Music, “Tuba Euph Syllabus,” http://www.music.iastate.edu/courses/119/g/Tuba%20Euph%20Syllabus.pdf (accessed January 31, 2016).

39 Arizona State University Tuba-Euphonium Faculty, “Syllabus Applied Fall 2015,” http://tuba-euphonium.faculty.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ASU-syllabus-applied-fall- 2015-1.pdf (accessed January 31, 2016). 35

• Create forward-looking assessment questions and problems. • Develop clear and appropriate criteria and standards for evaluating student performance. • Create opportunities for students to engage in self-assessment. • Provide FIDeLity feedback: feedback that is frequent, immediate, discriminating, and done lovingly.40

This approach stands in stark contrast to what is known as a backward-looking assessment, which strictly tests what is learned in class. Forward-looking assessment serves to find ways for students to apply knowledge that they have learned in class to new activities. A New Orleans brass band supplement will be utilized by instructors in a forward-looking manner by creating helpful assignments so that students will apply their skills in a way that does not involve just taking a test.

“Educative Assessment” is easily manipulated to include an assessment of how students are developing their skills for New Orleans brass band playing. For instance, the instructor has the option to add a line discussing improvement of the student’s ability to walk a bass line over a simple chord change on a weekly or biweekly basis. The goal is to create a standard of improvement in all areas for tuba and euphonium students. This supplement will not outline standards for grades for private lessons and other assignments. It is best that this aspect be left up to individual instructors.

40 Fink, 111. 36

Professor David Zerkel requires his students to complete a weekly assignment titled “Tune of the Week.” He gives a thorough description of the assignment in his syllabus:

You will be required to listen to ten of the following pieces this semester. Following your listening, you are required to write a critique of the work and the performance. What did you like about it? What didn’t you like about it? This is strictly an opinion/observation assignment. Your critique does not necessarily need to be scholarly; however it does need to be intelligent and thoughtful. In your critique be sure to include the name of the orchestra and the conductor of the recording that you listened to.41

This assignment serves to fulfill his objective pertaining to the ability to evaluate performances critically and coherently. Similar assignments will help other instructors who have a learning objective that concerns critical listening. Developing an educated ear for music is essential for all music students and can be utilized in any applied tuba and euphonium studio curriculum.

A listening activity can be easily adapted to include New Orleans brass band music. An instructor can include important tunes, albums, or brass bands that will help students to better understand the style. Applied lessons teachers already have students reference recordings for certain solos or orchestral and band music that they may be working on. If an instructor already has listening assignments built into their syllabus, they can add a small number of recordings of New Orleans brass bands to help students acclimate themselves to how the brass bands sound. Those recordings can range from the traditional to the more funk and hip-hop bands.

Tremé Brass Band and the Liberty Brass Band are good examples of more

41 University of Georgia Tuba/Euphonium Studio, Fall 2015 Syllabus. 37

traditional brass bands, while bands such as Rebirth Brass Band and Dirty Dozen

Brass Band are good examples of funkier brass bands.

How Components Are Connected and Integrated

The final question that has been proposed deals with how all of the different aspects of a curriculum work together. Fink says, “The learning goals, the teaching and learning activities, and the feedback and assessment procedures all need to support each other.”42 In the case of the syllabi that have been investigated over the course of this project, all of them have components that support the main objectives of their courses. For instance, many of the syllabi discuss one of their main objectives as being for their students to learn their major and minor scales. In order to achieve this objective, they have scale tests and/or include scales on their juries at the end of each semester and/or school year. Similar activities can be added to a curriculum to reinforce the New Orleans brass band supplemental material.

All of the questions set forth by Fink are linked. The feedback and assessment is based upon the learning activities, which are generally dictated by the objectives of the course laid out by the instructor. Therefore, professors determine the weight of certain assignments based upon their importance to the overall learning objectives. For instance, Christian Carichner of Iowa State University places 70% of the final grade in weekly lessons. That tells the reader of his syllabus that he places a great deal of importance on time spent in lessons.

