Jazz Pedagogy
Richard Grennor, Ed.D.
Teaching Jazz Band: Jazz Band Set-Up & ...
Teaching Jazz Band: Jazz Band Set-Up & Rehearsals
Jazz Pedagogy
Richard Grennor, Ed.D.
Teaching Jazz Improvisation: The Two Bar Jazz ...

Once the students have mastered the blues and minor pentatonic scales as discussed in the previous post Teaching Jazz Improvisation: What Notes Do I Play? Teach the students to perform as a group ten 2-measure blues riffs, which the entire ensemble learns to perform together as a part of a warm-up.

Teaching Jazz Improvisation: The Two Bar Jazz Riff
Jazz Pedagogy, Lesson Ideas
Richard Grennor, Ed.D.
Teaching Jazz Improvisation: What Notes Do I ...

The middle school/junior high school years provide an excellent opportunity to begin to introduce kids to jazz performance and improvisation. Most middle school and junior high level jazz ensemble music arrangements involve only a few chord changes making it an excellent time forstudents to practice the art of improvisation. Here are a few jazz improvisational exercises that are not usually taught and sometimes forgotten.

Teaching Jazz Improvisation: What Notes Do I Play?
Lesson Ideas
Richard Grennor, Ed.D.
Benefits of Music Instruction for English ...

Music and English language arts have three fundamental learning processes in common. First, music and language learning are auditory and involve the ability to hear and manipulate sounds (Butzlaff, 2000; Hansen, Bernstorf, & Stuber, 2014). Second, music and literacy uses a system of written symbols as a means to communicate information to others (Hall & Robinson, 2012). Finally, music and literacy involve encoding and decoding systems used to process and construct meaning (Hall & Robinson, 2012; Hansen et al., 2014; Jancke, 2012; Rautenberg, 2013; Tierney & Kraus, 2013). In today's post, I’m sharing four benefits of music instruction for English Language Learning (ELL). 

Benefits of Music Instruction for English Language Learners (ELL's)
Lesson Ideas
Richard Grennor, Ed.D.
My Favorite Documentaries for Music Class ...

Today, I'm writing about two of my favorite music documentaries my middle school music students enjoyed watching during African American History Month. The two movies are Keep on Keeping’ On and Thunder Soul. These films provide a great platform for meaningful discussions in the instrumental music class.

My Favorite Documentaries for Music Class During African-American History Month

beginning jazz

The Beginner's Guide to Improvising!

The Beginner's Guide to Improvising!

There are two misconceptions about jazz that prevent many teachers from incorporating improvisation into their curriculum. One widely held belief is that students need to have all of your scales and chords memorized before they can try to improvise. A second misconception involves -thinking of improvisation with the end in mind, rather than as a skill developed over time. As a result of these long held beliefs, music educators are often reluctant to explore the art of improvisation with their students.