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The Great Basin Jazz Camp Jazz Workshop for Band Directors is a five-day intensive training session for junior high to college-level band directors who may not have had an opportunity to learn concepts and skills in jazz during their music education training in college. Many college conducting and methods classes omit this critical training for their future band directors who, more often than not, face preparing and presenting an instrumental and/or vocal jazz ensemble. Additionally, most band directors have little or no experience dealing with the role and concepts of the instruments of the jazz rhythm section. This workshop will offer a discreet and specialized opportunity to get your “jazz chops” up to speed. Upon completion of this workshop, participating band directors can earn three contact hours of upper division re-certification credit from Idaho State University. Each day’s classroom and observation activities are equal to 55 hours for the week.

The exact itinerary for each day will be determined as the 2010 camp draws closer, but the classes and activities will address the following topics:

• Establishing a Jazz Band

  • Selling a jazz program to the administration

  • Recruiting students

  • Creating a jazz culture among your students

  • How big is my big band? Strategies for really big and really small groups

  • Matching skills with repertoire and curriculum

  • Rehearsal techniques and room setup

  • Is there really such a thing as “jazz band conducting?”

• Knowing Support Sources For Your Jazz Band

  • Significant Big Bands, Their Music and Recordings

  • Significant Jazz Artists, Their Music and Recordings

  • Significant Composers and Arrangers, Their Music and Recordings

  • Significant Publishers, Their Music

  • Significant Online Resources, The Cyber- and Underground Goldmine

  • Fakebooks and How To Use Them

  • Play-along Sources (Aebersold, Smart Music, Other Technologies)

  • Historical and Instructional Video and Audio Sources

  • Educational and Professional Publications and Organizations for Jazz

• Concepts

  • Swing: What it is and how to get it

  • Fine-tuning jazz articulation and phrasing

  • The Rhythm Section

    • The Walking Bass Line

    • Basics of Piano and Guitar Chord Voicings

    • Demystifying Jazz Piano Parts

    • Keeping Time and Placement With the Beat

    • Drum Set Concepts (the right kind of equipment, the function of each hand and foot, how to set up and punch the band)

    • “Comping” for each instrument and as a rhythm section unit

    • Building a Vocabulary of Grooves

  • Jazz Theory

    • Understanding Jazz Chord Nomenclature

    • Chord Progressions with emphasis on ii-V-I

    • A Basic Scale Vocabulary

  • Improvisation

    • Improvisational “Behavior”: How to Think When You’re Improvising

    • Preparation For Improvising

      • Transcription and Analysis of Existing Solos

      • Time at the piano learning chords

      • Building a vocabulary

      • Playing by ear (aural imitation)

    • Let’s Do It!

      • How form shapes an improvised solo

      • Where to “plug in” your licks

      • Guide tones: the seeing-eye dog of jazz

  • The Jazz Festival

    • Presenting a Great 20-minute Program

      • Variety of Styles

      • Showcase improvisation

      • Play within your means

      • Play Quality Music

    • Stage Presence (Dress and Demeanor, Director Behavior)

    • Competition Versus Your Personal Best

    • Adjudication: What to Expect

The instructor for the course is Dr. David Deacon-Joyner, Director of Jazz Studies at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. From 1986 to 2000, Dr. Joyner was an Associate Professor at the world famous University of North Texas at Denton, one of the most famous schools in the world renowned for its jazz curriculum. In addition, Dr. Joyner has been the Lead Instructor for the Great Basin Jazz Camp for the past 3 years. More information about Dr. Joyner can be found at 'Faculty for 2010' in the Navigation Bar at the Camp website www.greatbasinjazzcamp.com .

Cost of the class is $400. This includes the cost of the credit, Room, Board and all materials. This is by far one of the lowest costs for such a program in the Western United States