CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP RIGHT: Pat Metheny leads a master class for satellite television broadcast • McCoy Tyner with DC public school students following a master class at Blues Alley • Ron Carter talks with students during a residency in Los Angeles
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz
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Jazz
he Institute has responded to drastic reductions in public funding for music education by developing Jazz in the Classroom, a national and international series of innovative jazz education programs for students. The goal is to help children develop imaginative thinking, creativity, curiosity, a positive self image and a respect for their own and others’ cultural heritage. Through these programs, the Institute has reached millions of students, teachers, and families, many of whom are experiencing jazz for the first time. The Institute presents a number of programs for inner-city youth that encourage young musicians to develop an appreciation for the multitude of jazz musicians and composers who have advanced this American art form. Through teaching and mentoring, jazz masters such as Jimmy Heath, Wayne Shorter, and Terence Blanchard play a major role in the continued evolution of the music, the development of new artists, and the expansion of a broad listening audience to support the music. Since 1989, the Thelonious Monk Institute has been presenting educational programs for young people throughout the United States and abroad. The series began with Clark Terry, who took a group of gifted American and European music students to Dolo, Italy as part of an intensive educational summer program. Other noteworthy programs have included a jazz studies program for more than 11,000 public school students in North Carolina, and a With Strings Attached guitar series in the Washington, DC public schools. In addition, the Institute has presented a wide range of assembly programs, master classes, and workshops led by jazz masters for young people in Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington, and on the islands of St. Lucia and Jamaica. The Institute was one of the first organizations to use interactive satellite television for music education as a part of its Jazz in the Classroom series. These programs have featured Herbie Hancock, Clark Terry, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Terri Lyne Carrington, Wah Wah Watson, and Pat Metheny. In recent years, the Institute has presented public school master classes and assembly programs featuring some of the greatest names in jazz, including McCoy Tyner, Branford Marsalis, Danilo Pérez, Stanley Jordan, John Patitucci, Bobby Watson, George Duke, Kenny Garrett, and Chick Corea. These programs have been presented in public schools across America, ranging from the La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts in New York City and Roosevelt High School in Seattle to the Paseo Academy of Fine and Performing Arts in Kansas City and Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, DC.
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