Bar Ilan University
Epistemology and Creative Thinking in Jazz Pedagogy
Raz Yitzhaki Ph.D
Music Department, Faculty of Humanities
Bar Ilan University
Ramat-Gan, Israel
December 2016
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Abstract
Creativity is as essential pillar in music-making and despite its importance, it is often avoided in music education. Similarly, the aesthetics of various musical genres implicitly hold unique a relation to musical knowledge, yet epistemology is rarely discussed among music educators, despite the fact that their main concern is musical knowledge.
Jazz music-making and pedagogy rely greatly on the development of creative thinking and implicitly hold a unique epistemology which should not be overlooked, yet, jazz music-making and pedagogy are seldom examined and discussed in these terms. The identification, analysis and understanding of the creative aspects and unique epistemology of jazz as a discipline are important for both jazz and general music educators in their quest for an authentic reflection of music-making processes in their pedagogy. While music educators tend to speak in terms of aesthetics, creativity and epistemology are inseparable elements of music making and should be addressed in music education.
Scholars define creativity as integration between persons, processes and products and stress the importance of the collective aspects of group creativity in the learners' community. They also criticize music education for often avoiding the addressing of creativity in the music classroom.
Polarizing approaches towards aesthetics dramatically affect music education. Formalists stress that music-meaning lies in formal music elements, and they focus their teaching on canonic repertoire through listening, analysis and discussion – while praxialists argue that music-meaning can be extracted only through direct engagement with music-making. The debate around aesthetics in music education also encompasses the discussion about formal and informal music learning.
Learning is engaged with knowledge and implicitly mirrors our assumption of it. Positivist and constructivist paradigms offer different approaches to the nature of reality, our relation to knowledge and to the ways through which we seek knowledge. In addition, theories of knowledge have a great impact on the construction of educational systems, differing school subject frameworks and higher research disciplines. The discussion of epistemological aspects is crucial for education.
The aim of the current research is to analyze the aspects of creative thinking and epistemology which are tacitly embedded in the aesthetics of both pedagogy and music-making processes in the jazz realm. The research aims to relate creative thinking in jazz pedagogy to advanced educational concepts of knowledge and higher learning. A theoretical model for a jazz curriculum has yet to be proposed. An additional aim of this research is to construct such an effective model, based on the findings and conclusions of the research. This model is one of the main contributions of this research. The model is offered for examination and modification to other realms of music education. In ordered to achieve these aims, a qualitative theoretical-conceptualization based content analysis methodology was used for the analysis of two types of sources. An analysis of learning materials as primary sources provided insight into jazz methods and pedagogy. In addition, a body of research on jazz music-making in communities was analyzed as a secondary source for the completion of a view of the common methods and practices of this realm.
The analysis of the findings highlights the notion of a pedagogy which authentically reflects the discipline's music-making processes. I suggest that both pedagogy and practice dramatically promote the development of creative thinking, the confluence of convergent and divergent thinking, an ecological system of collective group creativity, paraxial aesthetics, experimentation, informal learning, peer learning and a personal constructivist learning process in which learners are responsible for their paths. I argue that jazz epistemology relies on positivist, stylistic, formulated musical knowledge but essentially on the constructivist 'research' which learners conduct for the excavation of personal knowledge from primary sources, the innovation of new knowledge, and its transformation and sharing in their community. Most importantly, jazz epistemology embodies a research discipline organizational knowledge paradigm from the early stages of the learning process.
The holistic view yielded by the conclusions of this analysis of jazz pedagogy and music-making review has been translated into the construction of an integrative theoretical model for jazz curriculum. The suggested model encompasses the linear development of knowledge, skills and abilities of various types and synoptically integrates them. Moreover, its design offers teachers the space needed for the expression of their own jazz pedagogical content knowledge, students’ creative thinking development and the unique disciplinary epistemology of jazz.
The conclusions and implications of this research constitute a contribution not only to jazz education but to music education in general. I hope that educators will examine, develop and modify the suggested model to fit to their needs, and benefit from this study’s conclusions and methodologies for their own examination of creativity and epistemological aspects in their pedagogy. Finally, the study’s conclusions offer ideas for future research in music education beyond jazz.
Introduction
Creativity is at the essence of music making; creative individuals are engaged in creative processes that produce creative products. One would expect that creativity and its development should be a center pillar in music education. While scholars (Balkin, 1990; Hickey & Webster, 2001; Webster, 1990) stress the importance of the development of creative thinking in music education, they also question its actual status in the music classroom, hinting that it is frequently absent. The engagement with students' creative thinking development in the music education cannot be taken for granted.
Webster (1979) suggests that among the various creative processes with which students and musicians are engaged, improvisation involves higher levels of creativity than does the reproduction of composed pieces. Still, while improvisation is at the core of jazz music practice, the development of creative thinking and its manifestation in jazz pedagogy has not yet been addressed in scholars' writings about creativity in music education.
As a jazz musician, music has always been a creative way to express myself and the role of creativity in my jazz music-making has never been doubted. As a music educator, this issue has been under examination: what is the place of the development of creative thinking in jazz pedagogy?
It is important to identify, analyze and discuss the means by which jazz music-making and pedagogy manifest the development of creative thinking in order to better the implementation of creativity in education: jazz and music in general.
