Going inside the halls of two of the most prestigious jazz schools around-at Berklee College of Music in Boston and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York-Eitan Y. Facing dwindling commercial demand and the gradual disappearance of venues, many aspiring jazz musicians today learn their craft, and find their careers, in one of the many academic programs that now offer jazz degrees. Jazz was born on the streets, grew up in the clubs, and will die-so some fear-at the university. When these antecedents of Harris’ concept of movement have been analyzed, they will use them as a compliance for the cultivation and filling in of gaps in post-secondary jazz curricula across the GTA. Barry Harris’ primary contribution to jazz education, which is his concept of movement, while also expanding upon it. Therefore, I seek to unpack and analyze the musical and social upbringing that contributed to African American jazz pianist and educator Dr. Barry Harris is one such educator who incorporates new teaching methods based on African American narratives. Therefore, this multi-case study will lead to the creation of an alternative curriculum that incorporates new teaching methods based on African American narratives. The idea for this study originated from my observation of a lack of “African American-ness”-African American narratives not being used as a pedagogical tool in post-secondary jazz curricula across the GTA. Consequently, it is my belief that current music educators across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) should consider alternative methods of pedagogy if students are to understand the historicity- the historical authenticity of this African American folk music. Unless the narratives of this music are unpacked, analyzed and taught from its internal elements, which embodies the symbiosis and synthesis of African American dance, theatrics, poetics and American black English that encapsulates the “African American-ness” in jazz, then there remains a risk that this folk music will become more and more diluted. More specifically, finding and hiring African American instructors whose musical genealogy can be delineated from “black” oral/aural histories and can draw from these historicities. One of the challenges faced in post-secondary jazz education across the GTA is finding qualified instructors who are familiar with dialogical methods for teaching African American jazz histories.
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