Michael Fitzgerald

Particularly at the beginning, it is very beneficial to have the parent attend the lessons. Even parents who have never played the piano can learn side by side - I mean, really, if your little kid can do it, you can too! Then you'll have a duet partner as well as someone who can point out the wrong notes. Studies have shown that it is the student's *perception* of parental valuing/approval of activities that makes the difference. Not whether you value or approve of whatever. (So, actually, you don't really have to love music, you just have to make your kid *believe* that you love music.) It's not just telling them it's important, you need to show it - making it a priority in your schedule, showing an interest, being supportive - even if it's just sitting there while they practice. Mike

Based on the Blakey album and the Riversides, Chuck Mangione could play jazz pretty well (though never at the high level of Dizzy, his idol) - but he chose to involve himself in other areas (writing, education, mixing pop, classical, and latin with jazz, some kind of happy happy philosophy too) and I respect him for that, *to a degree*. Not everything that he has done is at the same artistic or aesthetic level. Not by a long shot. Prior to firing his band with Gerry Niewood, Chip Jackson, and Joe LaBarbera, CM had some interesting things - all done live in the studio. He did the writing, the arranging, sometimes the conducting. Post-Niewood it went downhill very rapidly. But even something like "Feels So Good" has some chord changes for blowing (check the long album version). Still pretty boring and clearly aiming for the commercial, but a billion times better than Kenny G and his ilk. Where Kenny G's source is Grover Washington, Chuck was a contemporary of GW and probably had a better bebop pedigree, if not the organ funk. Anything Mangione did on the Columbia label must be avoided like the plague. A friend of mine played with CM back in Rochester and says CM was always the one who had the leader qualities, hustling the gigs, looking for the angles. People have said the same about Quincy Jones. Mike

There are keyboards ("digital pianos") out there that have a better touch and are better in tune than a lot of bad acoustic pianos. Have a look at some of the roundups/buyer's guides that Keyboard magazine periodically does. I have one here from September 2000 that covers 5 "affordable" ones (Generalmusic Pro1; Korg SP-100; Kurzweil SP88/X; Roland RD-100; Yamaha P-80 - all between $1000 and $1500) in detail and then has a page of additional information on other brands and models. Ideally, a good acoustic is the way to go, but I completely understand that there are issues (financial, space, sound) that can interfere. It is absolutely vital that the instrument be in tune, however, which is one area where the electronic wins out. Mike

TB - I would be glad to answer any questions you might have. Email me. Mike

Sorry, but what the child passionately wants has almost nothing to do with reality. At 4 1/2 a child has no instrumental heroes. At 4 1/2 a child has no judgment for this kind of thing. Even older kids make stupid decisions based on factors like "it's shiny" and "what my friend plays" and "the size of the case," let alone the "boy/girl instrument" thing. You expect a 4 1/2 year old to be more mature than that? And most importantly, at 4 1/2 almost all the instruments are inappropriate, for reasons I outlined in my first post. I mean, it's a nice sentiment, but it's not rooted in the real world. Were this a kid in 7th grade who actually had a good background in what the instruments are, how they work, how they sound, what physical attributes are helpful or not, a full set of adult teeth, fingers, and lungs, etc., then it would be a different story. Mike

As it happens, Buttercorn Lady was one of the first seven CDs I bought around 1987, before I owned a CD player and I'm glad I did because this album disappeared for a long time after that. It's very interesting and might have been better if the performances were not brutally edited (listen to the title track, for instance - as if Blakey ever played a 3:25 tune at a live gig). I think it's worth it just for the Keith Jarrett's solos - on "My Romance" and the amazing burning one on "Secret Love". And there's a great short version of "The Theme." The other tunes "Recuerdo" (where Jarrett plays inside the piano) and "Between Races" both by Mangione aren't so bad, although the latter is missing solos. I wish that someone would find and issue the unedited versions as well as the rest of the tapes made at the Lighthouse during that engagement. I'd love to hear what else that band was playing. The sound by Wally Heider is excellent. So, I guess I'm saying - buy that copy! Is it the legit EmArcy issue or one of the ripoff versions? (Sometimes titled "Recordo" or something like that.) Mike