42 Fink, 139. 38

A New Orleans brass band supplement can be incorporated into current tuba and euphonium studio teaching using the methods discussed above. The specifics of the supplement’s contents are described in the following section, which features musical examples and specific ideas for learning activities. 39

CHAPTER 3: EXERCISES AND ASSIGNMENTS

An important part of this project is to offer exercises and assignments for instructors to add into their respective curricula to include New Orleans brass band playing. The exercises include a variety of different drills designed to teach college tuba and euphonium students about playing in a New Orleans brass band. This will include improvising a bass line, improvising solos, and learning common chord progressions found in New Orleans brass band music. Listening assignments are designed to help students learn the style and possible options for bass lines that they can include in their own playing. This project will show possible paths that instructors can take with these assignments, including prompts and focused questions for students to consider.

Exercises

There are a wide variety of exercises that instructors of applied tuba and euphonium can assign to help their students learn skills that would be needed when playing New Orleans brass band music. Professors at schools around the country already assign daily drills and technical exercises that can be readily adapted for brass band playing. For example, arpeggios and scales in all keys are designated as part of essential drills in many applied lessons curricula. Many exercises that can be added to include New Orleans brass band playing can also help students to apply 40

their music theory and music history knowledge that they have learned separately in their core music classes. In addition to being explained in this section, the exercises set forth by this project will be included in the supplement written in the appendix of this document.

Arpeggiated exercises can be manipulated by having students play chord progressions that are common in New Orleans brass band music. An instructor could have a student prepare a I-ii-V-I chord progression, which is common in New

Orleans music, and have them play through it in every key. The same could be done in a minor key, as well. The author became aware of this exercise by Tom Holtz, former tubist in the United States Marine Band and current freelance helicon player in Washington D.C. The helicon is similar to a sousaphone, but the bell faces over the musician’s left shoulder rather than forward and cannot be removed. Musical

Examples 1 and 2 demonstrate the arpeggio exercise that was discussed by Tom

Holtz in a masterclass at Arizona State University in November of 2015. Example 1 takes the student through all of the major keys in a circle of 4ths progression beginning in the key of C Major. These exercises are to be practiced in a variety of articulations and tempi. A student, for example, could be asked by the instructor to play all of the arpeggios in a longer, legato style, or they could be asked to play in a more detached style. The student can initially play the exercise at a fairly slow tempo and gradually increase the beats per minute as they begin to master the progression.

Musical Example 1. I-ii-V-I Arpeggios

Musical Example 2. i-iio-V-i Chord Progression

The same exercise can be done in natural minor keys. This will help students to become familiar with these keys so they will be able to play music and chord progressions in minor.

A common trend in many New Orleans brass bands tunes is the use of syncopation in the bass line. An example of this is “Do Watcha Wanna” by Rebirth

Brass Band, which is demonstrated in Musical Example 3. The song begins with a syncopated bass line that serves as the foundational groove of the whole tune and is in the key of Eb Major. “The Tremé Song,” performed by Tremé Brass Band starts with a more traditional drum introduction, but the bass line throughout is a syncopated rhythmic groove alternating between I and IV. It is also in the key of Eb

Major. This could be practiced in every major and minor key to prepare students to play standard New Orleans brass band music.

Musical Example 3. Syncopated Bass Line from “Do Watcha Wanna”

Students, in many cases, do not stray from what they read on the page when they perform or practice throughout their collegiate music career. An important part of the funk and hip-hop New Orleans brass bands is the tuba groove that begins the song to set up the structure of the song. There are numerous examples of this, including “New Orleans (After the City)” but Hot 8 Brass Band and “Feel Like

Funkin’ It Up” by Rebirth Brass Band. Musical Example 4 is a dictation of the bass line groove from “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up.” Although it is syncopated like “Do Watcha 44

Wanna,” it has a much more funk groove feel. An assignment that an instructor of applied tuba and euphonium lessons could give to a student is to have them write and/or create their own bass line groove. The student can draw inspiration from the albums and song that they listen to as part of the listening assignments part of the course curriculum.

