West Virginia Jazz Education Initiative
Educational Offerings
Offsight Programs
Elementary
What is that instrument? How does it work?
Join a jazz quartet as they explain how harmony, melody, and rhythm work together to create jazz. Students will learn the different parts and components of each instrument and how they produce sound. Improvisation and teamwork are central to this American-born genre. Inspired by student-provided topics and stories, the quartet will improvise a piece on the spot, demonstrating the role of each instrument in a jazz band.
Middle/High School – Piano
Join MCG Jazz as they explore the history of legendary jazz pianists from Pittsburgh who helped shape the way jazz musicians play piano today. This 90-minute educational jazz concert combines live performance with video footage of Pittsburgh jazz legends Earl “Fatha” Hines, Erroll Garner, Mary Lou Williams, and Billy Strayhorn. While learning about the history of jazz piano, students will also discover the basics of jazz harmony, accompanied by a jazz quartet.
Middle/High School – Band
Jazz is more than music—it’s a way of thinking about your environment and how you interact with it. During each performance, jazz musicians collaborate, take risks, problem-solve, establish leadership, and support one another with little or no verbal communication. Improvisation is at the heart of jazz. Through activities designed for middle and high school students, MCG Jazz will teach improvisation and explore melody, harmony, and rhythm. Students will experience the excitement of playing jazz through a standard blues progression supported by a jazz quartet.
Middle/High School – Choir
Just as teammates work together to win a game, musicians collaborate to create harmony. Jazz offers countless styles of harmony, each shaped by intercultural experiences and relationships. Regardless of the style, teamwork is at the core of harmony. Through MCG Jazz archival videos featuring vocalists such as Billy Eckstine and Etta Cox, and vocal ensembles like The New York Voices and Take 6, students will experience and experiment with jazz harmony.
General Music – All Levels
The documentary film We Knew What We Had: The Greatest Jazz Story Never Told, created by MCG Jazz, features the talents of international jazz masters George Benson, Ahmad Jamal, Stanley Turrentine, Billy Eckstine, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, Billy Strayhorn, and Mary Lou Williams—all Pittsburgh natives. It explores the social conditions and historical events that made Pittsburgh one of the leading contributors to the legacy of jazz music worldwide. The one-hour film includes interviews, historical photographs, and over 20 live performance clips of these jazz masters. A quartet led by Mark Jackovic, who worked on the photography for the documentary, will perform compositions by these Pittsburgh artists and lead a discussion following the screening.
School of Swing™
All 3rd- and 4th-grade students are invited to experience this 50-minute interactive and educational concert. Throughout the program, students will learn about the elements of music—harmony, melody, and rhythm—and how they relate to jazz. Students will become a human drum machine, sing a scat solo, and get groovy on the dance floor. Come experience jazz, maybe for the first time, and discover its history, creativity, improvisation, and teamwork.
Custom Experience
MCG Jazz collaborates with teachers, administrators, and community leaders to develop educational programs tailored to their specific needs. If there is a particular aspect of jazz music you want to teach your students, let us help you create custom classes designed just for you.
On Site Programs
School of Swing™
All 3rd- and 4th-grade students are invited to experience this 50-minute interactive and educational concert at MCG Jazz. Throughout the concert, students will learn about the elements of music—harmony, melody, and rhythm—and how they relate to jazz. Students will become a human drum machine, sing a scat solo, and get groovy on the dance floor. Come experience jazz, maybe for the first time, and discover its history, creativity, improvisation, and teamwork.
Youth in the Mix
MCG Jazz offers student ensembles the opportunity to tour and utilize its world-class recording studio, educational spaces, and concert hall—where jazz legends have recorded several GRAMMY® Award-winning projects. Student ensembles can range from a small recorder group to a full big band or show choir.
Students will work with an expert recording and production team and gain hands-on experience with professional-quality microphones, Pro Tools digital audio software, various studio and mixing equipment, broadcast-quality video capture systems, and learn the production techniques used by award-winning producers and engineers.
Jazz Insights
MCG Jazz provides opportunities for interactive discussions between students, their families, and visiting artists. Students are encouraged to ask questions and engage in dialogue, making this a unique and personal learning experience.
Jazz: Tell Your Story
Jazz: Tell Your Story is an after-school program for high school students focused on composition. Through studying the legacy of jazz composers from Pittsburgh, students will create original compositions combining melody, harmony, and rhythm. The class meets twice a week and offers students the opportunity to perform their compositions in front of an audience.