Core Subjects For Your Third year

Subject Name: Concert Performance Practice 5
Subject Code: 31111
Credit Points: 3
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Students who do not pass a semester of this subject will be required to repeat
Modes: Full-time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hour practical class per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Dan Quigley, Paula Girvan other sessional staff when required

Subject Rationale:
Jazz musicians need to perform together with other musicians, and be able to engage in reflective and analytical discourse about their own performance and that of their peers. Concert Performance Practice gives students the opportunity to perform among and with their peers and engage in such discourse. In the context of this course, Concert Performance Practice provides the outlet in which the students’ developing body of knowledge and skills come together in performance and critical analysis. It offers a range of performance practice formats and styles which build the student  s’ experiences from conceptual and practical perspectives. Covering all set lists, it expands student familiarity with repertoire. Both sequenced and layered in experience, the subject has students draw upon their own understanding of jazz style, materials, historical and social contexts, and performance practice to make informed comments on their own work and that of their peers. Engaging with students of different levels of experience expands the breadth of their experience. This subject involves all students from all levels and is a core subject throughout all semesters of study. Thus it exposes all students to all set repertoire lists, although they will only be required to perform from the list appropriate to their level.

Learning Outcomes
Through reflective and analytical discourse about their own performance and that of their peers, their ensemble participation and leadership, improvisation, technique, and presentation, students will develop the knowledge and confidence required to:

1. Engage in critical listening and constructive reflection on performance
2. Expand their understanding of theoretical and stylistic concepts
3. Write constructively in response to the performances of their peers, noting sectional skills and sight reading
4. Enhance their own performance skills through analysis and reflection
5. Lead a performance ensemble
6. Plan and effectively manage staging required in performance

Assessment

Subject Name: Ensemble 5
Subject Code: 31117
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Ensemble 4
Modes: Full-time, in person. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 Hours per week for 12 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: All Sessional Staff

Subject Rationale
Professional jazz players need highly developed ensemble skills and experience. Ensemble aptitude is therefore an integral component of the course for all students. In this subject, students experience the dynamics of working in a jazz ensemble and develop skills and understanding appropriate to this setting. In the context of this course, Ensemble brings all the elements together, practical and theoretical. Using the set repertoire which students are learning in Principal Study and developing through Improvisation and Contemporary Performance Practice, it integrates student experience of all set repertoire through a sense of balance, style, timing, tone colour, intonation, interpretation, sectional playing and sight reading, etiquette and ethics relevant to ensemble performance. In this subject students will be placed in one or more small group ensembles and will develop repertoire from the supporting lists as well as other suggestions from students and teachers. All chosen repertoire will be learned, practised and analysed in this subject, using knowledge and skills developed in other subjects of the course. Ensemble classes will refine listening skills, reading skills, and blending within an ensemble. It is recommended that ensembles rehearse regularly outside the formal supervised times. Although there is a focus on small ensembles, students have the opportunity to play in a range of ensembles, including various jazz combos, vocal groups, duos, trios, quartets, quintets and larger contemporary music ensembles depending on the student cohort.

Learning Outcomes:
Through effective integration of the knowledge and skills gained from other subjects in this course, on successful completion of this subject, students will be able to

1. Demonstrate highly developed sectional skills and group cohesion and communication playing in ensemble, revealing understanding required to play group and individual phrasing in different tempi, keys and styles; different combinations and contexts; changing time and feel.
2. Demonstrate advanced sight reading and performance skills in set and selected repertoire, revealing highly developed insight into stylistic and interpretative principles, and demonstrating well-informed improvisation through conceptual understanding of theoretical, historical and contexts of the music.
3. Engage in useful collaborative discussion and constructive peer review of each ensemble’s performance
4. Develop creative arrangements of material in a collaborative setting
5. Demonstrate highly efficient rehearsal strategies resulting in confident performances, recovery from mistakes, strong group dynamics and energy.
6. Demonstrate highly reliable intonation, clear articulation and a variety of tonal colour across the ensemble

Assessment

Subject Name: Principal Study 5
Subject Code: 31149
Credit Points: 12
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Principal Study 4
Modes: In person. On campus only
Delivery / Contact hrs: 1 hour per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Sessional staff

Subject Rationale:
Principal Study 5 develops each student’s technical skill in their discipline, and challenges and extends their artistic understanding and creativity. The study is sequenced according to the needs and abilities of each individual, and the demands of each instrument. In the context of this course, Principal Study prepares the student technically and musically to be able to apply knowledge developed in academic and practical classes and ensembles. Study is undertaken through individual lessons, workshops and masterclasses in the instrument/voice, in which the student’s technical and musical proficiency is assessed and developed and a range of repertoire is explored.