It's not my particular specialty but all good school music programs do incorporate movement and percussion to great benefit. This has been going on for ages in the teaching of the three most important music educators of the 20th century: Carl Orff, Emile Jacques Dalcroze, and Zoltán Kodály (yes, he of Woody Shaw fame). I'd say most teacher training programs in colleges address these and while not every public school general music teacher is a certified specialist in one of the methods, they at least borrow things from each of the methods. http://www.kodaly-inst.hu/baltart.html Kodály is so damned persuasive and eloquent - gotta love him, even just for the quotes. Here's one relevant to the thread at hand: "Once when Kodály was asked about the right time to start music education, he answered: 'Nine months before the birth of the child,' moreover 'nine months before the birth of the mother.'" In the Orff-Schulwerk method, percussion has a large role, as does movement. http://www.aosa.org/about/default.asp And Dalcroze involves more movement. (Yes, eurhythmics of Annie Lennox fame). http://www.dalcroze.com/what_is_eurhythmics.htm So, in my school, all students are singing, moving, playing percussion, learning notation and solfege, getting some history and cultural background with their general music teacher once a week. Those who work with me get instrumental training as an additional part of their music experience. Mike

Actually, in addition to the KC one, there are a number of jazz halls of fame. Some have permanent homes, some don't. American Jazz Hall of Fame http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=2592 International Academy of Jazz Hall of Fame (Pittsburgh) http://www.pitt.edu/~pittjazz/academy.html Alabama http://www.jazzhall.com/ Arkansas http://www.arjazz.org/artists/hof/ New England http://www.nejazz.org/HallofFame/History/jazzhall.php (Gigi Gryce is being inducted on April 9, 2004) Oklahoma http://www.okjazz.org/ I'm sure there are others too. Mike

A special music school might not have dedicated their resources to teach younger kids, but you could investigate "kindermusik" programs - not necessarily to enroll but because they would have knowledge of teachers who do work with students that age. Or ask other parents, etc. Since you play, you could just give a friendly introduction (three-note songs, where the fingers go, echoing, etc.) - but I wouldn't let that go too long because you are too familiar to her. Sometimes you can find a summer program that introduces kids to piano. I've seen a lot of success with that. You would be best off with a teacher who has worked with that age before. You can't treat a 4-year-old the same as you would a 10-year-old beginner. Is your child in pre-school? Are they doing any music activity there? http://www.kindermusik.com/ http://www.pianoiseasy.com/showpage.cfm?page=school http://pianoeducation.org/pnotchld.html#Begin There are good ideas in the last - what your child needs to know (numbers 1-5, alphabet A-G, being able to sit and focus for 15 minutes, etc.). I don't know where in NY you are, but in the city there are a bazillion possibilities: http://www.newyorkmetro.com/urban/guides/f...gs/lessons2.htm Hopefully you can find at least *something* nearby. Mike And just a P.S. on the "music as part of everyday life" - YES! Kids should play music on their own, with their friends, with their parents, with their parents' friends. All the time. Reserving performance for the "annual recital" is counterproductive. At my school we just finished doing weekly TV broadcasts (closed circuit) of student performances to celebrate "Music In Our Schools" month. The more opportunities to perform, the better. April is "Jazz Appreciation" month so I've got that to plan next. And ditto for the opportunities to hear and see others perform. Kids need to get out to those free concerts in the park. And they need to meet musicians. Then they will have this positive association that music is enjoyable. As opposed to the hour of Hanon in solitude every day. http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/jam/jam_start.asp

Where do you make the connection that absolute pitch is equivalent to equal temperament? These are not the same thing. And while the young children probably won't be able to demonstrate all the facets of absolute pitch at the start (I didn't - not till I was in junior high school, despite my best efforts), it is the early years that are vital to the development of the part of the brain that controls absolute pitch. Once the "window" closes it is difficult - perhaps impossible. Of course, if the only instrument you hear and play is a 17-note-per-octave harmonium and I tell you again and again that the first four notes are Z, Q, 5, and ~, you most likely won't function the same as someone from the 12-tone A,B,C world. If your home piano is tuned in Werckmeister III, I'd say you'd learn that. If it's tuned 2 tones flat, maybe you'll learn that (if you aren't exposed to anything else). But the scientists are saying that early musical training is needed or else you will lose the ability that you were born with. Learning a tonal language (Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.) is another thing that develops the absolute pitch skill. Here are a few articles addressing the research to which I referred. http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/5819.html http://www.boston.com/globe/search/stories...ense/041497.htm http://gabrchen.tripod.com/Physics_36.htm http://www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/rightnote.html http://www.menc.org/networks/genmus/litarticles.html http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s593744.htm I'm sure there are more out there. (BTW, there is also mention in the menc.org article about the increased development of the part of the brain that controls touch perception among those who started keyboard training before age 7.) BTW, "jazz historian" is not my day gig. I am a music educator teaching beginning instrumental music in the public schools. And even the kids I teach don't get to me (age 9) until the very end or after the closing of the window. So getting them playing the piano before that is very important. Mike

Children of 4 1/2 almost certainly don't know enough to make an educated decision. There are also very few choices that a child that age could or should play - wind instruments are pretty much out except for perhaps recorder. The fingers and hands are too small to cover the holes. The teeth are not right either. Best to wait until adult teeth are in before starting a wind instrument. I'd say piano is the best instrument for starting. I started when I was 3 and still haven't learned everything yet. No matter what a child might want to investigate later, the foundation established by the piano in terms of pitch relationships and hopefully the additional training in reading notation will be a great asset. Piano is good for starting because the notes pop right out when you press the right button and they sound good and are in tune. No embouchure, no air flow, no covering holes, no guessing where on the fingerboard that note is. The progress rate can be very rapid - from single note melodies to both hands, to chords. Also, the fixed pitch of the piano helps to solidify the absolute pitch that all children are born with and starting very early is crucial in this regard, according to the scientific studies. Violin is possible (they make tiny tiny scale instruments) but there are the drawbacks of intonation - which is greatly improved if the child has piano background. The other logical option is a percussion instrument, but I would still recommend the piano. All my percussion students who have piano experience progress much faster than those who don't. There are plenty of piano teachers who will work with students that young. Mike

OK....what are you hearing? Can you identify whether there is trumpet, tenor, piano, bass? How many tracks are there? How long is each track? Blakey and Sabu only made a few recordings together. One is the two 1953 duets on Blue Note, then the half of Drum Suite mentioned first, then the Orgy In Rhythm percussion ensemble records, then the Cu-Bop record, then the Holiday For Skins percussion ensemble records. You can tell Orgy In Rhythm apart from Holiday for Skins as HFS has trumpet and OIR has flute. The 3 tracks from Drum Suite have neither. All of these were recorded between 1953 and 1958. Mike

There is an album called Cu-Bop with Bill Hardman, Johnny Griffin, Sam Dockery, Spanky DeBrest, Blakey, and Sabu. Tracks are Sakeena, Dawn on the Harvest, Woody'n You, Shorty. Rec. May 13, 1957 for the Jubilee label, reissued on Roulette, currently owned by Blue Note. If this isn't what you are looking for, it would help a great deal if you could list the tracks or something as a hint. Mike

The basic idea that 6/8 is a compound time seems to be getting lost. No one is advocating tapping your foot SIX times in each measure for Row, Row, Row Your Boat. The whole point is that you tap your foot TWICE. Each tap has three subdivisions. That's what makes it compound as opposed to simple. While triplets happen in groups of three (anything else wouldn't be triplets), there is absolutely no reason why sixteenth notes can't happen in groups of three. This happens in *compound* meters - 3/16, 6/16, 9/16, 12/16, for example. To decide whether something is 4/4 with triplets or 12/8, one should probably check whether there are any instances of even eighth notes - simple subdivision - if this is fairly common and the triplets - compound subdivision - are the exception, then 4/4 is probably the better choice. However, if just about everything is a triplet, then 12/8 is a better choice. The above is null and void in notating jazz, since the swing is not indicated accurately in the rhythmic notation. We write what appear to be even eighth notes but we play long-short uneven swing eighths that are often identical to quarter-eighth patterns in 12/8. Mike

Verve is putting out 'S Make It? Ugh - and this will probably be in one of those "LP replica" packages. There is additional material, such as the long take on "Faith" that was on the "We Had A Ball" various artists issue - it has a John Gilmore solo that was edited out of the 'S Make It issue. I don't know if there are similar situations for other tunes on that record. Is there any time that one of those replica issues have included bonus material? Compared to the Verve Elite series, I give a big thumbs down to the new "It is as it was" Verve line. But still, rather 'S Make It than Hold On, I'm Coming (which I do have as a Limelight CD and sometimes wish I didn't). Mike

Chuck - What happened to "fewer books, more music"? That's the sentiment I was trying to express. (Not that I haven't made, don't make, and won't make arrogant mistakes.....) I do agree that there is something to be learned from everything. However, I find that doing the listening (or the primary research, or the reading from more specialized sources) is more beneficial - to me. I certainly wouldn't want to push my way of doing things on anyone else. I have read neither the Shipton nor the Gioia histories, though I have read other books by them - Groovin' High and The Imperfect Art & West Coast Jazz. I wasn't so impressed with the Dizzy bio (though I did learn from it), but perhaps Shipton is better as a surveyor of the broad history. Eventually I will add both books to my collection, I'm sure. Garth - No Clifford book for me - the plan is Henry Grimes next. After that, probably Lenox SOJ. Mike

