The problem with which this study is concerned is that of developing a recommended sequential format for jazz improvisation instruction. The method of content analysis is used. Seventeen subject matter categories (instructional areas) are established upon which the data is analyzed. Coding instructions are constructed with adjustments for additional emphasis placed on the instruction areas by the respective authors. By selecting instructional areas recorded above the median per cent of emphasis, and co-ordinating these areas with the mean sequential introduction of each instructional area, a recommended format of instruction is developed.

This dissertation examines issues of social class and musical parenting within the context of an early childhood jazz education program. Using administrative and survey data from 469 self-selected families from six cities in the U.S. where this program is offered, I aimed to identify what factors play a role in parental decisions for enrolling in the program and whether those factors were associated with their social class. Considering this early childhood jazz program as an organized activity supports the analysis of music classes as a form of investment in cultural capital fostered by parents. I used current economic models of the family and theories of social and cultural class reproduction to understand families’ participation in the program and their musical engagement. Principal component analysis revealed four components representing possible reasons that drove parents to enroll in the program: Cultural and Educational Enrichment for the Future; Appreciation of Jazz; Socialization and Bonding; and Social Networks. Simple linear regression analysis showed significant associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and two principal components (Cultural and Educational Enrichment for the Future and Social Networks). Overall, parents showed high scores of both general and musical engagement, and those variables were highly correlated. Additionally, there were no statistically significant associations between parents’ previous formal musical experiences and their musical engagement when controlling for musical materials at home and their average value of music education. Parents’ engagement with the program activities was positively associated with their music making at home and that association stayed stable and strong after taking into account sociodemographic factors, parents’ values of music education and access to musical materials. Families from lower SES backgrounds used activities and materials from the jazz class at home with more frequency than families from other SES groups. This finding could suggest that when lower SES families are given access, they incorporate new musical tools and ideas from the jazz program as affordances to increase their parenting skills; therefore, the impact of the program might be stronger for those parents than for the other more advantaged groups. Jazz music in this context seems to be working as an equalizer of opportunities by reducing inequalities.

The purpose of this study was to compare and review curricular offerings in selected institutions in the United States that presently are identified as offering (a) formal degree(s) in jazz studies to music majors at the master's degree level.This writer has identified: common areas of study, similarities in jazz studies departmental core requirements, and school of music core requirements, ensemble participation required of students, ensembles available to students, and areas unique to a particular curricula. One hundred percent of the institutions surveyed were members of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). The review of related literature includes general guidelines and principles as published by NASM pertaining to specific master's degrees in jazz studies.A secondary goal was to identify elements relating to the academic and professional background of the jazz studies directors, and the collective graduate jazz faculty as a unit.A third goal was to establish a composite sketch of the typical graduate jazz program and curriculum in the United States.Using the process of content analysis, various university catalogs and graduate handbooks were reviewed. Additionally, questionnaires completed by the directors of jazz studies programs from twenty-three universities were examined. The questionnaire asked respondents to identify their professional and academic background, in addition to estimating information regarding the academic and professional backgrounds of the collective graduate jazz faculty. Professional experience questions related to recording dates, concerts, touring, casual dates, and show experience. Academic background questions related to degrees held, when and where they were earned, continuing education practices, and publishing background. Respondents were asked to provide institutional demographics and philosophies in relation to existing curricula, and various institutional policies regarding the jazz studies department and the prioritization of course work and essential skills. Further, respondents were asked to give statistical information regarding the age of various programs within the curriculum, student population, library holdings, ensemble availability, performance and touring practices, type of literature performed, graduate assistants, administrative support, and guest artist budgets. Data were presented in combination narrative and outline form. Tables were utilized whenever appropriate. / School of Music

This written thesis accompanies a 32-minute documentary video, Journey for Jazz, which explores four Korean students who major in jazz at the University of North Texas in Denton. Detailed accounts of the pre-production, production, and post-production of the video guide the reader to understand the challenging and rewarding process of making this documentary. Theoretical issues are also discussed, including Bill Nichols's typology of documentary modes as a useful tool for analysis of hybrid documentaries and conventions of the observational and interactive mode in Journey for Jazz, which is considered a hybrid of both modes. The film focuses mainly on the scholarly and artistic experiences that the four students undergo while studying jazz in the United States.

Students' perspectives in jazz education have gone largely ignored. A modified analytic inductive design allowed me to look broadly at the students' jazz band experience while specifically investigating their views about playing individualized parts, improvising, and interpreting and articulating swing rhythms. A focus group procedure was altered (Krueger, 1995) and incorporated into my teaching of 19 students. Two 30 minute sessions per week over a 12 week period were video- and audiotaped. Audiotaped exit interviews provided data in a non-social environment. All data were transcribed and coded in order to identify major themes and trends. Conclusions were verified through member checks, several types of triangulation and other qualitative analysis techniques. Trustworthiness was determined through an audit. Cognitively and physically, students had to accommodate musical techniques as these differed from those used in concert band. Some students were confused by the new seating arrangement and the playing of individualized parts. While some students could perform distinctly different swing and straight interpretations of the same song without external cues, others could only perform this task with external cues. Some changes in articulation were well within the students' capabilities while other techniques were more difficult to accommodate. Several students felt 'uptight' while they improvised alone in front of their peers, noting group improvisation and rhythmic embellishment of familiar tunes as being helpful in assuaging these feelings. Students recognized the environmental differences between concert band and jazz band, and reported more freedom of expression in jazz band. Particularly enjoying this freedom, the more willing improvisors banded together as a clique. The students' learning was viewed as being situated in the context of jazz band. 'Musical perturbation' and cognitive apprenticeship described students' physical and cognitive accommodation of the new context. The instructional strategies students found to be most helpful were student-centered and derived from cognitive behavior modification and scaffolding theory.

Examination of the relationship of musicianship and educatorship of teacher and students as interacting partners in a specific musical context proceeded with investigation of how formal, informal, impressionistic, and supervisory musical and educational knowledge were evidenced in rehearsal. Attention was also given to how the teaching strategies of modeling, coaching, scaffolding, fading, articulating, reflecting comparatively, and exploring were used to develop student musicianship. The research methodology may best be described as an inductive analytical case study approach. Multiple data sources included: videotaped observations of 19 bi-weekly rehearsals, audio taped interviews of the 12 participants, supplemental materials, (a published interview, journal articles, rehearsal schedules), and member checking with the teacher and David Elliott. Rehearsal data were initially organized into categories identified in David J. Elliott's (1995) model. The relationship of teacher and student musicianship, and teacher educatorship emerged during analysis. Musical details of problem finding, reducing and solving were also identified. Three themes emerged from the student interviews: their perceptions of the teacher's musicianship, general rehearsal strategies, and the teacher's use of specific teaching strategies. Interviews with the teacher illuminated his perception of musicianship and teaching strategies employed in the context. The findings confirmed that as music making transpired in the rehearsals, the kinds of knowing present in the musicianship of teacher and students and the teacher's educatorship were not only intertwined but were utilized at the same time. The level of student musicianship was allied to the relationship of the teacher's musicianship and educatorship. The intricate relationship between the kinds of procedural knowledge that Elliott identifies as integral to music making and music teaching are illustrated in a set of diagrams. Additionally, they show the wide range of technical and musical problems the teacher and students solved together in order for the multifarious nature of the vocal jazz repertoire to be performed effectively in a series of concerts.