Sunday, June 26, 2022

Fun with Music Part 2: Jazz Musicians

I think that Jazz is key for 1st and 2nd grade in Waldorf education. Last year I was working my way through reading all of the picture books I bought about Jazz, and I was really excited to find reference to the pentatonic scale!

"A blending of two musical traditions, African and European, contributed to the development of jazz. African music, with its five-tone, or pentatonic, scales and complex rhythms came to North America during the slave trade."
(from the introduction to Jazz by Walter Dean Myers)


The more I read about Jazz, the happier I felt about choosing this as a music topic to do with students early on. For one, I felt better knowing that it connects to the "pre-approved" pentatonic scale.

And, there's a more important reason. I attended the very first Racism in Waldorf Education online conference at Sunbridge last November (and it was sold out so quickly they scheduled a second one... and then a third). One of the major themes was how the Waldorf scope & sequence is inherently so Eurocentric.

We also talked about the new and complex questions about raising children who are not only not racist but are actively anti-racist.

I think that it would be a wonderful thing if we start off our children's schooling right away in First Grade with celebrating the stories and music of Black musicians.

However, to be honest, I never took the time to sort out musical selections for each of these artists, and so I never did read the books to my First Grade students. I am making this a priority for our Summer between grades 1 & 2, inspired -- in part -- by the work of Henri Matisse. Matisse often compared "the rhythm of cutting paper to the spirit of jazz music" and Using Art to Create Art: Creative Activities Using Masterpieces by Wendy Libby suggests listening to Jazz music while doing Matisse-inspired paper cutouts. Love that!

So I'm revisiting my earlier blog post Fun with Music and copying over the Jazz picture books and adding in links to the music.

If you wanted to, you could even do "J is for Jazz" in the First Grade Capital Letters block! A saxophone looks just like a J.


TO INTRODUCE JAZZ


    The 5 O'Clock Band
    by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews
    modern book, really brings to life the culture of New Orleans

      good follow-ups would be:
      find the city of New Orleans on a map
      take a riverboat cruise
      listen to "When the Saints Go Marching In"
      read a book about Louis Armstrong
      eat some of the foods mentioned in the book (red beans and rice, andouille sausage, collard greens, okra with tomatoes)



    Trombone Shorty
    by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews



    The Greentail Mouse
    by Leo Lionni
    Mardi Gras



    Jazz
    by Walter Dean Myers
    really useful introduction & timeline



    Freedom in Congo Square
    by Carole Boston Weatherford



    This Jazz Man
    by Karen Ehrhard
    EXCELLENT

      Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong
      (1900-1971)

      Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
      (1878-1949)

      Luciano "Chano" Pozo y González
      (1915-1948)

      Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington
      (1899-1974)

      Charlie "Bird" Parker
      (1920-1955)

      Art "Blu" Blakey
      (1919-1990)

      John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie
      (1917-1993)

      Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller
      (1904-1943)

      Charles "Baron" Mingus
      (1922-1979)


TO FOCUS ON SPECIFIC JAZZ ARTISTS


Just a Lucky So and So: The Story of Louis Armstrong
by Lesa Cline-Ransome



Dizzy
by Jonah Winter



Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa
by Andrea Davis Pinkney



Little Melba and Her Big Trombone
by Katheryn Russell-Brown

    Melba Doretta Liston
    trombone
    played with Dizzy Gillespie

    YOU DON'T SAY



Bird & Diz
by Gary Golio



Charlie Parker Played Be Bop
by Chris Raschka



Birth of the Cool: How Jazz Great Miles Davis Found His Sound
by Kathleen Cornell Berman



Mysterious Thelonius
by Chris Raschka



Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane
by Carole Boston Weatherford



John Coltrane's Giant Steps
by Chris Raschka

    John Coltrane
    saxophone

    "Giant Steps" was composed and recorded during Coltrane's 1959 sessions for Atlantic Records, his first for the label. The original recording features Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Paul Chambers on double bass, Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Art Taylor on drums.

    GIANT STEPS (2020 REMASTER)



Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra
by Andrea Davis Pinkney



Harlem's Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills
by Renée Watson



The Music in George's Head: George Gershwin Creates Rhapsody in Blue
by Suzanne Slade



Jazz Age Josephine
by Jonah Winter

    Josephine Baker
    cabaret singer and dancer


quick clip


longer documentary (for adults)



Oskar and the Eight Blessings
by Richard and Tanya Simon



When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson
Pam Muñoz Ryan
this concert happened April 9, 1939


This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

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