Keith McCutchen on Jazz
Description:
Pianist and teacher Keith McCutchen introduces and plays a variety of jazz music and discusses the connection between jazz and African spirituals, the influence of the march form on ragtime, the use of syncopation and flatted notes, and the development of swing music. The excerpt includes music by John Coltrane, Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, and Duke Ellington. It is from the KET Distance Learning series Humanities Through the Arts, a stand-alone class with 67 broadcasts. The series can be used as a full credit course with a teacher partner or as a resource. The class begins with African and tribal art and then follows a chronological pattern.
Suggested uses:
- as examples of jazz, ragtime, and swing
- as examples of 20th-century music (Modern/Contemporary in high school humanities chart)
- to explore the influences of time, place, and ideas on music
- to explore the influence of African-American culture on American music
- as an explanation/demonstration of syncopation
- to use in conjunction with the programs “Jazz Dance” and “Tap/Percussive Dance” from the KET series DanceSense to explore the relationship between music and dance and the use of syncopation and improvisation
More information on Humanities Through the Arts: