| Summary: | Both researchers and jazz professionals believe the expansion of jazz performance
programs in universities over the last several decades warrants a need for critical research
into the processes and experiences by which jazz students develop into professionals.
Although the number of colleges offering degrees in jazz performance has risen
dramatically during this time, instructional approaches remain relatively standardized
throughout the schools.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of five working
professional New York City jazz musicians in an attempt to better understand how they
learned to improvise and develop their individual voices. These musicians included Joe
Lovano, Otis Brown III, Francisco Mela, James Weidman, and Matthew Wilson. In this
study I used Wenger's (2008) theory of Communities of Practice as the theoretical
framework for an exploration of the meaning, practice, community, and identity of these
five professional jazz musicians. Data collected for this case study entailed
interviews, observations, and collection of artifacts.
The interview data provided by the participants were transcribed and coded for
the purpose of identifying emerging themes. The themes were then woven into a narrative
based on the participants' responses to a series of open-ended questions.
The themes that emerged included auto-biographical recollections of the
participants' earliest musical experiences. The musicians spoke openly about their
childhoods and various aspects of the context of their learning experiences on the way to
becoming jazz professionals. The discussion included the musicians' views on
communicating through improvisation, mentoring, and the value of relationships created
through involvement in a jazz community on the development of a unique
improvisational voice.
Two major themes emerged in data analysis. First, Joe Lovano and Us Five
experienced university jazz educations but in interviews and observation, the musicians
seemed not dependent on, or even utilizing that part of their past. Instead, the musicians
strongly emphasized community and community building, professional on-stage
experience, and longitudinal exposure and life study that many college jazz majors may
never experience. Second, the musicians eschewed certain viewpoints within the music
profession, within university music programs, and within the public sector that musicians
can simply blend technical prowess with diligent study of a prescribed curriculum to
become a professional jazz musician. Here the interviewees uniformly suggested that a
unique, individual voice was necessary for acceptance within the field.
Finally, I present an example based upon the data from this study of how
Wenger's (2008) community of practice could be used to develop a new understanding of the process of jazz improvisation and the development of a unique improvisational voice
in an institutional setting.
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