But there is more to investigate in jazz education. In contrast to traditional Western music’s celebration of canonic masterpieces (Cook, 1998; Taruskin, 1989), the aesthetical focal point of jazz shifts towards artists' performances of improvised music. Jazz performance is highly related to complex theoretical and practical knowledge which musicians manifest as they perform. The music that jazz musicians perform is not laid out in their music sheets; most of it is in their heads and they make it along their way, while keeping track of tunes' forms and collectively communicating with their group members in a dynamic musical surrounding. Clearly, jazz performance tacitly embodies a unique approach to musical knowledge.
Musicians tend to discuss their art in terms of music aesthetics and not terms of knowledge theories (i.e. epistemology). However, since teaching is about knowledge, educators ought to also discuss jazz's unique epistemology in the translation of music practice to pedagogy; jazz must be analyzed also in terms of the concept of knowledge underlying the creative processes of its music-making and pedagogy.
Therefore, the understanding of both creative processes and unique epistemology underlying jazz's music-making is essential for educators in order to successfully and authentically reflect them in music pedagogy.
Research Aim
The aim of this research is to analyze and discuss the implicit aspects of development of creative thinking and unique epistemology underlying jazz pedagogy and music-making processes – and to explore their implicit possible relation to polarizing approaches to musical aesthetics. The research aims to relate creative thinking in jazz pedagogy to advanced educational concepts of knowledge and higher learning. Although jazz education is being academically discussed, the unique epistemology (and aspects of creative thinking) that underlies jazz music-making and pedagogy has not yet been researched. In addition, based on its findings and conclusions, this research aims to construct a theoretical model for an effective jazz curriculum which has not yet been proposed in the literature.
Theoretical Review
Findings
Discussion, Conclusions and Implications
P for place, jazz's enabling conditions for creativity
In their definition of creativity, educators (Hickey & Webster, 2001) stress the important interaction of "person, process and product" and hint at the responsibility of teachers to provide students with the "enabling conditions" for the development of their students' creative thinking. I argue that the aesthetics of jazz have inherently shaped a musical practice that accents the integrated development of creative persons, processes and products in an unprecedented manner.
The way jazz aesthetics promote the integration of divergent and convergent thinking, problem finding and solving, experimentation, improvisation, personalization of the learning process, freedom of expression, knowledge sharing, development and transformation, collaborative creativity, peer learning and safe venues in the form of jam sessions – manifest jazz as the 'place' providing the "enabling conditions" for the development of creative thinking. Jazz education which authentically succeeds to reflect the actual music-making as celebrated within the community profoundly embodies elements of development of creative thinking. Thus, the delineated inherent aesthetics of jazz manifest the notion of genre aesthetics as possible enabling conditions for the development of creative thinking; a 'place' to be added as a forth 'P' to the interaction between person, process and product.
Defining epistemological aspects implicitly underlying jazz practice
Musicians relate to their art in terms of aesthetics. We have seen that the community practice of jazz music as an art-form has established a shift of the aesthetic focus from the reproduction of canonic compositions of prominent composers to the innovative performances of improvising artists. Jazz music educators, musicians who have authentically translated the actual practice of music-making to pedagogic materials, also speak in terms of aesthetics. However, implicit in the actual practices of music-making in the community and educators' pedagogy is a dominant unique way of relating to musical knowledge. It has been shown that aesthetics greatly affect epistemological aspects regarding the nature of the musical reality, the relationship between the learners and the objects of knowledge and the ways in which knowledge is constructed, handled and developed.
Music education, among other aspects, involves knowledge. Thus, in order to better their teaching, in addition to their aesthetic discussion, educators must fully understand the epistemological aspects underlying their discipline in order to authentically address them in their teaching and curricula; educators must also speak in terms of epistemology.
Positivist and constructivist paradigms of knowledge.
In their effort to formulate standardized pedagogy, educators have collected stylistic practical elements from transcribed recordings and translated them to musical theories. Formulated musical theories and knowledge have eventually led to the development of theory and method books and to the establishment of courses and standardized curricula of institutionalized programs. The epistemological essence of this knowledge is positivist: formulated, organized, standardized and available as absolute ready-made knowledge. Indeed, many positivist formal elements are involved in the music theory of jazz which relies on Western traditional theories and analysis methods. The understanding of complex formal-theoretical knowledge and its practical mastery are crucial for performance: jazz performers must master formal knowledge in order to perform.
The community's attitude towards music, its creators and jazz pedagogy reflects yet another paradigm that works in conjunction with the positivist paradigm. By suggesting formal theory, practical technique for improvisation and mental preparation for students' creative journey, educators equip students with tools which are meant to enable them to construct their own knowledge. Their experience and informal interactions with other members of the community add to their contextual understanding and the construction of their artistic personal identity. Interviews with musicians within the community confirm that the learning experience of students is personal, relative and subjective, for, as shown in the review, students are personally responsible for their experience, interactions and exploratory paths. In other words, under the practice of jazz, students construct subjective meaning through experimentation and interaction.
The aesthetic shift towards innovative improvised performances highlights exceptional personalized music-making and learning processes which are divergent and contextual. Direct experience and experimentation are the means through which learners construct their individual knowledge and subjective meaning; dependent on their interaction with it, with their contextual surrounding and the complex ecological systems of knowledge-sharing and development with their community. Thus, practitioners are engaged not only in learning knowledge but also in the contribution of knowledge development within their community (local to global, dependent on their level of artistic achievements). Learners also assimilate constructivist research methodologies in order to construct their knowledge: declarative and most importantly procedural.
