An image of the study of vocal jazz might look like a braided rope that has only one visible end - the beginning of the rope; the other end of the rope is never in sight. In the study of jazz or any music, there is always room to improve. This idea is simultaneously one of the great things about singing and studying music and one of the occasionally overwhelming aspects of the pursuit of music.

The vocal jazz "rope" might be considered to have eight strands: improvisation, style/feel,text, history, theory, tools, ensemble/personal performance and listening. The strength of the rope as a whole depends partially on the strength of each of the strands and on the strength of the connection among them. The depth of knowledge in the study of jazz depends on the presence, connection and strength of all the strands. To deal with one strand without influencing or referring to the others is almost impossible. This interconnectedness becomes one the challenges of teaching the vocal jazz curriculum. What can be isolated for study? When should it be isolated? How can the connection to the other strands be show? What can the teacher do to keep the curriculum outcomes integrated and authentic to the study of jazz, while ensuring that each individual outcome is addressed and achieved?

This curriculum is structured to show the importance and depth of all the strands. A jazz curriculum that does not attend to each of the strands will not develop complete young jazz vocalists and consumers.

The strands in vocal jazz are very intertwined. Studying improvisation involves the strands of theory, tools, listening, style/feel and history - possible more. Strengthening all the strands will improve the end product tremendously.

Improvisation - Other musical styles apart from jazz involve improvisation (e.g., East Indian classical music, baroque figured bass). However, in North American and Europe, only jazz has improvisation as such an integral part of its style and heritage.

Text -Knowing the text is important, but understanding and communicating the text can have a powerful impact on the final product. It is critical to know the cultural/historical background of the text, to fell the flow of the words and to have the correct syllabic emphasis. These will improve the understanding and performance of the piece.

Style/Feel - Jazz comes in many different styles such as Dixieland, swing, Latin, bebop, fusion, free, cool and others. Some styles may be related to another, while others are the result of a reaction to, or the absorption of, or a departing from, other styles. In swing music, "feel" refers to the relation in time of the eighth notes - not quite a triplet and not quite a dotted eighth-sixteenth - and the relationship of the eighth notes varies with changes in the tempo. Feel is best learned by listening and then doing.

Tools - The tools include the students' understanding of their voices and their ability to control them (e.g., limited vibrato). Other tools are the elements of music such as dynamics, pitch, form, melody, rhythm, tone and texture, as well as skills such as scales, modes, chords, scale patterns and range.

History - Knowledge of the history of jazz informs a great many decisions that performers make. To perform the music authentically, one should consider such things as style, rhythms, solos, form and text. This historical knowledge may give the student a greater understanding and appreciation of those styles that are further removed for their generation.

Listening - Listening to music, whether it is the music of others or the music that students practise and perform, informs all the strand. it is the best way to learn about jazz: listen to it, do it and repeat. The practise of involved listening informs all of the strands of the jazz rope. When listening is referred to in curriculum, it always means listening critically.

Ensemble/Personal Performance - Music is a temporal art form, not just the marks on the page. Music is a fleeting, aural art form that is created in a specific moment and then is gone. Though recorded music is valuable in many ways and a wonderful tool for learning, the true magic of music is the experience of creating it. Vocal jazz is sung with the use of public address(P.A.) equipment and because of this, a basic understanding of microphone techniques and how a P.A. system works is included in this strand.

Theory (Ear Training)- In jazz theory, as in nearly all music theory, the music came first and the theory came afterwards to help explain and improve the understanding of the performance. Learning about chord symbols, the structure and connectedness of chords and chord/scale relationships are part of this strand.

Within each strand are many smaller strands where the learning is continuous and ongoing. For example, a typical vocal jazz student will have sung and/or heard different types of scales prior to high school but that does not mean that he/she is finished working with those scales. There are many ways to improve on the prior knowledge: i.e., Can the student sing faster, more accurately, with greater range, with added scale patterns, better sound/tone and sing more in tune? Can students recognize the use of a scale type in their music or the music of other singers? Can they use the scale in their own improvisations and/or compositions? How can the teacher help students track improvements in their technical growth and understanding of scales and other melodic material?

