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JAZZ / 2016-2017

TERENCE BLANCHARD QUINTET

TEACHER GUIDE

Student Guide: Terence Blanchard Quintet Noob Guide: Jazz Nerd Guide: Jazz

Parents and Teachers: We’ve Got You Covered

Hey there adults. Just in case you’re a little lost, we’re here to help! Whether you enjoy listening to jazz but don’t have a musical background, or couldn’t tell a trumpet from a sax, we’ll help you out. We want you to be able to share this experience with your young people and maybe even learn a little something while you’re at it.

So, about jazz. As America’s original music, it began in the south, in the late 19th century. It’s morphed and developed ever since, with each generation of musicians cultivating their own sounds and styles based in the fundamentals of blues, swing, African, and ragtime music. Terence Blanchard will present quite a bit about the fundamentals of jazz, how the form and style works, and how the structural foundation of jazz actually allows musicians to experiment with sound, rhythm, harmony, and melody. You’ll learn how Blanchard infuses emotion, excitement, and, of course, skill, into his compositions.

Here are a couple of links to get you started:

Jazz 101 A detailed breakdown of different types of jazz including suggested listening for each style

Blue Note Experiment On the 75th anniversary of Blue Note Records, the Kennedy Center worked to explore the Blue Note aesthetic

Terence Blanchard: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert Listen to a mini concert of Blanchard and his quintet.

Alright, you’re ready to hear the Terence Blanchard Quintet.

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

To connect with this performance, check out these tips and resources to use with your students.

Get to the Core: Integrating National Core Arts Standards

The National Coalition of Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) identify the “what” and “how” and “why” for integrating the arts—dance, media arts, music, theater, and visual arts—in your classroom. NCCAS frames a group of artistic and creative Anchor Standards based in these Artistic Processes: Creating, Performing (dance, music, theatre), Presenting (visual arts), Producing (media arts), Responding, and Connecting.

The ”Take Action: Be Fearless” Activity located in the Terence Blanchard Quintet Student Guide meets the following NCCAS standards:

Presenting (visual arts): Interpreting and sharing artistic work. Producing (media arts): Realizing and presenting artistic works and ideas.

Anchor Standard #4. Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation.

Anchor Standard #6. Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

Connecting: Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external content.

Anchor Standard #10. Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.

The “Take Action" Activity challenges young people to experiment and try new techniques in their everyday hobbies and activities.

We suggest using social media to activate students, but it’s no problem if that’s not your thing. Instead, modify the activity to trigger small or large group discussions, assign a writing exercise or warm-up, or even ask students for short performances or presentations.

For additional Arts Standards activities and evaluation tools, go to NCCAS.

Full STEAM Ahead: Integrating the Arts with STEM

In many educational circles today, there is a shift in approach toward integrating the arts with STEM learning. This might seem like a tough task, but we’re here to help.

In addition to the quick and easy tip below on how to incorporate STEAM into your classroom, there’s more! The Kennedy Center’s program, Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) focuses on increasing the arts in our classrooms. Professional learning opportunities are available to any teacher in the D.C. metropolitan area. Additionally, many of these programs are nationally accessible through the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education.

Before or after the performance, share the video below with your students. They’ll learn how new technology like Finale, Band in a Box, Garage Band, iRealPro, and iHearit are changing the ways we compose jazz music using computers, tablets, and smartphones.

Building Blocks of Jazz: Technology

Mastering English: Engaging ELLs in the Arts

English Language Learners, particularly those at emerging levels of proficiency, are often reluctant to share out loud and/or on paper. The strategies below invite students to listen, speak, and write about their experiences with live performance through the lens of reflection and critique. We encourage you to adapt from the ideas:

Write a review for parents or someone not at show

Describe the performance in an interactive group discussion with their peers

Take a picture and write caption

Use new words from performance

Make a list of new/challenging words from the student guide

Write a journal entry

Make and discuss a cultural and/or family connection to performance

The activities above connect to multiple, grade-specific standards Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Reading, and other skills contained within the English Language Arts Standards for grades 6-12. In addition, they align to the NCCAS Responding and Connecting Standards for high school students.

