An Essential (Jazz) Question

So, what types of American music should music educators be experts in? This is a very difficult question to answer, but I suppose I can boil it down to this. If I were to be an expert in an American form of music with the intent to teach it as an educator, I would choose what I feel is more artistically viable. That, without question, is jazz. History aside, jazz is art music and, as such, would be taught in my classroom.

But in what way? Aside from a jazz band, how can jazz be best incorporated into the band or orchestral classroom? Concert band arrangements of jazz pieces? Maybe something by Gershwin? In a performance setting, I personally would be more interested in seeking out orchestral literature potentially outside of the European idiom. If the goal is to feature pieces by American composers, there are tons of those. Charles Ives has orchestral arrangements of folk songs that can serve as repertoire for years.

The history of music is incredibly important, and in a general music class, or in tandem with another professor, an in depth analysis of folk music and its heritage and lineage and politics would be wonderful, not to mention the poetry found in song lyrics. Folk music also provides an extremely large catalog of music to teach children with based on its simplicity and tried and true forms. These forms can still be heard in popular music, so that is also a great way to try and tie in historical music with modern popular culture if need be. But, aside from those aspects, I do not see a lot of ways that being an expert in American folk music would be a necessity for an educator.

When examining repertoire for educational purposes, I like to cherry pick from Acton Ostling's Criteria for Determining Serious Artistic Merit, as referenced in Instrumental Music Education by Evan Feldman and Ari Contzius. In particular, Ostling's focus on a piece's unpredictability, ingenuity, and musical validity transcending historical or pedagogical importance generally support and highlight a purely artistic aspect of musical expression.

I feel like jazz is an incredible conduit to unadulterated musical expression. The form often wholly depends on it. The idea that a piece of music can (and should?) be different every time is, in and of itself, a great insight into music as art. I also feel like it is, far and away, America's greatest contribution to ("art") music in the world, to speak nothing of the history and the peoples behind the conception of the art form. But I really don't know if music educators need to be experts in jazz, either. It really just depends on what you want to teach and what you think your students could and should learn. There are many variables, and there are many avenues to explore regarding unappreciated forms of musical expression that all have a place in the classroom, should you want them.