Finally, the knowledge, encouragement and discipline that nay particular student needs at any specific point in his/her studies will not be the same as his/her peers. This is one of the greatest challenges for teachers of jazz: How can they help each individual student grow as a jazz musician and person and, at the same time, attend to the needs and goals of the group?

To support inquiry into some of the 'big ideas' of interest to contemporary vocal jazz artists and to provide meaningful contexts for inquiry, a slightly different focus has been identified for each grade.The focus serves as a higher-level conceptual organizer rather than narrower topic-oriented structure (e.g., a conceptual focus on improvisation as opposed to learning a solo for a particular tune). These conceptual foci provide opportunities for students to make meaningful connections and achieve deeper understanding (Drake and Burns, 2004,pp.37-43)

In vocal jazz, the repertoire of the ensemble is the context in which students learn. Choosing repertoire of the highest possible quality is important. These quality works are more authentic to the styles represented and the teacher and students will be more able to extract the big ides (e.g., improvisation, style, history, theory) from the music and show how each big idea contributes to it.

The main foci for each level (10,20,30) are as follows:

• Vocal Jazz 10 - 2-3 part songs, major/minor triads, blue scales and major scales;
• Vocal Jazz 20 - 3-4 part songs, seventh chords and blues, major and harmonic minor scales;
• Vocal Jazz 30 - 4+ part songs, a cappella singing, extended chords and blues, major and harmonic minor, dorian and mixolydian scales.

There will be overlap from 10, 20 and 30 in the music that the students study. For example, students in Vocal Jazz 10 or 20 will find seventh and extended chords in the music they study. They should not wait until Vocal Jazz 30 to learn about seventh and extended chords as they need to work with those chords in the music they are studying. However, in Vocal Jazz 30, all students should have a deeper understanding of the construction and use of seventh and extended chords.

Teaching only to the focus of each grade likely is impossible, but the intent is to present a few big ideas on which to concentrate at each grade level. Each focus is required and incorporated into the learning outcomes for that grade. In addition, each focus likely will be touched upon every year in each grade. With repeated exposure to these concepts, students will be able to demonstrate growth in their depth of understanding. If time permits, teachers and students also may choose to study conceptual foci unrelated to those identified.

Current research indicates that students will respond to a task with greater interest when it is presented in an authentic manner. What is it that real vocal jazz musicians do when they are learning? They listen. Music teachers often ask their students to listen to a piece of music, but students may have no real understanding of what is expected of them by the direction "listen".

Students need to be taught how to listen. Listening is an active process. They need to learn that listening is not having some music play while you do something else. Students may think that listening is too difficult or boring, or they may not see that value of listening. The teacher will need to help students hear what the teacher may hear almost automatically.

Teachers may start to work on listening skills with a guide to help the students identify those elements of the music that the teacher wants them to recognize aurally. This might start as simply as identifying the instruments and/or voices heard in the music and then moving on to ideas such as style, era, genre, chord progressions, forms, types of scales and chords and even keys.

Teachers may want to consider using a before, during and after format to help the students organize their listening. While listening, they might ask themselves the following questions:

Before:

What do I already know?

What do I want to know?

How will I recognize what I'm listening to?

How will I collect information beforehand and while listening?

Will I like what I am going to hear?

During:

What am I listening for?

What do I recognize about what I am listening to?

Why do I like (or not like) what I am hearing?

After:

What will I do with this information?

What value is this information to me?

Can I apply this knowledge to the music I am working on?

Can I apply this learning elsewhere?

Did I use the language of a musician to describe what I heard?

Can I describe, teach, or show this learning to others?

Why do I like (or not like) what I heard?

The goal is for students to learn to listen to music as musicians listen to music. The first two critical/responsive outcomes in the vocal jazz curricula address what a musician does when listening.