Musical Example 4. Sousaphone Groove from “Feel Like Funkin’ It Up”

The same syncopated rhythms that are featured in the exercise that mimics the pattern of “Do Watcha Wanna” and “The Tremé Song” can be used as an auxiliary clapping or singing exercise, as well. Brass bands play these tunes in a variety of tempi, so having the students clap or sing through the syncopated rhythms could help them to feel the groove before playing the same thing on their instrument with chord changes. Another step before adding the chord changes could also include the student playing a string of syncopated rhythms on the same note.

Syncopated rhythms are a big part of New Orleans brass band music, so this study should be an essential part of an instructor’s brass band curriculum.

A standard of the New Orleans brass band repertoire is “When the Saints Go

Marching In.” The chord structure is fairly simple and straightforward, making it an ideal chart for beginners to be able to follow. It is also helpful that the tune is well known and can help guide the students through the chord structure of the song. An assignment for a tuba or euphonium student would be to have them transcribe a 45

bass line that will be used when playing the tune. Here is an example of a possible bass line for the chorus of “When the Saints Go Marching In”:

Musical Example 5. “When the Saints Go Marching In” Bass Line

This assignment will be assigned in conjunction with the listening assignments that the students complete during the course. It is the intent of this supplement that students become exposed to different approaches to the same songs so that they can develop their own ideas for playing each tune. They can take bits and pieces of bass lines from recordings that they hear to craft their own interpretation.

A common chord progression that a New Orleans brass band musician may encounter is twelve bar blues. Although a twelve bar blues varies, the standard progression is: I-I-I-I-IV-IV-I-I-V-IV-I-V. Rebirth Brass Band plays a tune called “You

Can’t Fly If You’re Too High,” which, upon listening to it, is in a traditional twelve bar 46

blues. After a survey of several recordings of the progression, an exercise was created that can be adapted to all keys that will help students become more acquainted with the chords and style. Musical Example 6 is a possible bass line in a twelve bar blues progression.

Musical Example 6. Twelve Bar Blues

Another daily drill that is common in teaching throughout the country is the practice of scales. Major and minor scales serve as major components of many applied tuba and euphonium lessons curricula. Fritz Kaenzig, the Arthur F. Thurnau

Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Michigan, includes

“Satisfaction of the scale requirements during any lesson chosen by each individual student.”43 as the third item on his studio syllabus. Many music programs throughout the country have end of the semester and/or end of the year juries that commonly include these scales. Scales can be used in practical application in many

43 University of Michigan Tuba and Euphonium Studio, “Syllabus”, http://www- personal.umich.edu/~fak/syllabus.html (accessed March 19, 2016). 47

musical areas, but they are especially helpful when playing New Orleans brass band music. It is important to know scales well in order to walk a bass line. A way to make the study of scales relatable to brass band music is to add jazz scales and church modes. David Baker’s Jazz Expressions and Explorations: A New and Innovative

System for Learning to Improvise for Bass Clef Instruments and Jazz Cello offers a comprehensive method for learning scales that may not be learned by most college music students.

Method Books

In addition to commonly used etude and method books that are utilized in tuba and euphonium studios, this project proposes that there are additional texts that can be added to a syllabus that will help students work on skills that are used by musicians in New Orleans brass bands. The Jon Sass Bass Line Book is a valuable resource that can be utilized by students and instructors to improve their skills for improvising bass lines. In the introduction to his bass line book, Jon Sass asserts the following:

Outside of orchestral, classical chamber music and solo playing, there are many other possibilities for low brass musicians. One of these is using their instrument as a functional bass in rock, jazz, funk and other popular music genres. The tuba is a bass instrument and its ability to sustain, articulate and color sound is different from string, electric or keyboard bass. The sound characteristics of low brass instruments give a cutting edge advantage alongside the search for new sounds.44

44 Jon Sass, The Jon Sass Bass Line Book for Tuba (or Euphonium, Sousaphone, Bass Trombone) (Vuarmarens, Switzerland: Editions Bim, 2007), 2. 48

It is a goal of this project to help professors to enhance their curricula with ways to discover how tubas can be used as a functional bass in a New Orleans brass band setting.

