OUR  MISSION

TJYBF Mission Statement

The 1st annual Traditional Jazz Youth Band Festival (TJYBF), held on February 11, 2006 was co-hosted by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society (STJS) and the Sacramento State University (SSU) Jazz Studies in cooperation with the Traditional Jazz Educators Network (TJEN). This was a unique collaboration between a leading jazz club, a recognized university jazz studies program, and a national network of traditional jazz educators to produce a new hybrid of jazz festival that combined the entertainment of the annual Sacramento Jazz Jubilee with the educational activities of a scholastic jazz festival.

The rationale for this type of festival is that the art of appreciating and performing traditional jazz will die with the older generation unless we “pass the torch” by attracting and developing younger generations of jazz fans and musicians. Currently, most school band directors know little about traditional jazz, how to teach it or even how to play it. Also, the performance and learning of traditional jazz—a truly American art form of jazz music that developed in New Orleans in the early part of the 20th Century—falls outside the realm of the standard scholastic band festivals and clinics generally attended by most school bands. School band directors typically gear their jazz curriculum around large, big bands that meet the minimum number of students required for a class period. They typically prepare for performances that include concerts, fundraisers and participation in these band festivals. So the first objective of the TJYBF was to provide an IAJE (International Association for Jazz Education)-sanctioned scholastic jazz festival for middle, high school and college bands. In 2006, the IAJE accepted the TJYBF as, what the organizers believe is, the first IAJE-sponsored jazz combo festival dedicated to the performance and learning of traditional jazz.

The Youth Band Festival, as a not-for-profit outreach program of the STJS, underwrites a portion of the event in order to maintain affordable band registration fees at $100, and it offers festival passes at no charge to students up to age 21. The TJYBF also budgets band registration waivers for schools and private instructors with financial need.

(Continued in next column)

Traditional Jazz defined

by David Robinson

"Traditional jazz" is defined as the various styles of New Orleans jazz and their outgrowths, encompassing styles sometimes called Dixieland, classic jazz, hot jazz, Chicago style, San Francisco style, etc. This music is characterized by an instrumentation of 3-4 horns (usually trumpet/clarinet/trombone) and 3-4 rhythm (sometimes including banjo and tuba), with the wind instruments improvising simultaneously as well as individually. The genre employs easily-discernible chord patterns, a 2/4 or 4/4 meter, and pre-bop harmonies and phrasing.

David Robinson, President of Trad. Jazz Educators Network

("TJYBF Mission" continued)

The immediate goal of the Youth Band Festival is to encourage school band directors to consider traditional jazz as a great foundation for ear-training, improvisation, ensemble playing, and later forms of jazz. (Please refer to 10 Top Reasons for Teaching Traditional Jazz.) The festival objectives are to 1) encourage more such festivals; 2) provide exposure, educational support, and resources to school bands; 3) increase the number of experienced adjudicators and clinicians that are knowledgeable about traditional jazz; and 4) provide a performance environment supportive of traditional jazz.

The long-term goal of the festival is to generate student interest in listening to and performing traditional jazz with the anticipation that at least some of these returning bands and musicians will become fans of traditional jazz and/or form their own jazz combos after high school or in college. Festival organizers are excited that they are already seeing new bands directed by former band students from the inaugural festival. These young musicians will be among the next generation of professional musicians, private music instructors, credentialed band directors and college jazz professors, giving performances and clinics at jazz festivals, jubilees, clubs, societies, jazz education conferences, and schools.

Learning to play traditional jazz is not only fun, it also provides basic skills that enhance and complement the school jazz band curriculum, providing students with life-long skills.

Yvonne Au, Founder of TJYBF

10 Top Reasons for Teaching Traditional Jazz

by Rik Nishimori

1) Traditional jazz was at the forefront of American history and parallels the events that made our country what it is today.

2) Students that perform jazz in the traditional setting are generally the most skilled musicians in their school band (Jazz, Concert and Marching).

3) Trad. jazz teaches students to play and interact in front of crowds, which greatly contributes to the development of interpersonal skills, public speaking, and teamwork.

4) Playing in festivals is much different than playing in regular school band reviews. You meet people who play this type of music for a living, and you see people, who follow this type of music around the country, that aren't the parents of students.

5) Trad. jazz teaches the students to listen throughout the ensemble and interact with their fellow musicians both as soloists and ensemble.
6) Not only does trad. jazz teach improvisation through soloing, it also teaches improvisation through the arrangement of tunes being played.

7) Traditional jazz is the best beginning for teaching kids to play in big bands and more contemporary jazz combos.

8) Traditional jazz theory is a great way to teach beginning theory through less complex chord progressions. It also is a good way to apply the more complex chords once they are learned.

9) In comparison to other types of music, the trad. jazz environments are typically more inviting and supportive. Sit-in, have fun, and Jam!

10) Once you go to Trad. Camp, you will never stop loving this music.

Rik Nishimori, school band director, and leader of the Barkin’ Dawg

Trad Jazz Youth Band Festival (TJYBF)   •   Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society Foundation(STJSF)
P.O. Box 661763 •  Sacramento, CA  95866
(916) 444-2004  •  E-mail: [email protected]