Jazz Is Elementary

Use jazz to develop children’s creativity! This book is a collection of 60 jazz-based teaching strategies designed to foster music making, creative movement, and improvisation in the K–5 music classroom. The innovative strategies are grounded in the best practices in elementary music education and partner with a curated playlist of jazz music that is available via streaming audio platforms.

These strategies represent the music of nearly 80 iconic jazz artists of yesterday and today (e.g., Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Sarah Vaughan). All teaching strategy concepts were extensively field-tested with children in the elementary music classroom and with teachers around the world.

Your students will:

• Experience the joys of music making and creative expression using jazz as a prompt.
• Create, Perform, and Respond (individually and with other children).
• Explore ways to sing and play a variety of classroom instruments including drums, shakers, bells, recorders, and rhythm sticks.
• Develop critical and creative thinking and apply these skills to make musical decisions and offer original contributions.
• Listen, analyze, and describe the sounds of jazz music and the music they create.
• Move and groove as part of original dances, movement improvisation, and games.