Photo
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Scott Joplin was born near Linden, Texas and raised in Texarkana, Texas, the son of a railroad laborer who had been a slave. Joplin showed an early and extraordinary aptitude for music, which was...
Jazz
Explore the world of jazz! Hear jazz performed and learn from our featured musicians.
Including Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Mary Lou Williams, Scott Joplin, Marian McPartland, Joe Samples and more.
Photo
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Hugh Masekela was born in Witbank, South Africa on April 4, 1939. He began singing and playing piano as a child and as a teenager, was encouraged to play the trumpet by the British anti-apartheid...
Photo
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Mary Lou Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 10, 1910 and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A prodigy, she taught herself to play the piano at the age of four. Williams could hear a piece...
Photo
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901 and raised in the Storyville district of New Orleans, Louisiana. As a child he was a street singer and learned to play the coronet while in reform school...
Audio
Grades
- Pre K
- Kindergarten
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Episode
7
Jazz music was born out of the blues. The key element was syncopation (syn-co-pa-tion) that stressed the off beats of the rhythm. In the same way that Gullah language is a mixture of African and...
Video
Grades
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Jazz king John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was born in Cheraw in 1917. Dizzy was a founder of modern jazz, an innovative trumpeter known for his bent horn and bulging cheeks. The South Carolina Jazz...
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller talks about the correlation between playing music and playing sports.
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller shares some of his formal training that started at nine years old in public school and continued with private lessons throughout high school.
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller explains the importance of practicing music scales and talks about jazz and swing musician, Benny Goodman, as an example.
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller explains how he self-taught himself to play the vibraphone. The vibraphone (or the vibes) is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It's similar to the xylophone and is commonly...
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller shares how The Harlem Renaissance was the most exciting period in the history of jazz. The Harlem Renaissance took place in Harlem, New York between the end of World War I and the middle...
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller explains what he loves about playing jazz music.
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller talks about creating a project that will teach students about jazz and also give them the opportunity to experience jazz music.
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller talks about his musical influences from growing up. He grew up in the era of jazz and swing with some of his favorite musicians being Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Bob Masteller talks about the art of listening and how listening helps develop an ear for music.
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
"From the Be to the Bop: The Musical Legacy of Dizzy Gillespie." An excerpt from South Carolina ETV's Carolina Stories.
Video
Grades
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
In this Artopia segment, we get the rare opportunity to watch a Piano Jazz recording session. Join Marian McPartland in the studio, talking and playing with the great jazz pianist Joe Sample. Marian...
Video
Grades
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Marian McPartland is host of the acclaimed program, Piano Jazz, featured on National Public Radio for more than twenty-five years. She is a well-known jazz pianist and founder of Halcyon Records. She...
Video
Grades
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Jazz musician Joe Sample says rap music is poetry to a rhythm.
Video
Grades
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Eboni Ramm talks about her experiences of working with a band and being the only vocalist.
Video
Grades
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Eboni Ramm sings her jazz reinterpretation of the hymn, Amazing Grace and also includes spoken word.
Video
Grades
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Eboni Ramm talks about how she teaches students about jazz.
Video
Grades
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Joe Sample talks about what it takes to become one of the best musicians you can be today.
Video
Grades
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
Piano Jazz's Marian McPartland record a duet session with American pianist and composer, Joe Sample.