It's my understanding that Sheldon Meyer is back in one way or another and is still somewhat active in publishing. If I recall correctly, he's involved in the career retrospective book that Dan Morgenstern is compiling from his old files. But unfortunately Meyer's name on a project isn't a 100% guarantee of quality. The P.O.S. biography of Clifford Brown was something he was (at least nominally) involved in and they don't come much worse than that. I would be surprised to learn that anyone with half a brain had edited or even diligently read that book before it went to press. I have two favorites in the overall histories of jazz - first, I have a sentimental soft spot for The Jazz Book by Joachim Berendt, which just seems to include all the right people even if it only gives some of them a brief sentence, and second, Jazz: From Its Origins to The Present, a textbook by Lewis Porter (with Michael Ullman and Ed Hazell). It dispells myths, is written by a musician for musicians (though nonmusicians certainly can gain much from it), and is quite comprehensive despite the fact that it came out in 1992. Unfortunately it's very pricey as is often the case with college textbooks. As opposed to most people writing those histories, Porter is the self-described "street musician with a PhD". He's a friend and colleague for whom I have a lot of respect. He knows his stuff and tends not to parrot back received wisdom (though there are exceptions to this as I mentioned in the thread on the New Grove). But mostly I have no use for those kind of books. I have a large library and find much more value in getting the monographs. I don't find the need to have Gioia or Shipton or whoever tell me about jazz - I'll get the records and learn for myself. Which is another principle espoused by Lewis Porter. Great interview here: http://www.furious.com/perfect/coltrane2.html and other parts here: http://www.furious.com/perfect/coltrane.html http://www.furious.com/perfect/coltrane3.html Mike

Don't know Renee Rosnes? Have I got a website for you! www.JazzDiscography.com (!) Mike

Don't know Don Friedman??? Have I got a website for you - www.JazzDiscography.com Mike

I'd say "All Blues" is a bad example - I wouldn't say it was 6/8 although it has been described that way. Maybe even notated that way. It's really 6/4, played like 2 bars of 3/4 joined at the hip. "All Blues" and "Someday My Prince Will Come" have way too much in common. The pulse is defined as the bass walks quarter notes in each. 6/8 is a compound meter - easiest example is "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." 3/4 is a simple meter - something like "America"/"God Save the Queen" or "The Star Spangled Banner" for that matter. Mike

Dick Heckstall-Smith (soprano & tenor) Wilbur Sweatman (3 clarinets) Vladimir Chekasin (2 altos) One of Kirk's stritches had a bell taken from a french horn. See Roy Haynes: Out of the Afternoon. Mike

If you haven't heard Phil explain how to spell his last name, you just haven't listened long enough. S as in scent C as in cent H as in hors d'oeuvre A as in Aaron A as in Aaron P as in pneumonia Mike

Maybe 24 hours of Bix music doesn't exist, but Phil Schaap will recite (from memory) the 1903 Davenport city directory (twice - first by family name, then by street name) to fill the remaining time. If that doesn't do it, listeners may call in to try to stump him by giving the record issue number and he'll supply the title. Seriously, on all birthday broadcasts there are additional features that are included: interviews (live or pre-recorded), special sets - so material isn't just played once and never again. "Singin' the Blues" always gets multiple visits. And then there are the biographical narrations that Schaap does - they're interesting the first couple of times you hear them. But even then they need to be checked for accuracy. Mike

And remember, every year after 24 hours of Ornette, 24 hours of Bix immediately follows. And just for this year, 3 billion hours of Coltrane after that. Mike

FWIW, I consider Talk to be the best of anything Yes that involved Rabin. I didn't have any problem about keyboards/lack thereof on the music from Magnification that I heard - it just sounded trite and bland, lacking melodic and harmonic interest and direction/propulsion. I think the tracks that I have heard them do live are Magnification, Don't Go, and In the Presence Of, maybe one more. Some of these are on the YesSpeak DVD and I think there are some things on the Symphonic DVD, too. But then again, "The best Yes album since Drama" isn't such a great award in my book. That's like the old compliment "You sure don't sweat much, for a fat girl." Mike