Ann Collins Teaching
HOW CAN A CLASSICALLY-TRAINED PIANO TEACHER BEGIN TO TEACH JAZZ?
A classically-trained piano teacher can do a great deal to introduce students to jazz playing. They are often plunged into service when a student announces: “I just made (or was drafted into) the school jazz band. Can you help me with this music?” As this may be the first challenge you face, I’ll deal
with it first, although it would have been preferable for the student to have gradually developed jazz listening and playing skills over a period of time (more about that later).
Begin by asking the student to bring the jazz band charts to the lesson so you can study them. Middle School/Junior High piano parts are usually all written out so even if students cannot read chord symbols or improvise, they can be successful with just a little help from you and the director. Many arrangers of school jazz band music are not pianists and may have limited understanding of what a young student can successfully read and play, so you may have to do some editing. Big chords with six or eight voices can be daunting, so to make these chords more accessible, cross out the less important tones: doubled tones, the fifths, the roots, etc. Be sure to retain 3rds, 7ths, 9ths, and any altered tones.
If possible, meet with the jazz band director to discuss priorities for the pianist and ask for suggestions as to how you can help the student be successful. Sitting in on a rehearsal can also be a valuable learning experience so that you can better get the “feel” or “groove” of each piece of music. (In
lieu of this the student could record a rehearsal.) While you are there, be sure that the instrument--piano or electronic keyboard--and the bench height are appropriate and that the student can hear himself during rehearsals. Help the student work out fingerings and ways to practice each chart. It might be helpful to refer to “Preparing Students for the School Jazz Band” under “ Teaching Jazz Piano” at www.anncollinsjazz.com
Meanwhile, begin working on basic jazz skills which include ear-training, listening, improvisation, chord-voicing, and practicing common chord progressions. The IAJE/MTNA “Jazz Studies Guide” outlines levels of skill development that will help you plan a curriculum of jazz study (www.MTNA.org). Most of these skills, which are essential to jazz playing, are valuable musicianship skills in any musical style. To help piano teachers plan goals and activities, I have developed more detailed jazz piano curriculum guides which can be mailed upon request or downloaded from my website: www.anncollinsjazz.com. I also teach three-day jazz piano workshops for classically-trained teachers throughout the country, and IAJE offers annual teacher-training institutes each summer, one of which includes instruction for piano teachers (www.IAJE.org).
Jazz Piano curriculum levels begin with Pre-Jazz, partly because it’s not really jazz without seventh chords, and triads should be well learned before introducing seventh chords. You may already be teaching major and minor pentascales; major, minor, augmented and diminished triads and I-IV-I-V-I four-voice chord progressions. Although most of today’s widely used piano methods do not venture into many different keys, you should teach the above in all major and minor keys. In addition, teach students to aurally identify all intervals through the fifth (including both major and minor 3rds, and perfect, augmented, and diminished fifths); to distinguish each type of triad; and to hear I-IV-V root movement.
Pre-Jazz Students should be able to harmonize melody lines from triad chord symbols; play familiar folk songs by ear; take short melodic and harmonic dictation; and improvise call (question) and response (answer) phrases. They should regularly and actively listen to jazz artist recordings and attend as many live jazz performances as possible in order to soak up the sound and feel of jazz.
Moving on into beginning (Level I) jazz piano, students continue listening and ear-training activities; focus on voicing all seventh chords in all keys; study the Blues (form, chords, and improvisation); create and transpose licks and call-response patterns; and learn the melodies (heads) of several easy jazz standards by ear. They should begin learning (memorizing the heads, voicing the chords, and improvising new melodies) the easier jazz standards which form the “repertoire” of jazz.
In a real nutshell, Level II study introduces ii-V-I progressions and ninth chords; and Level III involves “rhythm changes” (the harmonic changes to Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm”) with increasingly complex jazz standards and more
demanding listening and ear-training activities.
Materials for teaching beginning through intermediate level jazz piano that are designed for and/or are the most accessible to classically-trained piano teachers include (but are not limited to) the following, all of which include CDs to provide a “should sound” model that is extremely valuable to teachers who cannot demonstrate jazz styles:
“First Adventures in Jazz” and “Further Adventures in Jazz” by Willie Myette (www.jazzkids.com);
“Jazz Works” by Ann Collins (Alfred Pub.);
“Jazz Piano Projects” (FJH Pub);
the “Jazz Piano” series by Charles Beale (ABRSM-Hal
Leonard);
“Play Jazz, Blues, Rock Piano by Ear” by Andy Ostwald (Mel Bay Pub.);
“ Essentials of Jazz Theory” by Shelton Berg (Alfred Pub.) and
“Approaching the Standards” by Willie L Hill, Jr., (Warner Bros-Alfred).