Principal Study uses the repertoire list to foster:

• An increasingly advanced technical facility in the instrument
• the ability to perform required repertoire confidently in public,
• the ability to express and communicate artistic ideas and intentions,
• the development of a personal voice with respect to creativity and style
• independence and problem solving,
• highly insightful reflection on personal musical expression
• a high level of self motivation and organisation
• management of physical demands, and reliability in meeting practical requirements and deadlines

Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to demonstrate developing understanding and proficiency in all aspects of performance relative to their instrument/voice commensurate with established international benchmarks, in particular:

1. A highly advanced and secure technique based on intensive scale work
2. The ability to perform with confidence in public, playing with accuracy and fluency, rhythmic control and advanced levels of musical expression
3. Highly advanced level of ability to express creative ideas using musical language
4. An extended knowledge of relevant literature and repertoire, scales and chords
5. A deep conceptual understanding of and ability to realise stylistic features of jazz (tone, phrasing, rhythm, feel, etc)
6. Memorised and prepared 12 standard repertoire tunes, as set for this level, and maintain repertoire from previous level
7. A highly developed conceptual understanding of the pieces performed together with an ability to communicate them to the audience with great confidence
8. A highly developed ability to improvise creatively, displaying a wide range of improvisatory language
9. Advanced, independent and reliable practice habits

Repertoire list

• Black Nile
• You Stepped Out Of A Dream
• I Hear A Rhapsody
• It’s You Or No One
• Night Dreamer
• Nica’s Dream
• Round Midnight
• What’s New
• Voyage
• I Mean You
• Anthropology- technical piece

Assessment

Subject Name: Business Studies 1
Subject Code: 32105
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Jazz Materials 4, Aural and Analysis 4
Modes: Full Time. On Campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hour lecture per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Andrew Shaw

Subject Rationale:
Professional musicians need a basic understanding of the principles of small business management, including financial, legal and administrative functions oriented to the music industry. In the context of this course, this subject is not integrated with the musical components, but plays an important role in preparing the professional musician for work in any of the music industries. In this subject, students learn the business and administrative skills necessary for a sustainable career. It will introduce principles of marketing the individual, the band  and the musical product.

Learning Outcomes:
In this subject, students build a body of knowledge which assists them to understand and apply issues related to taxation, salaries and contractual employment. They will also develop an understanding of marketing and basic promotional skills.

On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to

1. Understand and apply business and administrative skills studied in the subject
2. Understand and interrogate contractual documents and their implications
3. Reveal clear understanding of taxation systems; analyse and interrogate financial records and processes
4. Creatively develop and apply promotional materials, including media releases, marketing fliers, web promotions and hardcopy advertisements

Assessment:

Subject Name: Improvisation Techniques 5
Subject Code: 33123
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Improvisation Techniques 4
Modes: Full-time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hours per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Dan Quigley

Subject Rationale
Excellent skills in improvisation are essential to jazz musicians, and therefore form a fundamental component of this course. This subject develops skills and conceptual understanding of improvisation. In the context of this course, Improvisation uses set repertoire and general improvisation concepts which are in common with those in Principal Study, Ensemble, Jazz Materials, Aural & Analysis and Contemporary Performance Practice. In this subject, students will build on the concepts learnt in Improvisation Studies 4.  In this subject students build advanced improvisation skills and understanding, studying chromatic and intervallic harmonies to create more complex musical permutations in their improvisations. . In the process, they also develop sight reading and sectional skills.

Learning Outcomes:
Through increasingly creative improvisation founded on theory and practice, on successful completion, students will be expected to:

1. Demonstrate a highly developed range of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisational techniques, sectional skills and sight reading, applying them to chromatic and intervallic improvisation
2. Demonstrate an extensive and varied vocabulary of melodic material applied in improvisation through repertoire
3. Reveal an advanced internalization of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisational techniques which have been developed through critical listening and shaped by conceptual understanding of the music
4. Demonstrate highly creative and fluent improvisations through different key centres and chord changes, including the chromatic and intervallic approaches.