Students also need to have a basic knowledge of standard signs and symbols that are used in New Orleans brass band music in order to read a chart if it is placed in front of them. Jon Sass, in The Jon Sass Bass Line Book, lists signs and symbols that are used frequently in the notation of jazz charts that are also commonly used by

New Orleans brass bands. These symbols include those for major, minor, dominant seventh, and the symbol for a raised half step.45 The same section of Sass’ book also discusses commonly found chords, scales, and modes that are found frequently. His book also contains a C.D., which is a helpful tool for students to use when learning to play New Orleans brass band music. Each exercise allows the student to read a bass line example given by Sass, after which they are encouraged to write their own and play it along with the recording. Creating a bass line is an important part of playing brass band music, and adding songs from Sass’ book to the other etudes and solos that are assigned for private lessons by collegiate tuba and euphonium instructors would allow them to practice this important skill.

Listening Assignments

The goal of listening assignments is to help students to listen critically to music and to encourage students to put what they hear into words. Benefits of

45 Ibid., 9. 49

listening assignments include learning to evaluate the quality of a recording, gaining knowledge of a certain style or genre, and the ability to formulate coherent thoughts on what the student hears in a recording. There are many forms that listening assignments can take. Many applied lessons courses already include some sort of listening curriculum. In some cases, listening assignments can be informal suggestions given during private lessons, while in other cases they can be made a formal assignment that accumulates into a certain percentage of the final grade. For instance, Dr. Chris Dickey, Clinical Assistant Professor of Music, Tuba, Euphonium, and Music Theory, assigns a piece per week for his students to assess and makes it ten percent of the students’ final grade.46 This project proposes a more formal approach that is similar to that of Dr. Dickey, where it can factor as a percentage of a final grade and will require a written submission. An instructor can put forth a series of questions for students to answer or they can simply ask the student to give a general reaction to the recording.

There are many prompts that teachers can use for listening assignments depending on their goals for the homework. If an instructor would like for students to use the listening assignment as a way for students to develop an ear for the sound concepts of a New Orleans brass band, they may ask:

• How would you describe the sound of the sousaphone within the New Orleans brass band context in this recording? Is it bright? Is it dark?

46 Dr. Chris Dickey, “Spring 2016 Tuba-Euphonium Studio Syllabus,” Washington State University School of Music.

• What is the role of the sousaphone within the group? Is it similar or different to its role within an orchestra or concert band? • How would you describe the style that the group plays in? • What rhythmic inflections and ornaments did the sousaphonist add? How could you create similar stylizations in your own playing?

These are merely suggestions, but a similar line of questioning would be beneficial within the listening assignments part of the applied lessons curriculum.

The same approach can be used for listening assignments related to finding historical context of different recordings. A more traditional brass band, such as

Tremé Brass Band or Liberty Brass Band, would have a slightly different overall sound, and the repertoire would be somewhat different from a more funk/pop/hip- hop style brass band. Groups like Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Rebirth Brass Band, though they do play traditional second line tunes, are going to have audible differences from the more traditional bands, such as Tremé Brass Band or Liberty

Brass Band. Matt Sakakeeny writes:

Many of the Dirty Dozen’s transformations of tradition are detectable on their debut recording, a 45 rpm record released in 1981…In ‘Feet Can’t Fail Me Now’ and other new-school brass standards, the tuba plays a compact, virtuosic riff that repeats the entire song. It was Kirk Joseph, along with Anthony ‘Tuba Fats’ Lacen, who set this new standard of cyclical tuba melodies, supplanting the tuba’s previous role of providing the harmonic foundation by outlining the changing chord progressions.47

This isn’t to say that those “new-school brass band” tuba players do not play a key harmonic function, but it is important for students to be able to differentiate between the two styles of brass band playing. It is also important to note that many

47 Sakakeeny, Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans,120. 51

of the traditional tunes start with a drum rhythm, while the newer brass band groups usually begin with a tuba groove.