Therefore, I argue that the constructivist paradigm dramatically colors the background and the foreground of jazz pedagogy, although in all the reviewed literature presented hereby none of the educators or the researchers discuss paradigms of knowledge. Their discussion is purely aesthetical, yet their practices utilize both positivist and more significantly constructivist knowledge, even if it is never discussed in these terms. I stress that in music, aesthetics define epistemology. This notion cannot be overlooked when educators translate aesthetics to pedagogy.
Knowledge conversion cycle.
I suggest that the analysis of the ways musicians and students handle knowledge reveals that through their practice they repeatedly transform knowledge from one type to another in a unique cycle.
Jazz students use recorded documentations of artists' performances as primary sources of knowledge. Recorded music is a manifestation of the artists' praxial knowledge which is also dependent on their theoretical knowledge. However, unlike the explicit knowledge which is available in theory books, recorded knowledge is implicit; students must excavate it through listening in order to poses and examine it. While students try to figure out what they hear on the recordings, they transform implicit knowledge to explicit. Transcribing this new explicit knowledge allows them to visualize, analyze and transfer it to verbal theoretical knowledge which can serve them and other members of their community.
Trying to actually play and imitate masters' steps, students transform this newly understood explicit knowledge to praxial knowledge. At this stage they practically try out different techniques, fingerings, chord voicings, breath, articulation, etc. until they master it on their instruments; they personally "embody" (Borgo, 2006) practical knowledge of other musicians.
While practically working on micro nuances perfecting their performance students are engaged in developing personal tacit knowledge. Tone color, sound production, rhythmic nuances of 'drive' or 'swing feel' cannot be notated. They may be compared to a specific lingual accent. This personal practical knowledge is tacit; it is individually developed through practice and it solely belongs to the performer. Students searching for their own 'swing feel' and rhythmic drive are also engaged in tacit to tacit knowledge learning and development.
It is important to underline that in their learning process from primary sources students must conduct constructivist research in order to excavate implicit knowledge and to transform it to other types. Students always work within the limitations of their ability: beginners' limited abilities allow them to explore basic simple sources. As their abilities develop and expand through their professional progress, advanced students are capable of extracting complex knowledge from challenging sources.
Thus, I argue that although musicians might not speak of it in this sense, these learning practices are a holistic exercise of knowledge transformation.
Research discipline organizational knowledge underlying creative thinking in jazz practice and pedagogy
Karmon's (2007) description of organizational knowledge and the distinction between "school subject framework" (i.e. school to graduate) and "research discipline" (i.e. most notably in post-graduate stage) is discussed regarding educational systems in general. However, his argument is relevant to common practices of music education as well.
Organizational knowledge in school music education.
Although not directly addressed, some of the criticism brought in Karmon's (2007) writing is also echoed in the writings of music educators (Hickey & Webster, 2001) who call for the engagement of creative thinking in music education. There are two main implications concerning the current situation of music education and the enormous possible impact of the embedding of the development of creative thinking in music classes.
The risk of underestimating creative thinking in music education.
First, according to the picture that has been portrayed by Hickey and Webster (2001), music education systems tend to avoid directly addressing the development of creative thinking and to postpone it to late stages. This tendency mirrors the common school subject framework organizational knowledge described by Karmon (2007) as follows.
The main cognitive aim of the school subject framework is the inculcation of existing knowledge, whereas only during advanced studies are students encouraged to creatively produce original music, to compose, or to improvise (Hickey & Webster, 2001, p. 22). The school subject framework's preferred cognitive performance is a final exam and such are theory and harmony exams using pen and pencils, or concerts where pupils are measured by the quality of their performance on a prepared piece. Original compositions and independent genuine performances are preferred cognitive presentations only during later stages of education. The teaching of closed questions in school mentioned by Karmon (2007) is equivalent to the commonly found harmony exams, in which students are asked to harmonize a figured-bass phrase or a given soprano line, to find the tonal center of the theme of a sonata and so on. These tests usually have one correct answer which is known to the teacher (Goodlad, 1984; Sarason, 1996) and may be found in the textbook. The selection of knowledge would generally be basic accepted knowledge of the content area (Bernstein, 1990; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977; Karmon, 2007).
An important criticism raised by Karmon, is that the school subject framework often relates to knowledge in an inert manner that is non-disciplinary; although students learn subjects which are products of research, they do not learn to think in the unique disciplinary manner. While learning history for example, students do not exercise research thinking in the same manner historians do; instead, they learn about history. This is an important issue which music educators must discuss: does music teaching in the school subject framework authentically reflect the actual creative processes which are at the heart of music-making as a discipline? Borrowing Schwab's (1973) term, does teaching reflect the "faces" of the discipline's essence? Do teachers incorporate authentic "pedagogic content knowledge" (Shulman, 1986)? Do music pupils learn to actually think as musicians? According to music educators' criticism, the answer is often negative: by avoiding addressing the development of creative thinking, music teaching in the school subject framework tends not to utilize and nurture the unique way of thinking of music as a discipline.