Assessment:

Subject Name: Concert Performance Practice 6
Subject Code: 31112
Credit Points: 3
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Students who do not pass a semester of this subject will be required to repeat
Modes: Full-time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hour practical class per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Dan Quigley, Paula Girvan other sessional staff when required

Subject Rationale:
Jazz musicians need to perform together with other musicians, and be able to engage in reflective and analytical discourse about their own performance and that of their peers. Concert Performance Practice gives students the opportunity to perform among and with their peers and engage in such discourse. In the context of this course, Concert Performance Practice provides the outlet in which the students’ developing body of knowledge and skills come together in performance and critical analysis. It offers a range of performance practice formats and styles which build the student  s’ experiences from conceptual and practical perspectives. Covering all set lists, it expands student familiarity with repertoire. Both sequenced and layered in experience, the subject has students draw upon their own understanding of jazz style, materials, historical and social contexts, and performance practice to make informed comments on their own work and that of their peers. Engaging with students of different levels of experience expands the breadth of their experience. This subject involves all students from all levels and is a core subject throughout all semesters of study. Thus it exposes all students to all set repertoire lists, although they will only be required to perform from the list appropriate to their level.

Learning Outcomes
Through reflective and analytical discourse about their own performance and that of their peers, their ensemble participation and leadership, improvisation, technique, and presentation, students will develop the knowledge and confidence required to:

1. Engage in critical listening and constructive reflection on performance
2. Expand their understanding of theoretical and stylistic concepts
3. Write constructively in response to the performances of their peers, noting sectional skills and sight reading
4. Enhance their own performance skills through analysis and reflection
5. Lead a performance ensemble
6. Plan and effectively manage staging required in performance

Assessment

Subject Name: Ensemble 6
Subject Code: 31118
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Ensemble 5
Modes: Full-time, in person. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 Hours per week for 12 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: All Sessional Staff

Subject Rationale
Professional jazz players need highly developed ensemble skills and experience. Ensemble aptitude is therefore an integral component of the course for all students. In this subject, students experience the dynamics of working in a jazz ensemble and develop skills and understanding appropriate to this setting. In the context of this course, Ensemble brings all the elements together, practical and theoretical. Using the set repertoire which students are learning in Principal Study and developing through Improvisation and Contemporary Performance Practice, it integrates student experience of all set repertoire through a sense of balance, style, timing, tone colour, intonation, interpretation, sectional playing and sight reading, etiquette and ethics relevant to ensemble performance. In this subject students will be placed in one or more small group ensembles and will develop repertoire from the supporting lists as well as other suggestions from students and teachers. All chosen repertoire will be learned, practised and analysed in this subject, using knowledge and skills developed in other subjects of the course. Ensemble classes will refine listening skills, reading skills, and blending within an ensemble. It is recommended that ensembles rehearse regularly outside the formal supervised times. Although there is a focus on small ensembles, students have the opportunity to play in a range of ensembles, including various jazz combos, vocal groups, duos, trios, quartets, quintets and larger contemporary music ensembles depending on the student cohort.

Learning Outcomes:
Through effective integration of the knowledge and skills gained from other subjects in this course, on successful completion of this subject, students will be able to

1. Demonstrate highly developed sectional skills and group cohesion and communication playing in ensemble, revealing the high level of understanding required to effectively perform group and individual phrasing in different tempi, keys and styles; different combinations and contexts; changing time and feel.
2. Demonstrate advanced sight reading and performance skills in set and selected repertoire, revealing highly developed insight into stylistic and interpretative principles, and demonstrating well-informed improvisation through conceptual understanding of theoretical, historical and contexts of the music.
3. Engage in useful collaborative discussion and constructive peer review of each ensemble’s performance
4. Develop creative arrangements of material in a collaborative setting, showing a high level of integration of all aspects of music
5. Demonstrate highly efficient rehearsal strategies resulting in confident performances of professional standard, with seamless recovery from mistakes, strong group dynamics and high level of energy.
6. Demonstrate highly reliable intonation, clear articulation and a variety of tonal colour across the ensemble

