Introduction to Jazz (167a/267a)
Fall 2000    Wednesday 7:00-10:00pm    TC-141    Instructor: Serge Lacasse
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Faculty of Music      
Department of Music History
      

NEWS

(13 December 2000). Final marks are posted here! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

(27 November 2000) The Web site that I originally chose for the Civil Rights Movement which was down last week has just been restored. It's a very good overview with interesting photographs. Check it out!!!

(15 November 2000) The Final Exam is scheduled on Monday, December 11 at 9:00am in TC 141. For more information regarding exams, follow this link.

(13 November  2000) Exam 2 Marks are now online! First, choose the appropriate table (167a or 267a). Marks are sorted by Student Numbers. Please, contact me if you don't find your Student Number.

(7 November 2000) There seems to be some confusion about Exam 2. As I said at the beginning of last class, the material covered in Exam 2 is Origins of Jazz, Early Jazz, Swing AND Bebop.

(25 October 2000) Real Audio Files Online.  But it might take some time before students can use them (copyright issues...). More about it during class.

(17 October 2000) Exam 1 Marks are now online! First, choose the appropriate table (167a or 267a). Marks are sorted by Student Numbers. Please, contact me if you don't find your Student Number.

(5 October 2000) THE DEMONSTRATION CD IS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE BOOK STORE!

(25 September 2000) Bad News: Apparently, the Demonstration CD should be in on Tuesday October 3, at the latest. HOWEVER,...

Good News: By Wednesday, September 27, there will be many copies of the Demonstration CD on reserve at the Music library. Please, use these copies until the CDs are available at the Book Store. These copies will be available for you for two hours (you're allowed to take them out during these two hours).

(18 September 2000) The Demonstration Compact Disc will be available at the Book Store by the end of this week! Sorry for the delay!

In the meantime there are a few copies of the Demonstration Compact Disc on reserve at the Music Library (you can take them out for two hours).

(17 September 2000) For your information, here is a link about Copyright and Private Copying. See also the table in page 6 of this guide (page 11 of 26 through Acrobat Reader Browser).

(16 September 2000) There is a mistake in the Course Outline I gave you last week: exam dates in the Schedule Chart and in the following page are not the same. So, Please note: Exam dates are as follows:

Exam 1 (11/10/2000)

Exam 2 (08/11/2000

Final Exam (TBA)

Sorry for inconveniences this mistake might have caused. If any problem, please contact me. Note also that the mistake has been corrected on this website. Cheers.

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Course Description

Summary
Objectives
Teaching Approach

Summary

This introductory course is for anyone (musician or nonmusician) who has had little or no exposure to jazz and who would be interested in learning more about jazz . The course is primarily designed to help students discover and enjoy jazz. Accordingly, the topics covered in the course are as follows:

 
Appreciation of jazz aesthetics and language 
Description of styles and artists, as well as their social contexts
Historical survey of various styles of jazz  that emerged in the Twentieth Century

 

Objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able to:


Identify elements of jazz aesthetics and language through the acquisition of basic listening skills

Identify characteristics of the main jazz styles and recognize them by ear

Identify the "major" jazz artists and recognize some of them by ear

Identify the most "representative" pieces of jazz (tunes and recordings)

Identify the social, economic and cultural factors that led to the birth of jazz and further influenced its development 

[Back to Course Description]

 

Teaching Approach

Although classes will mainly consist of traditional lectures, a significant portion of the time will be devoted to listening and viewing audiovisual material. Again, the idea is to help students appreciate jazz. Consequently, emphasis will be placed on recognizing stylistic characteristics by ear.

[Back to Course Description]

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Material

Textbook
Recordings
Online Recorded Material

Textbook

Every student is required to purchase the following book, which is available at the UWO Bookstore (University Community Centre):


Mark C. Gridley. Jazz Styles: History and Analysis, 7th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000.
ISBN  0-13-021227-X (book alone).
Price: 62,95$
REQUIRED

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Recordings

The following recordings will be used in the course:

 
  1. Jazz Classics CD for Jazz Styles. Prentice-Hall, p2000.
    ISBN  0-13-012693-4
    REQUIRED
    [Available at the UWO Bookstore]
    Price: 30,95$