An instructor can make up his/her own choice of what songs or albums they can use for their listening assignments. They can assign a specific recording, or they can assign a certain tune and ask the student to seek out certain recordings of songs.

A teacher can ask a student to find and listen to a certain number of recordings of a certain tune and ask the student to write the similarities and differences between them. This will help pupils to begin to formulate their ideas about what they like and dislike about certain approaches to playing New Orleans brass band music.

Developing a critical ear when listening to music is important to develop in an applied lessons curriculum.

Another possible listening assignment involves having students listen to recordings and have them identify the chord progression. It is important when playing New Orleans brass band that the tubist knows the key of the tune and upon what chords the bass line should be based. Students could possibly transcribe a bass line based on a recording to enhance how they listen to recordings and to practice developing a process for them improvising their own bass lines. Students could, for example, listen to a recording of “When the Saints Go Marching In” and identify the chord progression. After they have identified the chord progression, they can transcribe the bass line that the tuba player in the recording improvises on a piece of manuscript paper or in a computer notation program, such as Sibelius or Finale.

Philip Frazier of Rebirth Brass Band will likely play a slightly different bass line on 52

“When the Saints Go Marching In” than Jon Gross of Tremé Brass Band. This would also serve as a supplement to their music theory and ear training courses.

Exercises and assignments are an essential part of any college course. They are meant to help instructors guide their students and help them to achieve the greatest success they can within the course and beyond. It is the goal of this project to help instructors of applied tuba and euphonium lessons throughout the country to supplement their current curriculum with New Orleans brass band music in order to enhance their current courses.

CONCLUSION

A New Orleans brass band supplement will add a new skill set for students to utilize. Although courses in music theory and music history are core elements of a school of music curriculum, it is important that what is learned in those courses is applied in private lessons, masterclasses, performances, and chamber music studies.

A student’s basic music theory knowledge can be put to use within the context of

New Orleans brass band playing. The chord progressions used in that style are comparable to the simple chord progressions taught in a college freshman theory class, such as a I-IV-V-I or I-ii-V-I progression. The development of the New Orleans brass band also follows a similar chronology to the brass band movement in the

United States, as well as the early jazz pioneers of the early twentieth century.

Helping to put tunes and faces to topics that may have been only discussed briefly in a music history survey course can help to enhance a student’s overall musical knowledge.

The supplement is important to the success of integrating New Orleans brass band music into an applied tuba and euphonium lessons curriculum. It allows instructors to have a resource that is already constructed for them and is adaptable to their individual needs. The supplement is not rendered useless if it is not used in its entirety. It is appropriate for an instructor to pick certain sections of it to highlight with their own students without sacrificing the overall benefits of the 54

supplement. Instructors will be more suited to prepare their students for an evolving musical world that awaits them upon graduation.

A New Orleans brass band curriculum supplement will help instructors of applied tuba and euphonium lessons to teach their students the skills needed to play in a brass band and will introduce them to recordings and materials that will allow students to integrate a new dimension into their professional profile. One never knows when they will receive a call for a New Orleans brass band or Dixieland gig. If the musician does not have the skills necessary to perform that music or is uncomfortable with improvisatory music, they miss an opportunity to add new experiences to their resumé. If another gig comes up that needs a tuba player to play that style of music, it is important for the musician to be thought of in a positive light.

The music industry is becoming more and more competitive every year. The

Department of Labor’s projection for musicians and singers for 2016–2017 seems fairly grim. Under the section entitled “Job Prospects,” the employment forecast was worded thusly: “There will be tough competition for jobs because of the large number of people who are interested in becoming musicians and singers. Many musicians and singers experience periods of unemployment, and there will likely be considerable competition for full-time positions.”48 Full-time positions, such as tenured orchestral positions or university teaching positions, mentioned in this

48 Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016– 17 Edition, Musicians and Singers, http://www.bls.gov/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/musicians- and-singers.htm#tab-6 (accessed April 6, 2016). 55

projection are difficult to obtain. It is useful for students graduating from collegiate music programs to demonstrate a wide array of skills to aide their pursuit of making a living as a music performer. The aim of the supplement put forth by this project is to help students to add a set of skills to make them a better musician and professional in the future, but it also has the side benefit of helping to make them more marketable in the field of music.