Every Child Challenge: Addressing Individual Needs

Activities referenced throughout these pages can be adapted for students with disabilities. Strategies for selecting appropriate, student-centered accommodations can be found in the Kennedy Center-produced publication, “Students with Disabilities and the Core Arts Standards: Guiding Principles for Teachers.”

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PHOTO (top) by Henry Adebonojo

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This performance is made possible by the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

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JAZZ / 2016-2017

Terence Blanchard Quintet

Performance / Demonstration

Noob Guide: Jazz Nerd Guide: Jazz

So, What’s Going On?

Terence Blanchard might be more enthusiastic about music than anyone you’ve ever met—and you know what? He’s hoping to pass on some of that passion. Composing and playing music that he hopes will change hearts and souls, his goals are no small task. He accomplishes this with a trumpet and four musicians around him, members of the Terence Blanchard Quintet, a jazz group known for grooving beats and reflective, emotional sounds.

But first things first. What exactly is jazz? Jazz music originated 100 years ago in the diverse landscape of New Orleans, Louisiana, a virtual melting pot of people from African, French, English, and Caribbean cultural backgrounds. Jazz musicians fused the sounds of blues, classical, ragtime, African, and big brass elements to create this new American style of music. Jazz spread from New Orleans across the country as musicians began recording, and has continued to evolve.

Modern jazz musicians like Terence Blanchard build on the legacy of jazz musicians of the past—names you might recognize like Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, and Count Basie. Where jazz once captured the stories and songs of slaves, it continues today to reflect and explore deeply meaningful parts of society. Blanchard frequently uses his music to express emotions and events in society that are meaningful to him.

Learn a little more about how to listen to jazz:

During the demonstration, Terence Blanchard Quintet will play different types of music from its repertoire, including music written by Blanchard himself. Blanchard and his band will explain a little about jazz improvisation—the spontaneous aspect of creating new melodies—as well as the structure of jazz that makes improvisation possible.

Learn a little more about improvisation:

The members of the quintet will use a literary technique to demonstrate how jazz uses original ideas and introduce a counting game. These learning experiences will help you understand the basis of improvisation, composition, and the structure of the blues. At the end, not only will you understand a little more about what jazz music is, you’ll also come away with a sense of how the technical parts of jazz allow musicians to explore and experiment.

Who's Who

PHOTO by Henry Adebonojo

Terence Blanchard is a seriously accomplished musician—he’s won multiple Grammy® Awards as a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, and composer. He was born in New Orleans, the home of jazz music, and began making music at a young age, first studying piano as a preschooler. When he was in fourth grade, a jazz musician gave a presentation about New Orleans jazz style at his school and Blanchard was hooked. He took up trumpet and never looked back. He continued to study music in high school at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and later at Rutgers University.

In 1982, his friend and legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis recommended Blanchard as his replacement in Art Blakey’s band, Jazz Messengers, which served as a springboard for up and coming jazz musicians over the years. Blakey is considered a masterful and innovative drummer, a leader in modern jazz, and became known for his contributions molding young jazz talent over many decades.

Hear the Jazz Messengers:

After recording a debut album under Columbia Records, Blanchard had the opportunity to play the trumpet parts in Spike Lee’s 1990 movie Mo’ Better Blues. This led to an opportunity to compose the soundtrack for Lee’s film Jungle Fever in 1991. Lee and Blanchard enjoyed ongoing collaboration, and Blanchard discovered a talent for film scores—more than a dozen others followed. Getting involved in film introduced him to the world of electronic music, which he then integrated into compositions for jazz quintet, using electronics to create interesting textures.

