Jim Scully

Office: LB 103

Days & Times

Tuesday and Thursday 1:00 PM – 3:15 PM (Music Building, room # 112)

Office Hours:  HERE is a link to Jim's on-line calendar. 

Consult this resource to see when Jim is available for office hours.

Course Description

Appreciation of Jazz (Music 205) will introduce students to the many musical characteristics, techniques, styles, terms, and methods found in the jazz tradition.  This course will focus on the study of African and African-American folk origins through blues, early jazz, the swing era, bebop, cool, avant-garde jazz, jazz-rock fusion and new creative music. In addition to musical issues, we will examine critical issues related to the social and cultural history of African-Americans (Slavery, African Diaspora, the World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement, etc.) and how that history influenced the creation of the music.  Ultimately, the class will attempt to align those social and historical issues with the corresponding musical developments within jazz.

Learning Goals

Upon completion of Music 205 students will be able to define important musical elements and techniques such as melody, harmony, rhythm, form, improvisation, swing, call-and-response, etc., and how they are used in the many sub-styles within jazz.  Students will be able to identify artists and compare and contrast important compositions from the various historical periods within jazz; identify the impact of the African-American experience on the expressive characteristics of jazz, and trace the evolution of jazz in relation to the important historical events of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Materials

Required Texts:


Recommended Text:


Course Compact Discs:

The instructor has created eight compact disc recordings containing a representative selection of the music that will be discussed throughout the course.  The course CD’s are available in the CSUB Library and as MP3 downloads on THIS website. 

If your internet connection is slow (dial-up service) the MP3 files will take a long time to download.  I only recommend downloading and listening on-line if you are listening from a campus computer (very fast internet service) or you have DSL or cable modem at home.  Otherwise, feel free to listen to the CD's in the CSUB library.

A hard copy of the CD contents list can be downloaded HERE. (PDF download)

---

Weekly Outline and Course Readings


Week 1: Introduction to Music 205 and the Basic Elements of Music

Here is a link to the PDF file of Keynote Presentation from in class lecture


Week 2: African Roots of Jazz

Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapter 1 (pp. 3-33)

Early African-American Music, The Blues (country and classic) and Ragtime

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lecture on Africanisms and Slavery

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lecture on Ragtime and Blues


Week 3: Early Jazz – New Orleans and Chicago

Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapters 2 & 3 (pp. 35-79)

The Anatomy of a Jazz Band, The Migration North (to Chicago), Joe “King” Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lecture on Early New Orleans Jazz

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lecture on Jazz in Chicago


Week 4: New York in the 1920’s and the Swing Era

Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapters 4, 5 & 6 (pp. 81-169)

Harlem Stride & Art Tatum, Early Big Bands and Influential Big Band (Basie, Goodman, Ellington)

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lecture on Jazz in NY.

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lecture on the Swing Era.


Week 5: The Revolution of Bebop

Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapter 7 (pp. 171-199)
   
Creators of a style: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk.

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lecture on Bebop (Gillespie and Parker)

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lecture on Bebop (Monk and Powell) and vocalists (Holiday, Fitzgerald and Vaughan)


Week 6: The 1950’s – Substyles

Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapter 8 (pp. 201-237)

Reactions to Bebop: Cool Jazz (Davis/Evans), Third-Stream (Brubeck & MJQ), Hard Bop (Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and Mingus), Funky/Soul Jazz (Horace Silver), Modal Jazz, Bossa Nova, etc.

Here is a link to the PDF file of the Keynote Presentation from the in-class lectures on the 1950's and substyles.


Week 7: The 1960’s Avant-Garde and Free Jazz

Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapter 9 (pp. 239-269)

Opening up the music: Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Art Ensemble of Chicago and Cecil Taylor


Week 8: The 1960’s Mainstream Jazz

Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapter 10 (pp. 271-291)

Further Development of Traditional Styles: Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Freddie Hubbard and Herbie Hancock


Week 9: The 1970’s (Jazz-Rock Fusion)

Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapter 11 (pp. 293-321)

Electrifying the Music: Miles Davis, Chick Corea and Return to Forever, Weather Report, Mahivishnu Orchestra and Pat Metheny


Week 10: Jazz since the 1980’s (Neo-Bop and the Neo-traditionalists)
       
Reading: Martin/Waters: Chapter 12 (pp. 323-353)

The Young Lions: Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Terence Blanchard and others

---

Course grading scale

Weekly Journal Assignments – 20%
Concert Report #1 – 15%
Concert Report #2 – 15%
Midterm –20%
Final – 30%


Weekly Journal Assignments

Students are required to keep a journal when listening to the course compact discs.  This journal should include observations, revelations and comments about the assigned music.  Avoid making vague value judgments about the music - such as, "I really liked this song."  That is completely useless from an academic standpoint.  Tell me WHY you feel the way you do about the musical selections on the course CD's.  Get inside your feeling about the music.  I know this is a little "touchy, feely" for some of you, but it is good for you. 

The Weekly Journal will be a minimum of two pages in length per week, and can be handwritten.  A unique journal will be due in class on Thursday afternoons, starting in week #2 and ending in week #9, for a total of eight journal assignments, one journal per course CD.

The goal of the journal assignments is twofold: First, this assignment will force the student to grapple with, describe and discuss the music being presented in the course on a regular basis.  Secondly, the assignments will afford the instructor many opportunities to assist the student as he/she works to improve their writing skills.

The Weekly Journal Assignments will be worth 20% of the students’ final grade.


Concert Attendance/Concert Reports

Students are required to attend two (2) live jazz concerts during the quarter.  The instructor will post a list of approved concerts in Bakersfield and Los Angeles at the beginning of the quarter from which the students must choose.  That list can be found HERE. 

For each of the two concerts the student will compose a five-page paper critically analyzing the performance and how it relates to the subject matter presented in class.  The concert reports will enable the instructor to support writing skills, with the expectation that the second report will show improvement and growth where appropriate.

Concert report guidelines are provided HERE (PDF Download).  Print this document out and read it prior to turning in your reports.

Each Concert Report is worth 15% of the students’ final grade.


Midterm Exam

The midterm will consist of multiple choice and short answer/identification questions.  Additionally, there will be at least one extended essay covering a major musical, historical or cultural development in jazz, worth 20% of the midterm grade.  Approximately 40% of the midterm exam will deal with identification of specific music from the course compact discs.

The midterm exam is worth 20% of the students’ final grade.

The midterm exam is scheduled for Tuesday, February 8 @ 1 PM


Final Exam

The final exam will consist of multiple choice and short answer/identification questions.  Additionally, there will be at least two extended essays covering a major musical, historical or cultural development in jazz.  The essay portion of the exam will be worth 30% of the final exam.  Approximately 40% of the final exam will deal with identification of specific music from the course compact discs.

The final exam is worth 30% of the students’ final grade.

The final exam is scheduled for: Thursday, March 17 @ 2 PM to 4:30 PM