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04/03/2024 08:30 AMApril is Jazz Appreciation Month, marking a time to celebrate the sound, culture, and legacy of the American music genre. While the genre is centuries-old and not particularly popular among the younger generations, Susan Oakley is helping to keep the jazz flame burning and relevant for her students as a member of the music faculty at North Haven High School (NHHS).
Susan leads two jazz groups at NHHS. There is a weekly beginner class “that's open to any instrument, anyone who wants to learn about jazz,” Susan says. Then there is the advanced group that performs various charts, performs with Susan’s other music classes like concert band and wind ensemble, and also does shows throughout the year.
Students in the advanced jazz class are currently working on several songs, including an arrangement of “Afternoon” by Pat Matheny, a shuffle tune called “The Main Attraction,” and a swing tune called “Herding Cats” in the style of Count Basie. The latter legendary artist served as the lodestar for the group’s education on jazz earlier in the fall as they learned about the signature rhythmic foundation of swing in the genre.
“We spent a lot of time in the fall with Count Basie style playing, just working on...foundations of swing, making sure all of that was in good shape,” Susan says.
However, the students also run the gamut of other music influences that have permeated jazz culture throughout its lengthy history.
“We do some Latin work. They like playing funk, so we do some funk and rock stuff, some shuffle stuff. I try to cover as much ground across the genre,” Susan says.
For their midterm, the musicians worked on charts from The Real Book, a compilation of jazz standards that breaks down the basics of popular tunes, such as melody, harmony, and lyrics.
“They were in small groups, and they had to perform a tune complete with figuring out the structure, making up their own improvised solos—everyone had to improvise—who’s comping, what’s the style, the drumming behind it. They had to make all those plans,” Susan says. “It’s really giving them an authentic performance experience like you’d see at a club.”
Susan can play all instruments “with varying degrees of ability,” with her primary ones being piano, clarinet, and French horn, having studied those at the University of Connecticut’s music school. She also took time to brush off her skills on guitar in preparation for the two guitar courses that she now teaches to students.
Jazz also seeped its way into one of the guitar classes as a student was playing two of the genre’s more recognizable songs, much to Susan’s surprise. One day in class, the student was playing “All Blues” by Miles Davis, displaying a penchant for learning something simply “because it’s fun,” says Susan.
“He’ll come in and every week or two. There's a new melody that he busts out,” Susan says. “‘The Girl From Ipanema’ was hot with him in the fall.”
Susan says that when she began teaching at NHHS in 2021, the school was “very adamant” about maintaining the success of the ensembles “because the jazz program is very strong here.”
“They wanted to make sure that I was going to continue to emphasize the high-quality jazz rep and education,” says Susan.
Building the program back up after the pandemic shutdown, Susan’s first year was met with a skilled group of highly motivated musicians who were determined to perform at their best.
“It was a really big class, and it was a really talented class,” Susan says. “They were hungry to play a lot of music and a lot of hard music, and they had ideas about what they wanted to play.”
A combo from that class went on to play at a show at The Landing of North Haven assisted living facility and, since then, Susan has seen the camaraderie among students of different grade levels develop through their mutual joy of jazz.
“I like what I’ve seen, this year in particular. They've gotten to be closer friends. Those relationships only help the music get stronger,” says Susan. “I like the fact they're helping each other out. They're counting rhythms. They're listening so much better than they were in the fall. It's really exciting to see, and I have a lot of young students. The group’s probably half sophomores at this point. I can only imagine where they're going to be in a couple of years as they continue to learn and grow.”
Whether in jazz, guitar, or concert band, working with students of varying levels of musical skill and seeing their talents grow is one of the reasons why teachers like Susan went to music school and are now bestowing their passion onto a new generation.
“I think that's a fairly universal statement for music teachers. We all love what we did, we all love playing, and so we want to share that with our students,” says Susan.