Jazz education in Western Switzerland in the 1970s and 1980s

Monika Piecek,Angelika Güsewell

doi:10.5450/ejm.2017.16.5779

Abstract

This article aims to complement the understanding of the implementation, expansion, and formalisation of jazz education as well as of how jazz was learnt and taught in the 1970s and 1980s in the Western, French-speaking, part of Switzerland. Focussing on this specific geographical context, it takes a close look at the transition from traditional, informal learning to what are considered as more formal realms of learning in jazz education. Drawing both on documentary analysis and in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with former students, directors, and teachers of the first jazz schools and jazz departments, it provides a description of the Swiss jazz educational landscape at its beginnings. Two educational models that emerged are compared in the light of the formal-informal spectrum. Finally, the music training trajectories of nine students who attended the newly created settings for jazz learning are analysed. Special attention is given to learning practices, skills transfer and the processes of access to and appropriation of music learning environments. These analyses provide evidence of the flexibility and shifting character of organisational boundaries and educational practices during the implementation of new patterns of music learning.

Highlights

Today a large part of music learning takes place outside of schools, in situations where there is no teacher, and in which the intention of the activity is not to learn about music, but to play it, listen to it, dance to it, share it with others, or be together with it.[1]
The present study aims at taking a closer look at the transition from traditional, informal learning to what are considered as more formal realms of learning in jazz education in a very specific context, namely Western or French-speaking Switzerland (i.e. Swiss Romandy)
What about the students’ point of view? What were they looking for in these new education institutes? What expectations did they have in relation to the training? How did they experience their learning environment? And what place did the jazz school occupy in their longer learning path? In order to answer these questions and to explore the experiences and training paths of former jazz students, a list of professional musicians presently living in Swiss Romandy who might have attended the newly created jazz schools in the 1980s was established using available enrolment registers and the snowball sampling method

Summary

Introduction

Today a large part of music learning takes place outside of schools, in situations where there is no teacher, and in which the intention of the activity is not (primarily) to learn about music, but to play it, listen to it, dance to it, share it with others, or be together with it.[1]. On the basis of these considerations, formal learning can be defined as learning that occurs within an organised and structured context (e.g. a school or a conservatoire), is based on a curriculum (structured in terms of learning objectives, duration, content, method and assessment), takes place under the direction of a teacher who leads and carries out activities designed to effect a change in the learner, and leads to a formal recognition, such as credit points or a qualification.[7] The informal learning setting, in turn, contains both planned and unplanned learning activities resulting from daily life situations and is highly related to the personal learning drive and motivation of the individual learner who engages in specific activities just for the sake of the experience itself. Addressing these questions should complement the understanding of the implementation and expansion of institutionalised jazz education, as well as the processes by which jazz was learnt and taught in the 1970s and 1980s in Swiss Romandy

The first jazz education structures in Swiss Romandy

Designing one’s personalised training path: narratives of former students

Conclusion