Volume 26 Issue 2 - October 2020

Small ensembles, small audiences and plexiglass.
Big Bands Aren’t Back
But I’m getting ahead of myself… As I mentioned in my last column, I
teach jazz part-time at U of T, and the Jazz Department has elected to
leave some of the choice between remote and in-person instruction
up to individual teachers and students. Of course, all group classes are
being taught remotely, and larger ensembles such as big bands and a
12-piece group have been scrapped as they’re neither safe nor practicable.
But the program also involves private lessons and many small
ensembles. After a number of Zoom faculty meetings and consultation
with other teachers and my students, I’ve arrived at a compromise, at
least for the time being – a blend of remote and in-person teaching
based on individual needs and (I hope) a dollop of common sense.
I’m teaching my two bass students remotely because we play the
same instrument and there’s a lot of back-and-forth exchange of
information and mirroring going on, so it seems doable. But my other
two students are a guitarist (whom I teach every other week), and a
trombonist (whom I teach weekly). As these lessons mostly involve
me playing with them and guiding/critiquing them, they seem better
done in person. The trombonist, I should mention, has some understandable
and considerate concerns about in-person lessons – something
about “an ill wind that nobody blows good” as Oscar Levant
once described the oboe – so we’re alternating remote and in-person
lessons for now, which cuts down on the frequency of contact. I’ve
also decided to teach my ensemble in person because, truth be told,
I haven’t yet got my mind around the technical pitfalls of doing it
online. As I wrote last time, old dog, new tricks and all that. As conditions
could turn worse on a dime, I’m continuing to investigate the ins
and outs of teaching an ensemble online so I’ll have a backup plan.
Mask Me Now
As one would expect, there are a lot of protocols and guidelines in
place at U of T for in-person teaching. Private lessons are no longer
taught in small studios but rather in larger classrooms which allow
for physical distancing, and these are cleaned regularly and thoroughly.
Everyone is required to wear masks except for wind players
and singers, who are required to wear them when not playing. These
measures are ramped up for the ensembles, which all take place
now in a larger concert space rather than classrooms, with plexiglass
baffles in front of wind players/singers and social distancing in
place. Windows are to be kept open, though that will become a challenge
when it gets colder. There are piano-cleaning measures and the
room is to be cleared ten minutes early for cleaning, with a 30-minute
interval between ensembles to allow for airing out. The room has
been equipped with an AV cart with a computer, microphones,
cameras and other gear, which the students must learn to operate in
case everything has to go online. In the past, each U of T ensemble
has done three public performances every year but these have been
discontinued and replaced with videotaped performances which can
be streamed online. Like everything these days, this is all somewhat
up in the air, a work in progress.
My ensemble has yet to meet but I’ve taught one in-person lesson
and five online ones; and so far, so good. Having acquired the necessary
gear – a condenser mic with a USB audio interface and headphones,
which took a while because they’re in high demand these
days – and having learned how to use them with Zoom – I’ve overcome
a lot of the sound problems and have been enjoying the online
teaching more than I expected. It’s nice not to leave the house and
there’s a scheduling flexibility that in-person teaching doesn’t have.
This is a good thing, because although I prefer the directness of
in-person teaching, there’s a good possibility everything will have to
go online. In a sense I’m buying time to negotiate the steep learning
curve of coaching an ensemble remotely. As we’re constantly discovering,
jazz involves improvising in more ways than we thought and
this now includes teaching it.
Rebooting the Jazz Audience
Ray Koskie, director of Jazz Performance and Education Centre (JPEC),
recently announced the creation
of the annual Rochelle Koskie Jazz
Student Scholarship, named after
his wife Rochelle who passed away
suddenly last spring, and who
was a passionate advocate of jazz
education.
This award is for the most
viable solution of attracting
and sustaining the interests of a
broader jazz audience, with a focus
on a younger demographic. There
will be four awards of $2,500
each, for one student from each
of the four Ontario Jazz Colleges:
Mohawk, Humber, York, and U of
T. This comes at a most opportune
time and is a fitting legacy for a
Rochelle Koskie
lifelong jazz fan.
Deadline to apply is
November 20, and details can be found at jazzcentre.ca.
Toronto bassist Steve Wallace writes a blog called “Steve
Wallace jazz, baseball, life and other ephemera” which can
be accessed at Wallace-bass.com. Aside from the topics
mentioned, he sometimes writes about movies and food.
“I salute these attempts at reopening
because what else can they do? We have
to start somewhere and somehow after
months of nothing.”
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Steve Wallace
thewholenote.com October 2020 | 29