Weekly Topics           

• Define musical direction of ensemble,
• Organise repertoire from supporting repertoire list,
• Organise arrangements,
• Implement repertoire,
• Implement arrangements,
• Rehearse repertoire,
• Rehearse arrangements,
• Critical listening for arrangement ideas,
• Rehearsal for performance

Assessment

Subject Name: Principal Study 6
Subject Code: 31150
Credit Points: 12
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Principal Study 5
Modes: In person. On campus only
Delivery / Contact hrs: 1 hour per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Sessional staff

Subject Rationale
Principal Study 6 develops each student’s technical skill in their discipline, and challenges and extends their artistic understanding and creativity. The study is sequenced according to the needs and abilities of each individual, and the demands of each instrument. In the context of this course, Principal Study prepares the student technically and musically to be able to apply knowledge developed in academic and practical classes and ensembles. Study is undertaken through individual lessons, workshops and masterclasses in the instrument/voice, in which the student’s technical and musical proficiency is assessed and developed and a range of repertoire is explored.

Principal Study uses the repertoire list to foster:

• a thorough and advanced technical facility in the instrument,
• the ability to perform in public with confidence at a professional level,
• the ability to express and communicate complex artistic ideas and intentions,
• the development of a personal voice with respect to creativity and style
• independence and problem solving,
• a highly insightful degree of critical reflection on personal musical expression
• a high level of self motivation and organisation
• management of physical demands, and
• reliability in meeting practical requirements and deadlines

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to demonstrate developing understanding and proficiency in all aspects of performance relative to their instrument/voice commensurate with established international benchmarks, in particular:

1. A highly developed and secure technique based on intensive scale work
2. The ability to perform with confidence and security in public; playing with accuracy and fluency, rhythmic control and advanced levels of musical expression
3. Highly developed ability to express creative ideas using musical language
4. A deep knowledge and conceptual understanding of relevant literature and repertoire, scales and chords
5. An advanced conceptual understanding of and ability to realise stylistic features of jazz (tone, phrasing, rhythm, feel, etc)
6. Memorised and prepared to an acceptable professional standard 12 standard repertoire tunes set for this level; and maintain repertoire from two previous levels
7. Demonstrate an advanced insight into musical and stylistic sensitivity
8. An advanced ability to improvise creatively, displaying a wide range of improvisatory language and styles
9. Advanced, independent and reliable practice habits

Weekly Topics      

1. Teacher and student liaise about short and long term goals
2. Define technical aspects needed to improve
3. Detail practice plan to include technical and repertoire
4. Work on specific techniques aligned with principal study
5. Develop technique and repertoire
6. Develop technique and repertoire
7. Develop technique and repertoire
8. Develop technique and repertoire
9. Develop technique and repertoire
10. Develop technique and repertoire
11. Develop technique and repertoire
12. TECHNICAL EXAM
13. Develop technique and repertoire

Repertoire list:

• Airegin
• Moment’s Notice
• Bolivia
• Speak Low
• Darn That Dream
• I Love You
• Stablemates
• The Song Is You
• This I Dig of You
• Triste
• Cherokee
• Confirmation – tech piece

Assessment:

A graded result reflects the level of achievement in technical assessments and recitals. During the semester, each student receives regular critical feedback and formative evaluation by staff in individual and group contexts. The following assessment requirements may vary according to the nature of the instrument. Detailed guidelines setting out specific requirements and assessment criteria for each discipline will be provided to the student.

Subject Name: Business Studies 2
Subject Code: 32106
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Business Studies 1
Modes: Full Time. On Campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hour lecture per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Andrew Shaw

Subject Rationale
Professional musicians need a clear understanding of the principles of small business management, including financial, legal and administrative functions oriented to the music industry. In the context of this course, this subject is not integrated with the musical components, but plays an important role in preparing the professional musician for survival as an independent contractor in the music industry. This subject is relevant to the professional musician’s ability to engage in contractual arrangements, legally copy and publish musical product, and access a range of funding options.

