MUED3031: Teaching Jazz in Secondary Education

Philosophy of instruction (20%), Peer teaching workshop and resource kit (50%), Reflection on jazz pedagogy (30%).

None; MUED3031 is best taken in second year onwards though because the skills you gain in Harmony and Analysis and Aural Perception are transferrable into this unit.

MUED3031 is a compulsory unit that Music Education students are required to qualify for the degree. I was actually scheduled to take this unit in 2019 but chose to wait a year and enrol in it alongside my friends who did it last year. I'm really glad I made this decision and took Composition in Music Education instead in my first year which helped me navigate well through this course.

This unit was run online for the first three weeks in which we did a jazz history and thinking about jazz pedagogy crash course with Chris Coady. The remaining weeks of the semester were taken on campus with Alex Hone running a practical approach to teaching jazz in high schools. I thoroughly enjoyed this structure for the unit because it meant we were provided with a comprehensive overview of the subject matter from a theoretical, historical and cultural perspective before diving straight into the music and methods of teaching itself. The assignments were a nice balance between written, reflective writing and practical resource-making and content creation that will be useful for us on our secondary school placements in the next two years. For the peer teaching workshop, I really appreciated that we were given the option to work in pairs because it definitely was easier to do and perform well in with a partner to share the workload with. I basically have no faults for how this subject was run at all and the nature of its assessments. I think the unit coordinators did a fantastic job at maximising what we could gain from the unit given the unique circumstances of the pandemic.

As a student with next to no jazz experience prior to the unit, I found it difficult at times to grasp some of the more complex content in the class and felt really conscious about my ability level as a performer/improviser. That being said, the class was highly welcoming and growth-oriented which made me feel comfortable with making mistakes and asking questions. I am hoping to possibly audit another Chris unit next semester when I have more free space in my timetable because I was so inspired and fascinated by jazz history by the end of his weeks of teaching. I also felt blessed to have Alex as a tutor; his sense of humour, professionalism and approachability made him a hit with our cohort. Another side note about this unit is that it often runs in the evening from 5:30pm-7:30pm which might seem a bit inconvenient but it was so worth the travel and the late finish. I almost wished some weeks we could stay the whole night! I hope future students also find the level of enjoyment I did in this unit and find their own way of harmonising jazz with their identity as a music teacher through it.

1x 2 hour seminar

3.5/5

Yes; the recordings for each seminar were uploaded by the end of the day of the class.

Christopher Coady, Alexander Hone

None; all the readings and resources for this unit were provided on Canvas for us to access.

5/5

None

2020, Semester 2

87 HD