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From the Club to the Classroom: Jazz Education Through the Ages

Westlake College of Music

The following is summarized from Spencer's (2013) analysis of the Westlake College of Music.

Founded in 1945, Westlake College of music was the first school in the United States offering a diploma that included Jazz in the curriculum, located in Hollywood. Prior to the establishment of the College, jazz education in California was concentrated in high schools. Further, Jazz was rarely included in any type of higher education system before this time period. After World War II, citizens saw jazz as an art form, something distinctly American that should be celebrated and studied, one of the reasons behind the small boom in jazz in higher education after the war ended (52).

Westlake’s educational mission was founded and created by Alvin L. Learned. Learned’s background came as an educator more so than a musician. As a result he established the curriculum based on the Schillinger system, “an unorthodox approach to music education by systematically organizing the rudiments of jazz and other forms of modern music” (56). It is a theory of music that takes into account both logic and mathematics, which is intended to give musicians tools to create their own unique style of music. Some of the techniques used included teaching musical scales without actually listening to music and courses solely in ear training.

Additionally, Westlake hired predominantly musicians with experience in academia or the music industry, meaning Learned preferred to hire teachers with the opposite experience as himself. During this time, due to the lack of prior institutions that taught jazz specifically, one can imagine the types of musicians that they were bringing in to teach. With professors who never received formal music education, this contributed to more of a mentor style approach at Westlake. However, one thing mentor style teaching typically would not include was how to use music education to advance their careers, whether or not students became well-known performers. Learned realized the necessity for educating students about this and wanted to equip them with tools that could be used in everyday life, thus the curriculum also hinged on the idea of “utility in the professional setting” (59).

Based on Westlake’s foundation, the school offered the perfect blend of informal and formal elements. Educators came from mentor style backgrounds, and even the elements of the curriculum could be considered unorthodox in a music education setting. But the curriculum was designed to allow musicians the ability to find their own style. Westlake churned out a laundry list of successful musicians. Notable alumni include Les McCann (left), Gary Peacock (right), Charlie Haden and John Graas. Others obtained their reputation by joining prestigious jazz bands and orchestras including Harry James’ band, the Claude Gordon Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington (54).

However, Westlake College of music failed after 16 short years: “its administrative management, curriculum and student life were far from the established model. Its faculty, students, and administrators were organized more as a loose collection of like-minded artists who met to exchange ideas” (62). This plight alludes to the dichotomy of formal and informal methods of jazz education that this project aims to examine. Westlake attempted to blend of both styles of teaching, but the ambitious attempt to create this form of institution ultimately crumbled.

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4. Growth Period Lastly, the third period was from the 1960s to the 1970s, when there were a huge growth in the number of schools that have jazz programs and the number of students who majored in jazz. During this time period, jazz programs were not only available in colleges and universities, but were established in elementary schools and high schools. There was “an increase in the amount of educationally oriented big band arrangements, and an increase in stage bands at the high school level.” (Prouty, 2005) For example, in the 1960s, high schools in large cities arranged programs that invited jazz bands and groups to visit and perform. Founded in 1964, Jazzmobile was the one of the initiative programs in New York City.
5. Pre-Historical Period The first period was from the beginning of jazz until the 1930s, which is often referred as the “pre-historic era”, due to the lack of documentation and records of learning activities. During this period, jazz education continued the oral tradition of jazz, which “reflected the African American music history of passing songs from generation to generation.” (McDaniel, 1993) Thus, it was more difficult for jazz artists and musicians to teach jazz in a classroom setting than having a mentor relationship with their students. No formal or official jazz program was introduced to college curricula during this period, but there does exist pioneers that tried to teach a few classes during the 1920s and 1930s. Educator and Bandleader Len Bowden was a perfect example. He started directing jazz ensembles and taught classes at predominately black colleges. At the same time, Bowden attempted to develop a basic curriculum for further jazz education. His work during that period is still fundamental to jazz educators nowadays. As a result, the attempts to teach jazz in the pre-historic era are considered as prototypical, and treated as forerunners for the development of jazz history.
6. The Establishment of Schillinger House The second period that has been pointed out by jazz historians is the 1940s. Formal jazz education programs and institutions were founded in the 1940s. The establishments of jazz programs in North Texas State College and Schillinger House in Boston (Berklee) in the 1940s marked the beginning of jazz education. In this time period, jazz started to transform from a oral tradition to a written and recorded one. Since more jazz musicians got familiar with writing and reading music notations, jazz education programs started to use written and recorded forms of music as a staple of their teaching system. More importantly, this change symbolizes that jazz was being transformed into a more accessible and convenient academic practice.
7. Nowadays As a result, after the third period of rapid growth of jazz education, there are more than 75 jazz education programs in higher education. Over 500 colleges offer jazz-related course for credit and there are more than 300 summer camp programs that included jazz. Therefore, during the past 10 decades, jazz has perfectly embedded itself in an academia setting that has a larger group of audience and students.
8. Introduction