Music 16, "Listening to Jazz"
Jon Nathan, instructor • Department of Music
Offered each quarter of the school year, "Listening to Jazz" aims to unravel the mystery of Jazz’s allure, importance, tradition, communities, and process, in a manner mostly divorced from technical musical terminology or music theory, through targeted readings, listening assignments, short and long writing projects, viewing of jazz performances through online media (Youtube, Vimeo, etc), live performances, classroom listening and discussion.
Class objectives include:
• explore and explain the jazz tradition and history, including the artists who contributed to and/or modified (or broke from) its tradition and trajectory
• explain and chart the form, expectations, and process of typical mainstream jazz performances
• discuss the process of jazz based improvisation, and how it differs artist to
artist, style period to style period, and how it contributed to the development of the tradition
• explore and discuss the perception of jazz by performers, audiences, and critics • explore the “jazz community”, and how it contributes to the progress or
stagnation of the art form, and how jazz has contributed to American
and world artistic culture
• explore the significance of the music as being primarily developed by Black Americans,
and discuss the impact and influence of different ethnicities and genders on this music
Music 6, "Jazz Fundamentals"
Jon Nathan, instructor • Department of Music
Jazz Fundamentals aims to arm UCSB students with the knowledge to understand basic jazz specific music theory as an extension of principles of Western European diatonic and chromatic harmonic practice.
Class objectives include:
• extensive discussion of diatonic harmony, chord structures, and chord progressions
• explanation of jazz harmony through the study of the Great American Songbook (Broadway musical) repertoire and Jazz Standards (compositions by jazz artists)
• explanation and analysis of jazz melody and improvisational techniques through solo transcription and composition
• other topics as dictated by class interests
Black Studies 14, "The History of Jazz"
Jeffrey Stewart, instructor • Department of Black Studies
A survey of the historical origins and development of jazz, beginning with the West African heritage and the African-American folk tradition, and examining the social and cultural context of this twentieth-century music.