Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
Kutztown, Pennsylvania
MUP 289
JAZZ ORCHESTRA
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Arrangements that are characteristic of a variety of jazz styles are included in the course. These
include representative music from 1940 to the present. Student participating in the band gain
both ensemble and solo experience, the latter frequently through improvisation. Rehearsals are
held from 12:00 to 12:50 p.m. each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and culminate in various
performances on and off campus.
Audition is required. One semester hour credit upon completion of one semester (not necessarily
consecutive semesters).
COURSE RATIONALE
Many of the insights and understandings basic to the art of music can be best realized via
performance. The Jazz Orchestra provides opportunities for students to develop their technical
and interpretive potentialities by offering them exposure to various types and styles of music
literature. The actual performance of music allows the student to develop a greater sensitivity to
and understanding of the elements, techniques, and stylistic concepts of the musical score.
Hence, aesthetic and intellectual musical awareness develop within the experiential parameters of
a jazz band.
The artistic and academic values experienced by the students belonging to a jazz band is
commensurate with the artistic and academic values of studio courses in other areas. This
equation is valid since the studio course format involves creative and interpretive aesthetic
applications that elicit psycho-motor responses -- the very type of creative and interpretive
responses realized by the participants of a jazz band.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The Kutztown University Jazz Orchestra:
1.
Develops musical appreciation through the study and performance jazz
and jazz related styles.
2.
Develops musicianship through greater insight or perception into the
elements of music.
3.
Develops student’s behavioral refinement in performance through greater
sensitivity to intonation, articulation, phrasing, dynamics, rhythm,
technique and tone quality.
4.
Brings about peripheral objectives in the development of good citizenship
through good ethical character and self-discipline.
5.
Develops a musical performance literature repertoire.
6.
Develops a music performance program that allows for educational
interrelationships between college and community.
7.
Develops the creative mind to perform extemporaneously through
improvisation.
COURSE OUTLINE
A.
Jazz Band
1.
History of the Jazz Band Movement
a.
Dixieland band and the blues of the South
b.
Jazz band progress up Mississippi to Chicago
c.
Jazz band spreads throughout United States
d.
Jazz band in today’s public schools and colleges
2.
Instrumentation
a.
Saxophones, trumpets, trombones and rhythm section
b.
Strength of individual players and effective depth of sections
c.
Range of individual’s instrumental capacity with total ensemble’s
capacity
d.
Tone quality of individual with ensemble
e.
Improvisation by solo performers and total group
3.
Seating
a.
Placement of instruments of sections for total ensemble sound
4.
Repertoire
a.
Type of jazz band literature
1) Stock arrangements
2) Experimental arrangements
b.
Diversification of styles of jazz literature
1) Blues
2) Dixieland
3) Bop
4) Cool
5) Progressive
6) Rock
7) Free improvisational
5.
Individual Development for Group Musicianship
a.
Quality tone production
b.
Rhythmic and tonal accuracy
c.
Good physical habits
1) Good posture
2) Breath support
d.
Special techniques involved with specific instruments
e.
Style of performing
f.
Musical vocabulary
g.
h.
I.
6.
7.
Sight reading skill
Improvisational ability
Rehearsal deportment
1) Attendance
2) Practice
3) Listening
4) Creativity
5) Responsibility to total group and director
Improvisation
a.
Intuition and originality
b.
Intellectual energy
c.
Emotional content
d.
Sense of pitch through development of ear
e.
Taste
f.
Construction of chords with sixth, seventh, ninth, etc.
(Functional harmony)
g.
Understanding scales
1) Major
2) Minor
3) Augmented
4) Diminished
5) Modal
I.
Understand form
1) 32-measure concept with AABA structure
2) Expanded forms from the 32-measure concept
j.
Creating melodies with rhythm section
k.
Creating rhythmic patterns with melodic concept
l.
Creating melodic and rhythmic concepts
m.
Creating harmonic concepts with total ensemble
Evaluation
a.
b.
Student Auditions
Performances
1) Solo
2) Ensemble
3) Shows
4) Concerts
INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES
Actual music being performed plus material derived from the following texts:
Baker, David. Jazz Improvisation. Chicago IL: Downbeat Publishers, 1969.
Coker, Jerry. Improvising Jazz. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964.
Levey, Joseph. Basic Jazz Improvisation. Delaware Water Gap, PA: Shawnee Press, Inc., 1970.