Music Instrumental: Jazz (MPAJZ-GE)

Graduate Jazz Seminar will present weekly interviews & discussions wit seminal Jazz artists from around the world. Discussions will include performance practices & oral histories. Students from the Jazz Studies Program are required to attend.

Designed primarily for Master's candidates in music performance and/or composition. Synthesis for learning based on performance. Recital and a Master's final written project are required.

Graduate level jazz improvisation for instrumentalists. Focus on extensive playing and reviewing of styles from Bop to free Jazz. Material will be distributed through student transcriptions. Emphasis will be placed on the development of technique, mental focus and comprehending new trends in harmonic practices and applying them in playing situations

Graduate level jazz improvisation for instrumentalists. Focus on extensive playing and new trends in jazz composition. Music from contemporary modal, tonal and chromatic sources (hybrid or slash chords) will be used as material for improvisation. Advanced rhythmic concepts will also be studied and applied in playing sessions.

By exploring the development of the musical traditions found within specific regions of the US & beyond, this class will focus on people & events that helped shape the evolution of jazz music. We will explore the circumstances & coincidences that propelled jazz into the world as viewed through the lens of cultural, social, technological, political & religious implications.

Ensemble participation focusing on a variety of jazz styles.

Advanced seminar focusing on historical and current trends in jazz improvisation, composition, and arranging. Individual assignments, analysis and transcription.

This course surveys the history and development of jazz music in America from the mid 1800s to current trends in popular music. Through a historical timeline, students study jazz music’s range of styles as informed by social, regional, cultural, technological, and political trends. Realizing that all music is a reflection of historical events and the cultures they are informed by, students analyze the close connection between jazz music and why it is known as America’s true original artform. This course does not count towards graduate degree requirements.

An introduction to the materials of jazz arranging through examination of music scores from early twentieth-century sources to the present. Students produce their own arrangements.

An extension of MPAJZ-2273 with a special emphasis on arrangements for large jazz ensembles.

It should be noted that independent study requires a minimum of 45 hours of work per point. Independent study cannot be applied to the established professional education sequence in teaching curricula. Each departmental program has established its own maximum credit allowance for independent study. This information may be obtained from a student?s department. Prior to registering for independent study, each student should obtain an Independent Study Approval Form from the adviser.

Private or group lessons (by examination) in instrumental jazz, supplemented by extra assignments, outside practice, and observation.