  2. Demonstration Compact Disc. Prentice-Hall, p2000.
    ISBN  0-13-012692-6
    REQUIRED [Available soon at the UWO Bookstore]
    Price: 18,95$ [Price to be confirmed]

  3. Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz (SCCJ) [5 CDs]
    [On reserve at the Music Library, TC-234]
    Some tracks should soon be available Online in Real Audio Format

  4. Jazz Classics CD for Concise Guide to Jazz. Prentice-Hall, p1998.
    ISBN  0-13-759093-8
    [On reserve at the Music Library, TC-234]


Online Recorded Material

A number of tracks from the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz CDs should be soon available online in Real Audio Format. Although the sound quality of Real Audio files is not as good as the original, students will still benefit from listening to them. Furthermore, access to recordings from home or from computers on campus will prevent congestion in the Music Library.

Students will be given a User Name and a Password to access these Real Audio Files. It is strongly recommended that you keep your User Name and Password secret so that the server is not overloaded. If too many people access the server at the same time, files may take a long time to download. 

So, please, once you'll have them, keep your User Name and Password to yourself! 

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Schedule (Tentative)

Note: Click on the links (dates) to access an outline for each lecture

   Date Content Exams
13/09/2000 Presentation  
What Is Jazz?
20/09/2000 Rhythm
Instrumentation (1)
27/09/2000 Instrumentation (2)
Chords/Forms (1)
04/10/2000 Chords/Forms (2)
Roles of Instruments/Impro.
11/10/2000 Exam 1 Exam 1 (25%)
Basic Jazz listening skills
Exam Discussion 
18/10/2000 Origins of Jazz  
Early Jazz
25/10/2000 Swing
Ellington/Basie
01/11/2000 Bop
08/11/2000 Exam 2 Exam 2 (35%)
1900s-1950s
15/11/2000 Cool Jazz  
Hard Bop
22/11/2000 Coltrane
Free Jazz
29/11/2000 Course Evaluation
Influential Keyboard Players
06/12/2000 Fusion
11/12/2000
9:00am
Final Exam (Talbot College, Room 141) Final Exam (40%)
1950s-1990s

[Back to Schedule]

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Grading

This course is about both the history of jazz and its aesthetics. In other words, students should not only learn basic facts about jazz and its musicians, but they are also expected to develop basic listening skills.

Accordingly, a large portion of this course is a perceptual learning experience. However, there is no way to measure more than a fraction of the new auditory skills you will acquire. Since grades must be assigned anyway (because this is a credit course in a university), here is the proposed grading scheme:

All exams are multiple choice

All exams contain a section devoted to listening skills

Here is a more detailed description of the three exams

  1. Exam 1: Basic Jazz Listening Skills (11/10/2000) [25%]
    The main purpose of this exam is to assess students' skills in identifying:
    - Jazz Instrumentation
    - Jazz Forms/Chords
    - Basic Elements of Jazz Performance Practice, etc.

    The acquisition of these skills will provide a better understanding of the jazz styles covered in the remainder of the course.

    Furthermore, there will be some questions related to some theoretical aspects of jazz (for example: definitions)

  2. Exam 2: 1900-1940 (08/11/2000) [35%]
    The second exam will be devoted to jazz from its origins to the end of Bebop, and will contain a listening section (see Notes on Listening Sections).

  3. Final Exam: 1940-2000 (TBA) [40%]
    The final exam does not cover all of the material seen in the course. Rather, it will be very similar to Exam 2, except that it will cover the period ranging from Cool Jazz (1950s) to Acid Jazz (1990s). However, the final exam will count for 40%, reflecting the amount of covered material. This exam will also contain a listening section.

Notes on Listening Sections

All exams begin with a Listening Section

Sound excerpts are played twice

The remainder of the time will be devoted to the other questions

 

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Contacts

Serge Lacasse (Instructor)

The best way to ask questions is through email.
It is also the best way to make an appointment.

You can also phone me at 661-2111 ext. 84331.

Office (TC-226): Because of the large number of students, I would please ask students not to pop in without having previously made an appointment (email or phone). Thank You!

A good idea would be make an appointment,  prepare questions and come in small groups (two or three).

 

Andrew Schmitt (Teaching Assistant)

It is also possible to email Andrew Schmitt for technical questions.

 

Have a Nice Term!!

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©2000 Serge Lacasse
University of Western Ontario
Updated 13 December, 2000