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by Doug Goodkin Be one of the first to enjoy this soon-to-be-classic, offered as "a labor of two loves - Orff Schulwerk and jazz." Doug presents a compelling case for including jazz in every child's education, and a sequential approach for teaching it to all ages.
Click here to go to sample pages from the book on Doug's web site |
How to Use This Book
This book is not a jazz curriculum, though it presents a logical sequence that could be used as such. It is not a jazz theory book, though it gives enough information to help the reader learn to play basic jazz on any instrument. It is not a jazz history book, though it sketches out some important moments in that history. It is not an Orff Schulwerk book, though many fundamental principles of that approach are illuminated. It is not a songbook, though there is a wealth of arrangements ready to play as written.
There are many books here-one, purely practical, outlines specific class plans for the practicing teacher. Another gives some crucial cultural background and aesthetic criteria that helps to frame the subject. Yet another follows the thread of music theory as it applies to jazz style. Tips on teaching and general pedagogical principles are peppered throughout these pages. Cultural criticism and sociological concerns leak in here and there, and my personal love affair with jazz is given voice at different points. The tone shifts between preaching, poetry and prosaic postulates.
To assist the reader, I have generally put historical background near the beginning of chapters and my subjective thoughts at the end, with the practical "how-to" information and theory in the middle. However, even here, a particular exercise may turn our attention to the next piece in the puzzle and we will reach for it as we need it. The linear threads of history, theory and educational practice are there, but are spread across the chapters.
An ambitious teacher eager to launch an entire jazz curriculum will find enough in these pages to do so. Yet teachers do not adopt other's curriculum lock, stock and barrel; nor should they. We look to ideas and material as models and then adopt and adapt them to fit our own situations, experience, ways of thinking and ways of doing. Though I have taken the time to suggest a certain order to events and present a logical sequence, it is likely that most readers will skim through the book and take whatever serves their needs or attracts their interest in the moment. To assist in that process of choosing, there is a summary of the practical material at the end of the book.
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Jazz Goes to School
Chapter 2 - Games
Chapter 3 - Speech and Body Percussion
Chapter 4 - Jazz Movement
Chapter 5 - Beginning Ensemble Pieces
Chapter 6 - The Vocal Blues
Chapter 7 - Jazz Blues
Chapter 8 - Jazz Standards
Chapter 9 - Jazz Compositions
Chapter 10 - Jazz in the School Curriculum
Chapter 11 - Conclusion: The Legacy of Jazz
Doug Goodkin is an internationally recognized music teacher in the field of Orff Schulwerk. He teaches music and movement to children between three and fourteen years old at The San Francisco School, where he has taught since 1975. He also is on faculty of The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, directs the Mills College Orff Certification Course, and is the creator of the Jazz and Orff Schulwerk course, which he has taught since 1988 in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Reykjavik, Madrid, Sydney, Taipei and other cities around the world.
Doug is a frequently published author in various international music journals, an author of the McGraw-Hill textbook series Share the Music and the author of four other books on creative music education: Names Games, A Rhyme in Time, Sound Ideas and Play, Sing & Dance: An Introduction to Orff Schulwerk. He has performed as a jazz pianist throughout the Bay Area and is a founding member of the Orff performance group, Xephyr. He is also the recipient of the presitigious Pro Merito Award given by the Orff Foundation in Munich in recognition of his contributions to the development of Orff Schulwerk.
With studies ranging from jazz piano to African xylophone to Balinese gamelan to Bulgarian bagpipe, Doug's work reflects an international perspective on music, culture and education. As described by one student: "His work conveys a long, earnest and continuing struggle to present music of integrity in away that affirms our collective humanity."
To contact Doug, go to: www.douggoodkin.com or email: Goodkindg@aol.com
