Backcountry Jazz Scholarship and Educational Program
Backcountry Jazz awards scholarships to outstanding young professionals, teachers and students with the purpose of perpetuating the mentoring process which has been at the heart of the development of this music for the past 100 years. The uniqueness of our art form is largely due to this oral passing-down of the experiential tradition of the music. In recent years a “jazz education” industry has sprung up, mostly in university and workshop settings. These programs often do a fine job of teaching the European based rudiments of improvised music, but often lack this nuanced oral tradition, which can only be passed on from the jazz masters to talented younger musicians.
Our initial scholarships are granting recipients the opportunity to study with jazz master, Michael Longo. Mike is one of our art form’s outstanding pianists, composers, arrangers and band leaders. He is most notably known for his nearly thirty-year association with Dizzy Gillespie as pianist and musical director. In addition to being one of the most important musicians in the history of jazz, Dizzy was it’s singular most important teacher- on the bandstand! He did not always impart his knowledge, but in Mike’s case, he passed on many of his most important techniques.
At the core of this study is the concept of polymetric rhythm. American jazz music, and it’s derivatives such as blues, are based on poly-rhythmic time, contrasted with European music which is all mono-rhythmic. This concept has traditionally been passed down on the bandstand as an intuitive part of the music. Even so, many jazz musicians have a limited comprehension of this phenomenon. Mike is the first to incorporate this into a formal study.
Our first recipient is young pianist, Donald Vega, who has appeared at two of our concerts at Seven Bridges Gallery. Donald is (bio information here...)
We are presently searching for a deserving music teacher in the Fairfield County area to enable us to bring the concept of polymetric time into our schools. A background in this rhythmic concept would be an invaluable asset to any young aspiring musician regardless of genre. While this is essential to any jazz-based music, it would also be very valuable for classical musicians, whose time concept is almost always their weakest area even among artists at the highest level. Today classical musicians are being challenged in this area as never before, whether it be in the performance of new compositions or in situations such as film score recording.
Students can be trained using only the minimum of instrumental equipment (some sort of hand drum or conga drum), minimizing the initial expense of purchasing expensive musical instruments. Actually the combination of this rhythmic training with a similar vocal training would give young students a huge advantage as they progress into more advanced musical study.
Educational Programs
We intend to produce a series of concerts combined with master classes and workshops designed for area music training programs. As part of our community outreach program our artistic director and board members have been holding a series of meetings with representatives of various musical organizations in Bridgeport, with the help of Charlie Tisdale, director of Bridgeport’s ABCD organization. We are now in the process of setting up our first events there with input from those organizations. We are also seeking the input of other area music teachers to enable us to bring them the best possible programs. Our first educational event was a concert in April 2007 for the jazz students at SUNY Purchase college.
Also as part of our community outreach program we are investigating the possibility of restoring instrumental music in the Bridgeport school system. This will require a coordinated effort with other organizations to facilitate the funding for such a program and the hiring of qualified teachers. It is hugely important to reestablish this in the schools for many reasons. It would supply the essential musical training for any young students interested in studying jazz. It would also expose students to the learning processes unique to music, particularly improvised music, which will enhance their learning and performance abilities in all areas of life, well beyond music itself. Numerous studies exist which document the benefits of music education to general education statistics, student drop-out rates and youth crime rates. (cite studies here) Greenwich and Westport have excellent instrumental music programs. we would like to see a similar program in Bridgeport.
As part of our concert series, we are working with Round Hill Community Church to present jazz concerts in their sanctuary. Our advisory board member, Joan Warburg, enabled us to secure that venue. We hope to underwrite these concerts to enable us to reserve a portion of the seating for deserving music students and interested young people. We would also like to initiate concerts expressly for young audiences. Our advisory board member, Sue Ann Weinberg, has introduced us to the director of the Young Audiences organization to help us get started in this area.
Finally the educational benefits of concert performance cannot be overlooked. We are bringing some of the finest artists in the jazz field today to our concerts. The experience of hearing these voices and experiencing the interaction among the musicians is a unique educational experience, which will hopefully inspire students and adults to pursue the study and enjoyment of this and other art forms. A society is defined by it’s culture, and it is our goal to celebrate and perpetuate our unique American art form.
