Can you believe the semester is more than halfway finished? Summer will be here before you know it, but there is still plenty of time to introduce your jazz students to some of the masters of our art.

If time permits, I would like to encourage you to show segments of the documentary film Jazz, by Ken Burns. This documentary is a fantastic account of jazz history with a great deal of footage and sound clips from some of jazz's most notable artists. The documentary is very informative, educational, and will expose your students to a number of jazz musicians with whom they may not be familiar.

In addition to showing documentaries to your musicians, I also would recommend starting a jazz listening hour at some point during the school week. During this time period play recordings of different jazz musicians from different periods in jazz and have your students listen actively. Have the students compare the music to other jazz pieces with which they may already be familiar. Ask the students a number of questions like: What is the drummer doing here? Why do you think the pianist is comping this way? Why is the saxophonist using this kind of tone quality? These and other similar questions will help your students focus on the music they are listening to and will allow them to make educated comparisons between many different styles of jazz.

We still have one jazz festival remaining this semester -- Jazz Valley on May 5, 2007. This will be hosted by saxophonist Matt Pivec and will be held at the CSU Stanislaus School of Music. I am looking forward to hearing some great groups at that festival and I am sure it will be as fun and educational as were the previous jazz festivals this semester.

I am in the process of securing dates and venues for the spring 2008 jazz festivals so be on the lookout for those in the very near future. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your semester and best of luck with your end-of-year concerts.

Aaron Lington
Jazz Representative

Summer Music Camp Listing

Cazadero Performing Arts Camp (Russian River redwoods)
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http://www.cazpac.org/
510-527-7500

Pacific Music Camp
Bruebeck Institute Jazz Camp
University of the Pacific (Stockton)
http://www.edu/conservatory
209-946-2416

Hayward LaHonda Music Camp (in the Santa Cruz Mountains)
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http://www.lahondamusiccamp.com/
510-537-4871

Lafayette Summer Music Workshop
Contact Bob Athayde at: : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.lafsmw.com/

Berklee College of Music, Boston, Mass
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UC Davis Summer Arts
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CSU Stanislaus Music Camp
http://www.csustan.edu/music/camp