Convergent thinking is fundamental for music education as it is for education of other disciplines. The packaging of positivist knowledge in textbooks and its transmission is important for structuring necessary pieces of information in the learners' minds. However, this 'as is' knowledge has been produced "somewhere else" and it is often viewed as material that students must digest (Karmon, 2007). Music educators must remember that music is a product of a constructivist creative process involving creative thinking. If students are engaged only in convergent thinking without being stimulated to divergent thinking, if students are not involved in problem finding and solving during their learning, if music is not experienced in a personal manner and if music is not practiced in a creative manner, then music teaching-learning processes are detached from the true essence of the discipline: creativity. It has been seen in previous chapters that the fact that music - which is the creative product of creative collaborative individuals who are engaged in creative processes - is the learnt subject, does not necessarily guarantee that music education will be creative.
Organizational knowledge of creative thinking in music education.
The other side of the coin is surprisingly optimistic. Music education which succeeds in implementing the development of creative thinking carries benefits beyond music education in ways that even educators have not yet articulated. Karmon (2007) comments about high school classes in arts (film, theatre, fine arts, music), in which primary sources of knowledge have been used instead of the common "school secondary sources". Arts students showed "impressive levels of commitment and effort" to classes in the field, in comparison to their other classes (Karmon, 2007, p. 631).
I assume that art classes involve the encouragement of their students' creativity and its development. I have suggested in previous chapters that the usage of primary sources of information in art classes is only one aspect of many which take place in a teaching-learning process which exposes students to a different paradigm than that which is common in the school subject framework: an organizational knowledge that is aligned with the discipline way of thinking, produces powerful teaching-learning processes.
According to the aforementioned writers, teachers who emphasize the development of creative thinking in their teaching, promote divergent alongside convergent thinking, experimentation, inquiry and problem solving and a personalized learning process. The development of creative thinking is dependent on the incorporation of a constructivist paradigm, an element that might be rare in the dominant positivist paradigm of the school subject. It is possible that the incorporation of a constructivist paradigm with a positivist paradigm is the key element allowing students to experience higher levels of knowledge organization; the very essential element of which research disciplines in comprised.
Research discipline organizational knowledge embedded in jazz education.
Jazz as a discipline has been taken in this dissertation as an example, a kind of case study, as it were, for music pedagogy, examined for its aspects of creative thinking and unique epistemology. It has been seen that jazz education which succeeds in authentically reflecting the essences of jazz music-making embodies profound elements of development of creative thinking and a unique epistemology. I suggest that the examination of jazz music-making as a discipline and its pedagogy reveals that there are many aspects which they share with the organizational knowledge of the research discipline as follows.
It has been seen that the cognitive aim of jazz practice and pedagogy is not only the inculcation of existing knowledge as commonly found in the school subject framework, but mainly the creation of new knowledge which is typical to a research discipline. Although students are expected to master traditional stylistic musical knowledge the preferred cognitive performance according to which they are evaluated, is the creation of original genuine knowledge, whether it is improvised or composed. It has been seen that jazz learning relies on knowledge that students explore by studying and transcribing the performances of their idols. Despite the great respect the community has for canonic knowledge, it belongs to its creators (Berliner, 1994, p. 101); learnt solos are never reproduced on stage. The way the jazz community regards knowledge and accents innovation rather than reproduction, resembles the research discipline's way: researchers base their work on the knowledge-infrastructure of previous researchers' works; however they are not praised for the reproduction of the accumulation of learnt knowledge, but rather, on the innovation of genuine knowledge.
Jazz students are expected to be creatively involved in both problem solving and finding, which are equivalent to what Kuhn (1970) refers to as "scientific riddles". The solutions for these problems are not known in advance either to the students or to their teachers; the performance of improvising jazz musicians cannot be expected in advance. During the primary stages of learning students are presented with basic conventional selected knowledge which resembles school subject framework guidelines, but at the same time they are stimulated to explore uncertain venues, to experiment and to challenge their limits. The inquiry into (uncertain) ambiguous realms is typical of a research discipline. Methods and theory books have been available for jazz students as secondary sources of information ever since the middle of the twentieth century. However, like a research discipline, jazz students rely mainly on primary sources of information in the shape of recordings from which they personally excavate knowledge.
Researchers (Gardner, 1991; Page, 1999; Wineburg, 1991) have criticized school subject teaching for not utilizing the disciplines' unique ways of thinking (Karmon, 2007). A strong correlation has been demonstrated in this dissertation between the practical methods of jazz music-making and its pedagogy. The particular disciplinary ways of relating to knowledge in a research discipline where students are required to apply a disciplinary perspective, is embedded in jazz pedagogy from early stages of learning. This connection between pedagogy and the actual practices of jazz as a discipline cannot be taken for granted.
The dominant shift of responsibility for jazz pedagogy onto the shoulders of the student for constructivist self-exploration, where students are expected to construct their own disciplinary knowledge and to determine the paths they must take in order to accomplish musicianship, is parallel to the characteristic paths which individuals in the research discipline must take; learning relies on research more than on a structured institutionalized curriculum.
Therefore, I argue that jazz as a discipline embodies organizational knowledge of a research discipline.
School jazz program as a research discipline: Organizational knowledge autonomy within the school subject framework.
The practice of an authentic jazz program in schools allows students to be engaged in profound constructivist disciplinary learning, to be engaged in creative thinking development, problem finding and solving, combing convergent and divergent thinking, and to experience personalized learning.
