Wade Cornell
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- New Zealand and Australia
But having said that, Duke Ellington, Hoagie Carmichael, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and so many more, that won't just spring to mind, have taught me so much. Just by playing their compositions. Things, with my scatterbrained personality, I wouldn't have picked up from class or books.
Standards aren't why I started playing but they are why I still play.
Standards shouldn't be eliminated, and neither should other potential types of music. At issue was giving new students a strict regimen of ONLY standards and the mainstream style of playing. It's a big world of music. By having a wide base of exposure it gives those who wish to play standards the opportunity to find that resource and also exposes the student to music that may be more important to them if they wish to become professionals. Berklee it seems has adopted a wider base for their jazz teaching and has more professors of "ear training" than any other type of faculty. There must be a reason why. Pete Thomas has also confirmed that from his perspective a wider base could be a better way to teach. Getting your fingers working and being able to read can be accomplished with any style of music. Improvisation can also be used in many styles and isn't just about a formulaic (paint by the numbers) style of playing riffs and arpeggios according to the changes. Within the mainstream style is a rational of how and why a musician improvises, and that's to impress their audience with their technical prowess. This is not a great premise for entertaining audiences. It worked when it was new and original. Part of the reason was that playing a "standard" meant that you were playing music that everybody knew. That's just not the case today. Go out in public and offer $100 to anyone who can whistle or hum Billy's Bounce. Unless there is someone who escaped from an old people's home or has studied jazz there won't be anyone. Mainstream had relevance in it's time and place. It's impossible to think of a good reason why it should be EXCLUSIVELY taught now. This isn't about a pendulum swinging wildly in the opposite direction and burning everyone's Fake/Real books. It's strictly about giving students the best chance possible to become well rounded musicians.