I love Jazz and was fortunate to study Jazz at WAAPA (Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts). Even though this was a long time ago, the music is still part of my daily life - even though I am not a professional musician. In a leadership discussion a colleague came up with a nice metaphor I wanted to expand on. When speaking of the balance between lesson planning and allowing for spontaneity in the classroom he thought of it in terms of a jazz performance. The main statement of the melody is made up front (read, statement of learning intentions), this is then used as the basis for improvisation. The improvisation section is a mixture of the planned and the completely unplanned. Often the unplanned will result in response to something one of the other players introduces (read, the collaborative development of the key concepts contained within the learning intention). After which the main melody is restated but heard in different ways due to the improvisation that has taken place (read, a richer, more nuanced statement of the learning intentions). While jazz can be completely freeform, it rarely is. It is usually a mix of clear intentions and a creative and collaborative realisation of those intentions.
My sense is that school structures, organisation and teaching right now are not at all like a jazz combo, where improvisation, communication, feel, and spontaneity are to the fore. It is more like a big symphony orchestra where everyone is there to play their part - exactly as directed. No improvisation (too risky!), in fact success is dependent on each player executing their part exactly as the composer intended. The places instruments go have been the same for hundreds of years and the structure (violins front, timpani back right etc) does not change. If a new player comes in they do exactly what the previous player did. I think students today want to make new music. They are talented, passionate and restless for something better.
Perhaps a Jazz Big Band is closer to what we need - some structure but lots of room for expression and improvisation amid the structure. There is still a statement of melody and written parts but players have freedom within that structure to add their own statements and forge their own path. So for drums the chart may indicate to play a certain style (fast swing or afro-cuban latin) but the player can interpret that style his or her own way and has a lot of freedom to be creative within that style. There is no exact notation. Similarly we need structures in schools that provide the palette for creativity, inspiration and personal expression. #learning#school#teaching#creativity