Moreover, school subject framework students have a chance to be actively engaged in group mind ecological knowledge system (Borgo, 2006) and to explore knowledge organization of a research paradigm as an autonomous realm within their school subject framework. In simple words, it allows school students to experience higher thinking of research realms while being in school. Given Karmon's (2007) criticism about the common knowledge organization in the school subject framework, this may be a rather rare opportunity and serve educators as a powerful tool. I suggest two main conclusions that can be drawn from this notion.
Institutions that have the facilities to provide authentic jazz programs should make the effort to do so, not just for the sake of experiencing a profound music teaching-learning process, but also in order to enjoy the opportunity to enable their students to be engaged in research discipline organizational knowledge, higher thinking and an ecological group mind system - and to celebrate its autonomy within the school subject framework.
Secondly, I suggest that music educators should take an extra step beyond the aesthetics discussion - and expose their students to the meanings of knowledge systems and concepts underlying their jazz music practice. The discussion of these epistemological issues of their music-making is potentially important for students' understanding not only within the realm of their musical experience, but also as a lesson to be learnt and explored in the real world of other disciplines they encounter.
Deconstruction of criticism against the usage of canon in institutionalized education.
Whyton (2006) calls for a critical reading into the canon of jazz and the way it is approached in educational systems and the community. Common criticism against the canon claims that it has idolized favorite artists, performances and compositions in addition to genres, improvisational approaches and eventually stifled innovation in institutionalized jazz instruction. He offers a mid-way according to which the canon can be accepted in its traditional role: forming the well accepted academic agenda regarding the aesthetics of jazz and linguistic common ground. In addition, he encourages educators to relate to it in their teaching in a critical manner and to expose the forces which work in the service of both views.
Supporting Whyton's argument, I wish to add that even without the academic discussion regarding the place of the canon in the jazz community, the way jazz is celebrated shows that regardless of the place where musicians have originally learnt and developed their art, the influence of the community is stronger than all aspects of formal education, including the institutionalized view of the canon. Listening to modern jazz it is clear that this art form has made a quantum leap in branching out and away from its traditions. It would seem that artists have taken the mission of personal innovation and research as a philosophy guiding their artistic way of life. The way jazz is celebrated in the community sheds light on the notion that more than a music style, jazz is a philosophy which allows the symbiotic coexistence of both canon and innovation.
The canon should continue maintaining its important role in the construction of music education as the basis of its stylistic and linguistic ground and its philosophical core as an art form. The way it is celebrated assures that the jazz community will constantly defy the canon in its dynamic constant quest for innovation. I strongly agree that educators should express both aspects in their teaching.
Curriculum Planning of an Authentic Jazz Pedagogy - an Effective Model of Jazz Education
A holistic view of jazz music-making.
We have seen that jazz musicians incorporate skills, knowledge and abilities of various fields in their creative music-making processes which are webbed and co-related in a complex manner. Skills such as instrumental dexterity and technique, ensemble expertise, abilities such as reading, melodic, harmonic and rhythmic - internal and instrumental hearing ability, musical memory, compositional and improvisational competence, and knowledge such as harmonic and compositional understanding and improvisational theoretical knowledge, vocabulary fluency, stylistic familiarity, etc., are woven and inter-connected. Jazz music-making necessitates a simultaneous coordination of all.
Diagram 1. Skills, knowledge and abilities incorporated in music-making.
Improvisers must master their instrumental technical skills in order to successfully execute and express their musical ideas. They must have stylistic knowledge which enables them to communicate with others and to come up with solutions for musical problems which they find and try to solve. Their hearing ability is needed in order to locate themselves in their ever-changing dynamic surrounding and their instrumental hearing ability aids them in translating their imagined ideas into actual playing. Hearing ability is also necessary for excavation of knowledge from recorded sources of knowledge. Improvisers’ theoretical, compositional and improvisational knowledge all come into play while they construct their creative performance and all these kinds of knowledge contribute to the ecological conversation. Improvisers’ practical mastery of theoretical understanding and linguistic vocabulary are used as they apply improvised melodic, chord voicings and rhythmical ideas as soloists or as accompanists and their practical knowledge of musical communication experience aids them to dynamically converse with their band members and creatively develop their stylistic improvised performance. All these elements are interwoven in a non-linear manner and are inseparably co-dependent on each other. It is clearly a constructivist process.
Commonly found institutionalized music courses.
In their translation of music-making methods to curriculum, educators have unraveled them and developed separate linear courses in specific areas of expertise which are commonly found in institutionalized programs (Green, 2006, p. 106). Such courses include ear training, theory, harmony, music history, composition, improvisation technique, instrumental lessons, reading technique, etc. In these linear courses knowledge is organized in a hierarchical manner: new knowledge is learned on the basis of previously acquired knowledge. For example, triad chords (i.e. constructed of three voices) are learnt prior to seventh-chords (i.e. constructed of four voices). The need for hierarchal organization of knowledge is clear: the understanding of complex knowledge necessitates the establishment of concrete mastery of its basis as a prerequisite. The curriculum of each of these linear courses is based on the ascending degrees of complexity of the learnt subject and not necessarily in coordinated conjunction with the rest of the courses. Under these circumstances it is possible that in their private instrumental lessons students are challenged with pieces whose harmonic complexity is beyond their capability of understanding. In the same manner, in their harmony classes students may learn intricate harmonic progressions which are beyond their hearing ability.
