Busy day yesterday, but not terrible.  Teaching jazz theory, Mark’s lesson, and Big Band.  Then, Jenine took me out to the Rochester Mills Brewing Company for dinner and a milkshake stout.  Yum!

In terms of Jazz Theory, I’ve realized that my historically-based approach to learning improvisation is not applicable to an academic environment.  There’s no way to reproduce the hours of exposure to jazz that our  Great Masters needed in order to learn their music.  Some educators, including myself, often say that the real place to learn jazz is on the bandstand.  This is true.  However, Jenine pointed out that many of the students in my Jazz Theory class are not going to be jazz musicians, and in this sense, they’re not learning the information to be a cutting edge improviser, but more likely learning pedagogy to pass on when they themselves become teachers.  That is not to say that the students in the class want to be the best they can, but they are not jazz majors, and have other obligations within their primary concentrations.

Eventually, I’ll have a jazz major in place, and some of the students will need these courses for these degrees.  For now, the students are steadily increasing in number, and many of them are becoming more skilled at improvising.  I’ve just got to keep plugging away!

M

Tonight I worked with a student who may be one of my new favorites.  You can tell he’s into the bass, and he responds well to teaching.  I like when they come into the first lesson “tabula rasa.”  I get to create habits rather than trying to undo them.

On a completely different subject, but one dear to my heart, I’ve found a new mantra, articulated with simple perfection by one of my top-five influential bassists, Charlie Haden.  (If you have Spotify, click here for a blog-post soundtrack).  I had the honor of having an afternoon hang with Charlie in Ithaca a few years ago, which also happened to be the day his bluegrass record arrived in stores.  As I’m listening to his latest gospel-inspired record with the late Hank  Jones,  (recorded 3 months before Hank passed away), I can’t help but contemplate its significance.  If I were to add anything to the quote, it would be that being involved in any musical experience does change my perception of the passing of time, and of “the moment.”  Daniel Barenboim states that music “quickens” time, but I choose the view that music makes time relativistic, precisely in the sense that time is altered based on the viewpoint of the observer (or in this case, the performer or listener).  I feel like my thoughts are drifting into this realm after this weekend’s performance of Einstein on the Beach by Phillip Glass.  I certainly felt that time was REALLY SLOW watching this opera.  I wonder if I aged ever so slightly faster than the performers on stage. 🙂

This is quickly getting over my head, so I’ll just give you the awesome quote from Mr. Haden:

“I learned at a very young age that music teaches you about life. When you’re in the midst of improvisation, there is no yesterday and no tomorrow — there is just the moment that you are in. In that beautiful moment, you experience your true insignificance to the rest of the universe. It is then, and only then, that you can experience your true significance.”- Charlie Haden

One of the benchmarks of my time here at Oakland has been the development of a recently-created “graduate” or upper-level jazz combo.  It’s the first time since I’ve arrived here that each singular member of the group has a decent amount of “jazz experience” and is deeply motivated to progress with their own exploration of this music.  Tonight I got to play bass with this group.

This is not to say that the combos in the past have not done well.  Just the opposite actually.  Under Sean Dobbins’s leadership, many Oakland students have come a long way in their fundamental approach on how to play jazz.  There is one main difference between the upper-level combo and the others, however, and that difference is partly out of the  control of the participants.  The difference is that the upper-level combo generally consists of musicians who have been through the rigors of an undergrad degree, and now have the RAM to study almost solely what they wish as opposed to what is dictated to them.  This is a common occurrence at ANY University and is expressly the purpose of a specialization degree.

Inevitably, these musicians are also older than the average undergrad, and this gives the the advantage of experience, specifically playing experience outside of the University.  This type of requisite playing is more effective than any Professor in learning how to play jazz, and it has been this way since its inception.  Although the last thing I want is to make my appointment superfluous, really, all the academic study in the world won’t give someone the “grit” they need to be successful as a “jazz” musician.

In my opinion, there’s no more positive message than inspiration through example.  My hope is that those involved in the jazz program at OU will aspire to the level of musicianship these guys are demonstrating.  I’m proud of all the jazz students at OU, particularly those who have put a lot of hard work into the Big Band.  I need their help more than anyone to develop the program.  I hope we can, as musicians with a common goal, continue the awesome forward progress.