Just as he was inspired to learn trumpet after a presentation during school, Blanchard has developed a passion for teaching young people about music. He served as the artistic director at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz from 2000-2010 and in the same role at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music’s Henri Mancini Institute since 2011. He provides demonstrations with his quintet to young people, teaching students about the fundamentals of jazz, including improvisation, composition, and structure.

Check this out...

Jazz is known as music where the musician’s style “comes to life,” so to speak. Although Blanchard is a master at the technical aspects of jazz, he’s also known for his interpretations and individual improvisation. Sometimes his playing has been called “adventurous.” What do you hear that would fit that description? Are there other words you might use to describe Blanchard and his group’s music?

Blanchard generally plays a style of music called “hard bop,” known for rhythmic, blues-based sounds. Hard bop is influenced by Afro-centric music elements like bebop, blues, rhythm and blues (R&B), and gospel music. Can you identify any of those elements as you listen to the quintet?

Blanchard is the leader of a quintet, five band members who play together. What do you notice about how the instrumentalists work together to create a cohesive sound? Is it clear to you that Blanchard is the leader?

Jazz music is a wonderful mix of structure and creativity. Great jazz musicians must have a good sense of the mechanics of music, like theory (the rules and language of music) and structure (the rules for how musical works are ordered). Listen closely to what Blanchard teaches about how jazz and blues ideas are developed. How do jazz musicians and composers make a unique piece of music within a prescribed structure?

The Language of Jazz

Here are some key jazz terms to know and to listen for during the performance:

Articulation Performance techniques used by musicians that determine the style or sound of the music by specifying how individual notes are to be played within a section or entire piece of music Improvisation Creating music or song spontaneously, a technique that requires great musical skill and creativity Melody The tune of a piece of music created by a series of notes; most often recognizable as the main tune you hum or sing along with in a musical work Harmony Two or more notes played together that create a compatible or pleasant sound Rhythm A strong, repeated pattern of sound Soloing When a musician improvises by elaborating on the music’s melody and harmony in their own personal style

Think About This...

One of the great things about jazz is the variety of sounds and styles included in the definition of the genre. What different styles can you describe from the Terence Blanchard Quintet? Do you hear anything (rhythms, melodies, etc.) that you recognize? Do you hear anything unexpected?

Part of the mission of the quintet is to educate students about the elements of jazz, making them more experienced listeners and perhaps even musicians. How does listening to new or different types of music make you a better listener or musician? Does it make you appreciate music more fully?

As we already talked about, a big part of jazz is improvisation. In improv, typically a soloist plays a made-up tune and/or rhythm over chords. It’s kind of like a dance. As the soloist changes directions, the band has to adjust the chords and rhythms to stay in sync. It’s the ultimate teamwork. Think a little abstractly. What lessons can you take from improvisation to improve how you work in a team?

Take Action: Be Fearless

Terence Blanchard believes that one of the best things jazz music has to offer is the freedom to explore and try new things. He teaches students that by understanding the fundamentals of jazz they can then expand those fundamentals and experiment their own sound. He describes playing for Art Blakey’s band, and how Blakely taught him that writing and composing helps a musician find his or her identity—how committing ideas to paper helps a musician develop. Blanchard describes Blakey as a leader who created a safety net for his musicians to fearlessly but securely explore new sounds and techniques, “Being in his band was like being marbles on a coffee table – you could do a lot, but if you got to the edge, he would put his hand out and pull you back to the center.”

What can you experiment with—art, music, technology, or whatever your passion might be? Are there mentors in your life who can offer you guidance and pull your marbles back on the table? Be fearless, experimenting with something that inspires you.

Snap a picture or take a video of your inspiration and post it to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Snapchat, or any other platform. Make sure if other people are part of what inspires you that you have their permission to include them in your post. Then, tag five friends and ask them to share their inspiration. Use #befearless as your hashtag.

Explore More

Go even deeper with the Terence Blanchard Quintet Extras.

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PHOTO (top) by Jenny Bagert

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This performance is made possible by the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.