Listen Closely by Robert Baca
Teach your students the finer points of jazz with the help of recorded music
Recently I read how George Gershwin became interested in music. When he was ten years old, he heard a classmate play a piece on the violin, and suddenly a whole new world opened up for him. He befriended the boy, they discussed music and went to concerts together, and George's life was changed forever.
Similar stories abound regarding musicians who could remember a single concert, individual, episode or composition that kicked off a lifelong love affair with music. Music is different from other disciplines in that respect. In many fields, a student will simply take the subject for a number of years in school and then one day decide, "Gee, I'm pretty good at this. I think I'd like to do this for a living."
The difference is that music is much more than an activity–much more than an occupation. As a college music professor, I have known thousands of music majors. The successful ones all have one thing in common–they are totally immersed in music. They don't just complete their assignments and practice sessions and then put music out of their minds. On the contrary, they talk about music, think about music, read about music, go to concerts, play duets, have jam sessions, buy recordings, collect music, buy posters of musicians, write music, try different instruments, experiment with mouthpieces or reeds, or otherwise pursue activities that involve music in some way.
In my experience, a detached approach to music, even if it includes a willingness to invest several hours a day in diligent practice and study, is doomed to failure. Perhaps the reason is that the focus must be on the final product. After all, music is for listening. The best instruction in how to play an instrument will not produce optimum results unless the student has a strong desire to succeed and a clear "picture" of what he or she wants to sound like. Ironically, I have seen many students succeed who scored relatively low on musical aptitude tests. Hard work, backed up by intense desire, enabled them to overcome their weaknesses.
A revealing question to ask students is "Do you own any recordings of professionals who play your instrument?" More often than you would think, the answer is no, which is an unfortunate paradox. Could you imagine learning to paint by simply having had instruction on how to wield a brush and select color without ever having looked at paintings done by others?
Of course not. We realize that it doesn't matter what you do with your brush so long as the end result is something you have envisioned and realized through your efforts. The same is true for music. There are tried-and-true methods for playing instruments properly, but what really matters is how you sound. And the way to set the goal for how you want to sound is to listen.
So my advice to students is this: Practice your lesson and learn your band music, of course. But go beyond that. Listen as much as you can and begin to explore the unbelievably rich world of music. Make it a social activity and share it with friends. Most important, have fun with it. The skills and experiences you accumulate from music will be with you the rest of your life, and you'll never regret the time you spent exploring this fascinating subject.
Bob Baca currently serves as associate professor of trumpet and director of jazz studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He has performed with the Buddy Rich Big Band, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams and with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He also freelances in the Twin Cities. Baca is in demand throughout the United States as a Bach clinician. His article Sound Advice appeared in the Spring 1992 edition of Bach Brass Notes. Bob performs exclusively on a Stradivarius model 180S37 with a Bach 3C mouthpiece. "I use the same trumpet whether I'm playing in a big band, symphony orchestra or for a solo recital. The Bach medium-large bore model facilitates production of a large, full sound with projection. It also allows for the flexibility of adapting my sound to fit the idiom."
