about

“What we play is life.”

-Louis Armstrong

We believe that music can fulfill and enrich our lives beyond imagination. In particular, jazz is an art form that celebrates individuality and group success at the same time. While jazz is an often underutilized tool in music education, teachers agree that it has the power to uplift students and ensembles when used in the classroom. That’s where we come in.

The Jazz Academy Teacher’s Toolkit is meant to be a resource that considers real-world scenarios in music education and provides solutions to establishing and improving upon your jazz teaching. Its structure is simple - we demonstrate a concept in a video lesson and provide supplementary materials whenever possible to arm you with everything you need to try these ideas for yourself. Some lessons are designed to improve the skills of the teacher while others are designed to be implemented with students in the classroom. Our goal is to increase the success of the jazz education activities at your school and to see more students actively participating in jazz education.

As you scroll through the Teacher’s Toolkit, we encourage you to explore the lessons found at each grade level/teaching setting. No matter the category, the concepts that are presented can be adapted to suit your needs. Do you have a question or idea for a new lesson? Simply let us know and we’d be happy to help. You can e-mail education@jazzartsgroup.org with any comments/questions.

We sincerely hope that the Jazz Academy Teacher’s Toolkit serves you as a user-friendly, approachable method to acquiring new skills in teaching jazz. We cannot overstate our appreciation for music educators and the impact that you have on young lives. Thank you.

Sincerely,