Learning Outcomes:
This subject provides an overview of legal and contractual issues and copyright laws relevant to musicians. Students will develop knowledge which supports awareness of accessible funding pathways, and build knowledge and understanding of the approach, strategies, language and evidence which support successful funding applications.

On successful completion of the subject, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a clear conceptual understanding of copyright laws which are related to the various forms of publication and copying of musical product
2. Demonstrate reasonable knowledge of the arts sector and how to access potential funding organisations in QLD
3. Show a credible approach to engaging in the process of applying for funding for a specific project

Weekly Topics

1. Course overview and student expectations. Student project requirements
2. Understanding copyright laws – performing rights
3. Understanding copyright laws – mechanical rights
4. Understanding copyright laws – publishing Rights
5. Developing awareness of available funding bodies for  a variety of projects
6. Developing marketing materials – about the performer
7. Developing marketing materials – visual and website
8. Developing marketing materials – audio materials
9. Approaching the grant submission process.
10. How to write a grant application
11. Non profit organisations: their relationship to and role in the Music Industry
12. Review of weeks 2,3,4
13. Review of weeks 8,9,10

Assessment:

Subject Name: Improvisation Techniques 6
Subject Code: 33124
Credit Points: 5
Award(s): Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance
Core / Elective: Core
Pre / co-requisites: Improvisation Techniques 5
Modes: Full-time. On campus only.
Delivery / Contact hrs: 2 hours per week for 13 weeks
Subject Coordinator: Dan Quigley
Teaching Staff: Dan Quigley

Subject Rationale
Excellent skills in improvisation are essential to jazz musicians, and therefore form a fundamental component of this course. This subject develops skills and conceptual understanding of improvisation. In the context of this course, Improvisation uses set repertoire and general improvisation concepts which are in common with those in Principal Study, Ensemble, Jazz Materials, Aural & Analysis and Contemporary Performance Practice. In this subject, students build on the concepts learnt in Improvisation Studies 5.  This subject develops advanced understanding and skills of improvisation, through playing free of harmonic constraints by using advanced chromatic and intervallic harmonies coloured by different timbral option for instruments. In the process, they also develop sight reading and sectional skills.

Learning Outcomes:
Through increasingly creative improvisation founded on theory and practice, on successful completion, students will be expected to:

1. Demonstrate a highly developed range of melodic, harmonic and rhythmical improvisational techniques, sectional skills and sight reading, founded on a clear conceptual understanding of the theoretical and contextual principles
2. Demonstrate mastery over an extensive vocabulary of melodic material, including chromatic material, applied in improvisation through repertoire
3. Reveal a highly advanced internalizing of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisational techniques clearly shaped by critical listening and a deeply founded conceptual understanding of the musical material
4. Demonstrate highly creative and fluent improvisation, moving through different key centres and chord changes including chromatics and intervallic approaches, and applying a wide range of timbral effects

Weekly Topics

1. Course outline and objectives. Learn and play melodies and chord progressions through core repertoire.
2. Play through chord progressions using arpeggio inversions. Improvise through tune embellishing the melody. Listen to recorded examples of repertoire.
3. Play through chord progressions using chord extensions (7,9,11,13). Play and improvise through selected core repertoire. Listen to recorded examples of repertoire. Use guide tone theory as target notes.
4. Listen to selected repertoire. Play through selected repertoire focusing on incorporating guide tone target notes and chord extensions.
5. ASSESSMENT See Assessment Item 1
6. Listen to selected repertoire. Play through selected repertoire focusing on incorporating guide tone target notes and chord extensions.
7. Listen to selected repertoire. Play through selected repertoire using a melodic pattern (cell). Play through selected repertoire focusing on building a solo using simple motifs.
8. Listen to selected repertoire. Play through selected repertoire using extension guide tone target notes.
9. Play through selected repertoire chord progressions in multiple keys.
10. ASSESSMENT See Assessment Item 1
11. Play through chord progressions using arpeggio inversions. Improvise through tune embellishing the melody. Listen to recorded examples of repertoire.
12. Play through chord progressions using chord extensions (7,9,11,13). Play and improvise through selected core repertoire. Listen to recorded examples of repertoire. Use guide tone theory as target notes.
13. Improvising over core repertoire songs in various keys using all improvisation techniques learnt. Guide tone melodies over repertoire songs

Assessment: