The information below is for historical purposes only. The decision to disband the organization was made at the membership meeting in 2009

IAJE 2007 String Caucus Report

IAJE String Caucus Resource Team members and president Renata Bratt (renatabratt@earthlink.net), Martin Norgaard, treasurer(Martin@jazzfiddlewizard.com),  secretary Tanya Kalmanovitch, publications liaison, Bert Ligon

The IAJE String Caucus continues to lobby for jazz as a part of the education of all string players. Our members have and are writing Master’s Thesis’ and  Ph.D. dissertations on the history of jazz strings, jazz string improvisation, jazz string pedagogy and other topics relevant to our mission and are taking their places in every facet of music education.

The IAJE String Caucus is happy to announce that the IAJE board accepted the following proposal at their meeting in January 2007:

IAJE JAZZ STRING CAUCUS PROPOSAL

Jazz Composition Competition for Big Band with Improvising Strings

Program Description:

IAJE Jazz String Caucus proposes an annual competition and endowment for compositions for big band and one or more improvising violin, viola or cello soloists.  The winning composition would be performed by a big band already scheduled to appear at the IAJE Annual Conference, and the composer would receive a monetary prize presented by IAJE and the IAJE String Caucus.  We recommend that this prize honor a different jazz string player each year, to be chosen by the Jazz String Caucus (for example, The IAJE String Caucus Commission In Honor of (Joe Kennedy Jr., Hezekiah “Stuff” Smith, etc.), and/or a single endowment donor.

This competition and endowment would become part of the Talent and Service Recognition Programs of the Campaign for Jazz Initiative, and would be administered through the Campaign.

Rationale Statement:

One of the main issues facing today’s jazz string player and educator is the shortage of outstanding compositions for big band that feature improvising strings (violin, viola, cello).  Although there has been tremendous progress in recent years in music written for improvising string quartet, string orchestra, and string ensembles with rhythm section, relatively few jazz composers have integrated and exploited the unique qualities of improvising strings into big bands.

Yet the question most asked of the IAJE Resource Team is, “Where do I find music for my jazz band with strings?”  This question becomes even more urgent as the number of string players interested in jazz increases every year.  Often a jazz band director will have interested string players available, but does not integrate them into the ensemble because of a lack of quality arrangements that incorporate strings. The response must go beyond simply transposing a horn part for a string player, or writing string pads, but providing high quality, interesting, and challenging arrangements for use in performances and contests.

There is, of course, historical precedence for this kind of writing:  Duke Ellington’s compositions featuring Ray Nance on violin are the best-known examples.  But there are relatively few jazz composers and arrangers today who demonstrate this level of creativity and originality in writing for strings and big band.   This may be because the training, opportunities and incentives for writing for jazz strings have not been present, and which this competition would provide.

The outcomes of this proposal will:

*              Create new repertoire of big band music with strings that will be available to jazz educators, performers and professionals.

*              Demonstrate the IAJE’s support for the integration of string players in jazz ensembles.

*              Establish closer ties to the string community by providing quality literature.

*              Encourage and challenge composers to use string instruments in new and creative ways.

*              Provide composers with the incentive and opportunity to use string-specific writing skills.

*              Demonstrate to jazz big band directors that the integration of string players can be an asset to the ensemble in performances and contests.

*              Create new jazz compositions that are inherently interesting, and provide inspiration and models for ALL writers and performers.

The String Caucus looks forward to working with the current IAJE administration to raise funds for the endowment to finance the competition.

Other activities of the IAJE String Caucus include the following:

Through networking and outreach, the IAJE String Caucus has helped the IAJE and the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) in a series of cooperative events:

• In June, the IAJE presented violinist Lesa Terry as a clinician for the IAJE Teacher Training Institute in Park City, Utah.
• The 5th ASTA National String Conference was held in Detroit, Michigan, March 7-10, 2007. IAJE Resource Member Renata Bratt was the chair of the Alternative Styles Steering Committee. IAJE Resource Member Martin Norgaard was chair of the Alternative Styles Awards. The winners included jazz violinists Jason Anick, Alex Hargreaves, Ari Messenger & Mari Black.
• The 6th ASTA National String Conference will be held in Albuquerque, N.M Feb. 28-Mar. 1, 2008. www.astaweb.com . IAJE Resource Member Renata Bratt serves as past  chair of the Alternative Styles Steering Committee. Past IAJE Resource Team Member Darol Anger will present The Alt. Styles Resident:  How to Integrate a String Improvisation Component into Summer Chamber, Solo, and Orchestra Music Programs

featuring Panelists: Mark O'Connor, virtuoso fiddler and composer; Rachel Barton Pine, international violin virtuoso and music director for Musicorda; Scott Hosfield, Icicle Creek & Malibu Music Festival; and Daryl Silberman, Other jazz clinicians include IAJE Resource Member Martin Norgaard with Classic Swing Jazz Violin Solo Techniques:  A Great Entryway to Improvisation; Stanley Chepaitis, Ph.D and Katherine Mason with Basic Improvising in a Group Setting.

On the web, we have set up three separate sites:

·         www.jazzstringcaucus.org, the official website for the IAJE String Caucus, including string jazz annotated discographies and bibliographies, informational “Q & A”, and a jazz string Calendar, this site is now an interactive “wiki” site set up by violinist Mark Chung and maintained by violinist Martin Norgaard.

·          www.StringsCentral.com , a database dedicated to connecting string players and educators with non-classical compositions, arrangements, recordings and videos, set up and maintained by violinists Julie Lyonn Lieberman and Michael Snow.

·         http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IAJEStrings/ , an e-group to facilitate String Caucus networking and membership recruitment set up by violist Tanya Kalmanovitch.

Violist Tanya Kalmanovitch continues to represent the concerns of the String Caucus to an international audience as the Canadian representative to the International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ), as a founding board member of the Jazz Alliance of Canada and a member of ASTA. This past December Ms. Kalmanovitch toured Siberia to great acclaim with jazz compositions of her own, free jazz, and jazz standards.

Cellist Christine Harrington coordinates our ongoing jazz string reading session at the IAJE for published works featuring strings at all levels -elementary, high school, and college/professional. This forum continues to be a success. We look for published string jazz music (including room for improvised solos) and publishers are producing this music at all levels in response to teacher requests.