In a curriculum which is constructed of linear separate and non-correlated courses, the integration between skills, abilities and knowledge rests on the shoulders of the students; they constructively exercise this integration in the many ways listed in previous sections.
Holistic view translated to an integrative curriculum.
Two important implications arise from these notions regarding the 'what' (content) and 'how' (pedagogy) of jazz curriculum planning.
First, regarding content, curriculum planning which is authentic to the epistemological underpinnings of jazz aesthetics must adopt a holistic view of the complex web of connections between skills, abilities and knowledge and to address each and every one of them.
Such a program should encompass a wide array of courses as follows. Classes dedicated to music theory, traditional and jazz harmony provide a comprehensive formal understanding which jazz musicians need in order to analyze their musical surrounding and construct formal musical elements in their improvised conversation. Improvisation technique classes are practical workshops where students learn, analyze and practically master theories regarding improvisation in relation to their understanding of music theory, harmony and style. In improvisation classes students also learn jazz masters' solos, transcribe, imitate and eventually work their way into developing the innovation ability of their own solos, while constantly analyzing, discussing, assessing and evaluating their progress. Hearing ability is probably one of the most important assets of every jazz musician. Ear training classes develop students' melodic, harmonic and rhythmic hearing ability and memory, both internally and instrumentally. Ear training courses must relate to theoretical understanding of formal elements. Instrumental instruction is necessary to guide students in their development of technical dexterity, stylistic vocabulary, specific instrumental soloing and comping technique and reading as well. Arranging classes equip students with tools for orchestrating and arranging music for their ensembles. Jazz music history classes provide an important understanding of the political, social and cultural background from which jazz has emerged and flourished from the end of the nineteenth century till today. They also provide an important source of inspiration, stylistic knowledge, understanding of the branches within the genre and leading artists. Attending concerts and master classes and maintaining active discussions regarding inspirational sources are important in stimulating and developing artistic ways of critical thinking.
The crucial integration between declarative and procedural knowledge which has been discussed in previous sections, ought to be addressed in such courses. In other words, in theoretical courses students should not only learn about theory, but also and especially how to practically implement it in their music. Students should be challenged to compose original compositions, arrange pieces for the ensembles they participate in, harmonize and re-harmonize tunes as well as writing original compositions. In addition, it is important the students learn to practically apply learnt improvisational melodic and harmonic theory, experience and experiment directly with their instruments.
Second, regarding pedagogy, I strongly advise that jazz music programs should endorse the unique epistemological paradigm regarding disciplinary knowledge and the creative aspects involved in its music-making practice. It has been seen that research organizational knowledge underlies the creative music-making of jazz aesthetics, thus jazz students, like musicians, are expected to think as researchers.
Alongside the establishment of accepted knowledge students are to explore the innovation of new musical knowledge in a process which involves both convergent and divergent thinking. In addition to secondary sources packed in textbooks, learning processes should be based on the usage of primary sources of information from which students excavate knowledge though investigation and experimentation. The teaching-learning environment must promote constructivist engagement in creative thinking processes and ecological systems of collaborations which reflect the actual music-making practices in the jazz community.
This approach necessitates practical workshops promoting constructivist learning processes in which students are challenged to think as musicians, to explore and experiment, to be engaged in peer learning, to be creatively engaged in the integration of convergent and divergent thinking and to be involved in informal aspects of learning processes, to imitate, to learn by heart and to transcribe. In workshops students can exercise the suggested implications of research studies summed up by Watson's (2010) review. He found that among the predictors of jazz improvisation achievements are self-evaluation of improvisation, aural imitation, improvisation class experience and jazz theory knowledge. Workshops should provide a safe play-ground for students to practically apply learnt theoretical knowledge and in addition to experiment, to explore unfamiliar venues and to be engaged in musical innovation. Following Borgo's (2007) suggestions, workshop teachers should also encourage free improvisation sessions, allowing students to experience direct engagement in decentralized "high-level" (Borgo, 2007, pp. 76-77) spontaneous collective improvisation and to explore the "interpersonal dimension of improvisation" (p. 68), beyond the pre-dictated formal aspects which are most easily represented by notation (p. 76).
Students must take practical part in authentic jazz ensembles and jam sessions in which they are engaged in collaborative creative improvisation as soloists and accompanists, experiencing group-mind, ideas sharing and knowledge transformation. Such ensembles may enjoy the canonic song repertoire of the jazz community as a common ground for group improvisation, but should also introduce newer compositions challenging the tradition, in addition to original compositions by band members. Facilities such as practice rooms, ensemble halls and recording studios must be offered for the students allowing them to work independently outside of school hours, without a supervising guidance, in order to informally and freely exercise collaborative group creativity. Educators should also consider Flack's (2004) conclusions presented in Watson (2010) regarding the effectiveness of Aebersold's play-a-long series and encourage students to integrate it in their practice routine.
Thus, a holistic view of the complex web in which jazz’s unique epistemology is interwoven with aspects of creative thinking and the skills, abilities and knowledge necessitated by the discipline, leads to an integrative curriculum as characterized above.
This authentic assimilation of the practical application of methods of jazz music-making into a teaching-learning process integrates skills, abilities and knowledge according to its unique epistemology and embedded elements of creative thinking. This approach does not dismiss the hierarchal linearity of each of the learnt subjects in the curriculum, but offers a horizontal synoptic integration between all. By implementing this integrative approach into the teaching-learning process educators take part in the responsibility for the integration of these elements; it does not solely rest on the shoulders of the students. The ways in which this integration occurs were detailed in the Findings chapter.
