Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

Tvould call Jazz "barbaric in origin" is partly right — partly wrong. He who frowns on Jazz and haughtily says, "It isn't music," also dismisses musical competence because many top Jazz and "boogie-woogie" and "be-bop" musicians are also top classical musicians. Musicianship — either writing or performing — is not expressly reserved for those whose work might be recognized only in the selected citadels of classicism. Musicianship is the common property of all men of high performance and creative caliber expressing themselves through music. Jazz is America's music. Let there be no mistake about that. The varied drum rhythms of Jazz are not born here — they are adopted and naturalized and have become expressive of our way of life. The drum rhythms in theh crudest forms came to America with the slaves imported from the west coast of Africa. But the rhythms — Jazz rhythms — come from many sources. They are to be found it) the cotton fields of the south, on the lavees of the mightiest of American rivers, in the saddles of the great western plains, and in the factories which have made us both great and strong as a nation. These rhythms have not come from ivory towers. They have come from working men and will prosper and grow as their musical expression whether they be driving cattle or railroad spikes, laboring or resting and dreaming, dancing or marching. The number and variety of Jazz recordings available for home and school use is ever increasing. We have not heard all of them; we have not heard most of them, but we have heard many of them. From the instructional standpoint we strongly urge that you secure a copy of "The Story of Jazz" (FP 712, Folkways Records and Service Corp., 117 West 46th Street, New York 36, N. Y.) and use that for the "downbeat." Here is an abbreviated discussion of the history of Jazz, representation of its many forms and examples of Jazz as delivered by such masters as Baby Dodds, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong (as a young man he played his trumpets on the Mississippi River boats). Ma Rainey, Johnny St. Cyr, Bix Beiderbecke, Mary Lou Williams, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and many of the other greats. Langston Hughes, author and authority on Jazz, supplies the commentary which ties many selections together and traces the highpoints of the history of this musical form. In addition to this disc. Folkways Records publishes several fine collections of Jazz recordings, including special pressings on "The South," "The Blues," "New Orleans," "Jazz Singers," "Chicago," "New York," "Big Bands before 1935," "Piano," "Boogie, Jump. K.C." and others of footnotes to Jazz and addenda. Certainly this collection alone can be a valuable base for your course in JAZZ! Tape Recording in the English Class "Tape Recording in the English Class," written by Ruth Y. Terry, is a well done, carefully prepared monograph published by the Michigan Audio-Visual Association. Miss Terry speaks from her experience as a class More enjoyable and more effective classroom instruction with AUDIO EDUCATION materials A udio Education, Inc. offers a well-rounded and ever-growing program of audio materials for school use. There are recordings to aid in the teaching of . . . Music • Rhythms • The Language Arts Yes, Audio Education is well along toward its goal of supplying the right recording for every classroom situation! Send for free chart, "Recordings for Teaching," # E-232 55 Fifth Avenue Audio Education, Inc. Now York 3, N. Y, room teacher in Muskegon, .Michigan. The brochure is available for twentyfive cents from the University of Michigan Audio-Visual Education Center, 4028 Administration Building, .\nn Arbor, Michigan. Junior and Senior High School English teachers will be particularly interested in this publication, which deals with several methods for using the tape recorder in English and speech instruction. The author enters into considerable detail in her discussions of recording formal speeches, panel discussions, interviews and broadcast material. She stresses one of the greatest virtues of the tape recorder: the part it can play in the development of good speech habits. Miss Terry mentions speech correction as one utilization aspect, but appropriately and effectively stresses the constructive services which may be anticipated from the use of this machine in class work. Confidence Because . . . "Confidence because . . . You Understand Menstruation," a filmstrip and record produced by the Personal Products Corporation, Milltown. New Jersey, can be very useful in Junior and Senior High School Health classes to inform girls concerning this aspect of their physical being. Such factors as personal hygiene, physical activities, mental outlook, and common myths are discussed in a mature and matter-of-fact manner. The material could be shown in approved health education classes. It can also be used in parent-teacher organization meetings not only to instruct parents, but also to "tee-off" discussion concerning this aspect of education. .\dmittedly this subject is potential dynamite! There may be local problems, regional problems, and perhajjs state problems which must be understood and clarified before the recording and filmstrip can even be considered for introduction. As a modus operandi, you may be well advised to demonstrate the material for a representative committee of mothers, educators and clergy, securing their wholehearted approval and support before any second steps are taken. Teachers and parents should understand that there is a commercial message embodied in both the recording GIBSON GIRL TAPE SPLICERS splices in a wink.' \j| NO SCISSORS1 » NO RAZOR BLADES g'"^^ ti^ At Your Daolari ^^ ^^> iiMii.'m.'i-i'iiJiii'm-iiij Bayt-deAI. N T 364 EdScreen & AVCuide — October, 1956