Schools of cool: jazz performance education providing a different kind of gig - Cover Story

Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 22, 1998 by Ronald Roach

"There was criticism of the effort to teach jazz in the colleges. But then there's criticism of everything," says Heath.

Over the years, a rough consensus on the jazz curriculum has emerged among programs around the nation. Howard University's Dawkins says jazz performance programs should concentrate on teaching the history of jazz, teaching composing and arranging, and helping students develop their improvisational skills.

In order to earn a degree from the New School for Social Research's Mannes College of Music, undergraduates in the jazz and Contemporary Music program are required to complete courses such as "Jazz Harmony and Theory," "History of jazz," "Improvisation Ensemble," and "Piano Proficiency."

Launched in 1986, the New School for Social Research's jazz program is one of the largest in the country, with more than 200 students. Trumpeter Roy Hargrove is among the program's alumni.

Bridgewater says the goal of the program is to prepare students "to function in the jazz community." He stresses that a good jazz program needs to have experienced and working musicians involved with students as teachers. He contends that weaker programs tend to rely upon faculty whose members may have solid academic credentials, but lack professional working experience as musicians.

"You can teach skills such as improvisation in an academic setting," says Bridgewater. "it can be done as long as students are getting the right information. It doesn't matter where they get it; it matters whether they're getting the right information."

New York, New York

After spending a year at a college in Hartford, Conn., Matt Hilgenberg grew convinced that he would have to move to New York City to become a professional jazz musician. The trumpet player transferred to New York University (NYU) as an undergraduate and stayed to pursue graduate studies in music.

"[New York] is a very healthy environment for musicians," says Hilgenberg.

While many college jazz programs around the country push off-campus professional playing opportunities for their students and enlist professional musicians to teach, few regions of the country can compete with New York-area schools in terms of access to clubs, the best musicians, and recording opportunities. In some respects, New York of the 1990s has the same lure for young musicians as it had between the 1930s and the 1960s -- when jazz greats such as Miles Davis routinely left their homes and resettled in New York.

New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, is also considered a good city for young, aspiring jazz students looking to get professional playing experience. Several of the colleges and universities there also offer jazz performance programs.

Hilgenberg, a native of the Boston area, is currently the graduate assistant for NYU's jazz program. The twenty-two-year-old plays professionally with a number of groups around the city, including an Afro-Cuban big band. Last semester, he played in another Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble comprised of NYU students, which was one of several NYU jazz bands to perform at a regular Tuesday night gig at the Violet Cafe in Greenwich Village.