Topic 1: Improvised Music

Understanding Goals:

Students will come to understand:
- The social context intrinsically tied to the evolution of Jazz throughout the 20th Century.
- The way improvisation and expression lie at the heart of Jazz music
- How Jazz is composed through an understanding Jazz theory
- A range of Jazz styles and characteristics

These are the main goals that will act as the backdrop to each of our lessons. Each goal has its place in either the Performance, Composition or Listening learning area. The course will run for 10 weeks and will be assessed through a composition task and a formal examination.

We will break up the 10 week course into different phases:
Phase 1: Introduction and Context
Phase 2: Blues
Phase 3: Dixieland
Phase 4: Big Band and Swing
Phase 5: Bebop
Phase 6: Cool Jazz
Phase 7: How Jazz Inspired the World
Phase 8: Free Jazz and Beyond

Each phase will consist of a Performance, Musicology and Composition lesson, and we will roughly cover one phase each week.

That's it for the housekeeping, next post we will get right into Phase 2: Blues

Mr. M