Jazz band directors tend to face a lot of time constraints in readying their ensembles for performance. Sometimes the race to the stage can result in suboptimal playing, a rhythm section that does not quite gel, or soloists who "blow and hope"--that is, fail to put in the appropriate amount of thought before and during their…

Improvisation--the act of spontaneously creating music, as opposed to playing music that is strictly pre-composed--is a practice that has most often been taught only in the context of jazz in the classroom. But it has actually been part of many more musical traditions, cultures, and periods. Classical icons like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven,…

Orff-Schulwerk, or simply Orff, is an approach for teaching music to children that was developed in the early 1920s by the German composer Carl Orff (1895 1982) and his fellow composer Gunild Keetman. The Orff approach encompasses music and movement and is based on activities that come naturally to children: singing, clapping, and dancing. Orff…