Underestimating the importance of this integrative translation of the holistic view may lead to a failure of the music program to authentically mirror the true essence of jazz's unique aesthetics, epistemology and genuine creative music-making. It has seen that in the music classroom of common formal jazz education, jazz is often treated as classical music (Ake, 2002; Kennedy, n.d.).
In this manner, traditional Western music program teachers, forming a school's big-band of traditionally trained students, who play exact notated music of an arrangement by Duke Ellington, while soloists reproduce originally improvised solos by Ben Webster from notation, and members of the rhythm section tightly follow notated scores, may produce an impressive show. However, this is not what jazz is about.
Jazz program curriculum theoretical model. The model suggested in this dissertation (see diagram 2. For a visual representation) proposes two organizing views of the curriculum. First, the linear layout of each of the courses developing skills, abilities and knowledge (which their need is explained in earlier sections) is represented in vertical columns. Second, the integrative vision of the model is represented by the horizontal connections tying the linear columns. The visual separation between the vertical courses is meant only for the demonstration of the hierarchal linear aspect of their layout; they are actually woven into each other in an integrative manner.
The linear structure of the program is based on the combination of a gradual development of understanding of an ascending formal elements complexity - with its practical mastery reflected in hearing ability, instrumental dexterity, improvisational technique and its practical embodiment in private instrumental lessons, ensembles, workshops and jam sessions performance.
In order to manifest the horizontal integrative aspect of the program, teachers of different courses must be fluent in the curricular layout of each of the elements in the program and aware of their students' progress in the learning process. The synoptic view which is necessary for the integration of such a theoretical model cannot be taken for granted. It requires facilities allowing teachers' ongoing coordination, arrangement, assessment and modification.
The execution of such a model must allow flexibility and acceptance of interference. It has been seen that aspects of informal learning which are embedded in jazz music-making, involve non-linear and non-hierarchal unpredictable inputs into the learning process. Educators must be open to considering and accepting students' choice of repertoire, original compositions, and unexpected directions which peer learning and collective creativity may bring into the dynamic ecological system of interacting students.
The theoretical model proposed hereby offers a general structure for a possible arrangement of the content knowledge of a jazz program. However, it should be remembered that the 'what' of this program is merely one half of the picture. Implicitly, this model also addresses the other half by offering teachers the 'space' for action in workshops, instrumental lessons, ensembles and jam sessions, where jazz can be celebrated. Educators must not forget the aforementioned suggested implications regarding 'how' jazz music should be taught. The pedagogical content knowledge, reflecting jazz aesthetics and epistemology emphasizing creativity and research organizational knowledge paradigm must maintain its ground as a dominant element coloring the background and the foreground of jazz teaching-learning processes. Using Borgo's (2007, pp. 71-72) words in metaphorical speech, music does not exists only in the notes but especially in the way we play them. In fact, the profound music-experience lies in the meaning musicians give to it beyond notation. In other words, this model offers a suggested infrastructure for jazz educators; the actual way they relate to it in their pedagogy in regard to jazz epistemology and aspects of creative thinking, will eventually determine the authenticity of the teaching-learning process to the discipline.
The aim of the following diagram (see diagram 2.) is to offer a visual lay-out of a suggested theoretical curricular model. Note that this is merely a general schematic structure for educators to consider rather than a step by step program of each course. The curved lines towards the bottom of the diagram indicate that the end of the page is not the end of the curriculum; its end cannot be determined. The topics which educators can discuss in their teaching are endless, and so are the innovations in the jazz community which are currently being developed.
Diagram 2. Theoretical model for the construction of jazz curriculum.
Research Contributions
Theoretical contributions
Innate aspects of creative thinking.
In their discussion of creative thinking in music education, most educators whose writings have been presented hereby, tend to speak in general terms without relating creative thinking to certain music genres. Others do discuss creativity in jazz, but concentrate almost exclusively on free-form improvising groups. In this dissertation main-stream jazz music pedagogy and its practical music-making methods have been examined for the existence of elements of creative thinking development. It has been shown that both pedagogy and practical music-making methods demonstrate profound dominant aspects of development of creative thinking which are innate in the aesthetical definition of the jazz genre as described above. I argue that this conclusion cannot be overlooked. I encourage music educators to examine the means by which aspects of development of creative thinking may be implemented in their teaching, and to study the findings and discussion of this dissertation to learn about the means by which they are manifested in the jazz realm. Jazz pedagogy is an effective example of successful embodiment of creative thinking in music education from which music educators can learn.
Aesthetics and implicit epistemology.
In this dissertation I have related music aesthetics to epistemology and shown that different music genres relate differently, not only to aesthetics but also to knowledge. It has been shown that jazz music-making implicitly embodies an integral unique epistemology which is directly defined by its aesthetics. While musicians and music educators tend to discuss their music in terms of aesthetics, I stress that the understanding of the epistemology underlying jazz aesthetics is critical for the construction of an effective curriculum; in their translation of jazz music-making into pedagogy, educators must fully address both aesthetics and epistemology, for they are inseparable.
Research discipline organizational knowledge underlying jazz pedagogy.
