Jazz musicians traditionally learned jazz improvisation by transcribing other musicians they admired in order to absorb, assimilate and retain important stylistic elements of jazz. Indeed, many famous jazz musicians have testified to the importance of transcribing as part of their jazz education. By the latel960's, jazz increasingly gained acceptance as a legitimate American genre within academia. As jazz studies programs became more formalized in colleges and universities, a plethora of methods and materials have followed suit. Lately, critics of these programs claim that many of the procedures, methods and materials used have abandoned the aural-imitative tradition. This study examines the current use of and the viability of future jazz education methods based primarily on aural-imitative procedures.Forty-one jazz faculty from universities and colleges throughout the United States participated in an interview process. An open-ended questionnaire survey was used to elicit responses. Each was asked a series of questions directly related to transcribing. The responses were recorded via cassette and were transcribed verbatim. In addition, four music teachers at schools at four schools for the blind were asked a similar series of questions. Their interviews responses were analyzed for similarities and differences.The results suggest that current methods do not contain adequate aural representations and that transcription could be a viable alternative to current methods. A practical system based on the transcription paradigm could and should be developed. Current digital technologies and Internet developments may help facilitate an all-transcription based methodology. Certain recordings and solos have become recognized as `masterpieces' that deserve to be transcribed and studied. The insights gained from school for the blind suggest that certain musical aspects may be beet gained from an aural-centric perspective. / School of Music
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/179949 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Re, Adrien Marcus |
| Contributors | Wolfe, George |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 168 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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