An example of a group of classmates forming their own group is “Jon Batiste and Stay Human.” Their leader and namesake, a pianist and native of New Orleans, describes how he viewed his education:

Batiste wanted to explore a musical career beyond sharpening his chops at school. ‘I always thought, man, if we’re working on all this stuff, we should actually put it into practice and go out there. I never forget the dean of the jazz department (at Juilliard) told me before I left, once things had become more clear that I wasn’t just some crazy kid who dismissed my authority, they were like. ‘Oh man you always had a plan didn’t you?’ It was kinda true, you know. I really did have a plan for going to school – it wasn’t just to go to school.49

Batiste and his band mates took what they learned in school and formed it into their own style. The New Orleans brass band supplement set forth by this project has the intention of providing collegiate tuba and euphonium players with the skills to create their own brass bands and to create their own performance experiences.

Learning orchestral and band excerpts is critical for collegiate music students, but it is also important to supplement that with other styles of music to

49 Christopher R. Weingarten, Rolling Stone, “Meet Jon Batiste, Stephen Colbert’s Crowd- Thrilling Rebel Band Leader,” August 5, 2015, http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/meet-jon- batiste-stephen-colberts-crowd-thrilling-rebel-bandleader-20150805 (accessed April 6, 2016). 56

round out what they are able to play. Angela Myles Beeching puts forth an insightful idea about non-traditional music careers:

[T]hese highly competitive traditional jobs are only a fraction of the work actually available to musicians. The U.S. music industry is vast and includes a huge variety of work opportunities. And because musicians are generally multi-talented, they often have marketable skills in more than one area. The majority of today’s professional musicians create satisfying ‘portfolio’ careers, braiding together part-time work and entrepreneurial ventures to capitalize on their talents, interests, and experiences.50

Students will have the opportunity to add New Orleans brass band playing to their

“portfolio” to help them to build career skills that will help them be successful in the competitive professional music market. Creating diverse teaching and learning experiences in the studio environment helps students see the options open to them beyond traditional career paths.

50 Angela Myles Beeching, Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career In Music, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 7. 57

APPENDIX: NEW ORLEANS BRASS BAND SUPPLEMENT

New Orleans Brass Band Supplementary Material Tuba and Euphonium Applied Lessons

The goal of this supplement is to allow instructors of applied tuba and euphonium lessons courses to introduce their students to the skills and styles associated with New Orleans brass band music to improve the overall musicianship and technique level of their studio members. This material is intended to be adaptable to the needs of the instructor.

Suggested Method Books:

Jon Sass: The Jon Sass Bass Line Book for Tuba or Other Low Brass Instruments, Vuarmarens, Switzerland: Editions Bim, 2007.

Sass’ text offers step-by-step instruction about how to construct a bass line through the use of different scales that are commonly found in improvisatory music, such as jazz or New Orleans brass band music. The book comes with a play-along CD that allows the student to learn by playing along with a backing track. Each etude allows the student to learn a rhythmic exercise, a harmonic study, perform with a play- along track, and there is a space for the student to compose their own bass line and play it along with the track. This book will provide a good foundation for the improvisatory skills necessary for playing New Orleans brass band music.

David N. Baker: Jazz Bass Clef Expressions and Explorations: A New and Innovative System for Learning to Improvise for Bass Clef Instruments and Jazz Cello, New Albany, IN: Jamey Aebersold Jazz, Inc., 1995.

David N. Baker, former Distinguished Professor of Jazz Studies in the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, was an internationally regarded jazz pedagogue who contributed a number of texts for the education of students of all levels. This specific text walks the reader through building bass lines through the use of scales. There are separate sections that deal with a specific key or scale. There is also an index that teaches common jazz symbols that prove invaluable.