Karmon (2007) has stressed the differences between the school subject framework and research discipline organizational knowledge. I argue that the analysis of my findings reveals that jazz pedagogy and practical methods of music-making embody profound elements of research discipline organizational knowledge as described above. Jazz pedagogy and music-making allow students to be involved in higher thinking. They allow them to think as music researchers; as jazz musicians.
Theoretical model for jazz education.
Weaving the findings and the conclusions of this dissertation regarding jazz aesthetics, pedagogy, music-making processes, aspects of creative thinking in music education and theories of knowledge, I have suggested a theoretical model for the construction of an effective jazz curriculum. This model offers a critical synoptic integration of various fields of disciplinary content knowledge (i.e. 'what') regarding skills, abilities, and knowledge - and the unique manner in which its pedagogy (i.e. 'how'), which emphasizes the development of creative thinking, relates to it. The model offers a translation of this holistic view into an integrative curricular infrastructure.
In Charting Future Directions for Research in Jazz Pedagogy, Watson (2010) suggests: "Berliner's (1994) landmark work on the thinking processes employed by improvising jazz musicians should be extended in order to develop theoretical models upon which jazz curricula could be based" (p. 391). I hope that the curricular model which I have suggested hereby will contribute to the jazz education community, and become an effective tool in the hands of educators. I offer this model for discussion and further development in future research studies.
Practical Contributions
Pedagogical implications: Jazz pedagogy as a model of effective music pedagogy.
The analysis of the findings of the pedagogical literature and the actual music-making practices in the community portrays a holistic picture integrating music aesthetics, epistemology, creative thinking and a unique pedagogy. In their translation of jazz music-making in the community to pedagogical materials in the middle of the twentieth century, musicians-educators have sowed the seeds of the flourishing pedagogy which has been dynamically developing ever since. Their intention was purely musical, yet hidden between the lines of their writings are profound educational insights.
It has been shown that authentic jazz pedagogy, which embodies innate dominant aspects of development of creative thinking and a unique epistemology, offers an outstanding educational paradigm; it offers students higher thinking and research discipline organizational knowledge autonomy within a school subject framework. I suggest that the conclusions and implications presented here are relevant to general music education, jazz and other genres.
Implications for jazz pedagogy.
Jazz teachers are encouraged to use this dissertation as a vehicle to examine their teaching beyond aesthetic criteria and to question the extent to which their teaching authentically reflects jazz's epistemology and aspects of development of creative thinking. I encourage jazz educators to examine the theoretical model for the construction of jazz curriculum suggested hereby and to negotiate its possible implementation and modification adapted to the particular needs of their educational systems.
Implications for the jazz teacher's background and education.
Ake (2002), Sloboda (2001) and Watson (2010) have pointed out that music teachers who are not trained in jazz music are not familiar with the different approaches to the jazz way of thinking. Their expertise, training and experience does not allow them to be fluent in the subject matter knowledge nor does it equip them with the pedagogical content knowledge needed to teach jazz as a discipline. Watson (2010) suggests that "investigations into the development of self-efficacy for improvisation would be beneficial to music educators" (p. 391). Indeed, deepening their understanding and practically developing improvisational abilities are highly recommended for all music teachers; however, this would not necessarily be sufficient to turn them into jazz teachers. The profound depth of the holistic view of the 'what' and 'how' of jazz disciplinary pedagogy, cannot be obtained by teachers whose expertise and experience are derived from a different discipline.
Therefore, I argue that jazz can be taught only by experienced jazz musicians who have the understanding of jazz's aesthetics and in addition have developed an understanding of its unique underlying epistemology and a mastery of its pedagogic content knowledge.
The suggested implication for music education programs is that rather than the construction of a general curriculum for all prospective teachers, in addition to the general courses which are relevant to all, specially designed courses should be developed for jazz musicians-teachers in order to address the discipline's unique epistemology and pedagogical content knowledge. In the same manner specially designed courses should be developed for each of the other disciplines.
Implications for general music education.
Music teachers of all genres are encouraged to use the methodologies of this current examination of jazz and to apply them to the examination of their own realms. Music education is not only about musical aesthetics. Questions regarding the underlying epistemology of their aesthetics, its manifestation in their teaching and the extent to which the development of creative thinking is addressed in the music room, are relevant and critical for the teaching-learning process of all genres. The philosophy underlying the construction of the theoretical model suggested hereby can be used as an example to be modified for the construction of parallel theoretical models of other genres.
The great jazz pianist Bill Evans stated:
"Jazz, as we tend to look at it is a style, but I feel that jazz is not so much a style, as a process of making music… We must remember that in an absolute sense, jazz is more a certain creative process of spontaneity than a style. Therefore you might say that Chopin, Bach or Mozart improvised music, that is to be able to make music of the moment was in a sense playing jazz... Jazz has resurrected the art of spontaneous creative music, again, it hasn't been heard since the seventeenth or the eighteenth century" (Carvell, 1966).
In other words, if we are able to look at the essence of the creative processes of music-making and their epistemological implications in jazz beyond style, these paradigms may and should be applicable to other musical styles.
Implications and suggestions for education beyond the realm of music.
The conclusions of this dissertation regarding the examination of the means by which jazz pedagogy authentically reflects its processes of music-making and its unique epistemology may even be relevant for the construction of parallel effective curricular models in other disciplines as well. Teaching of any discipline should be based in the unique disciplinary epistemology, thinking and performance patterns. Future research should explore the applicability of the ideas presented here to other realms.
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