The Petting Zoo: Fostering Practice-Based Experience in Jazz Appreciation Classes

This article was written to call attention to the challenges faced when teaching jazz history and concepts to people with little to no jazz background. The introduction brings into focus the interactive methods that are used to teach introductory courses in the various academic disciplines found in contemporary educational plans. It goes on to outline the problem of introductory music history and appreciation courses lacking the same kind of interactive learning systems and introduces the idea of a similar interactive exercise for these courses. The body of the article goes on to describe how a successful interactive musical exercise for the layperson might look, including details for priming, setting up, executing, and evaluating the outcomes of the exercise in a way that is comfortable and effective for the students, especially those who might not have a musical, or jazz, background. It concludes with discussion for why such an exercise would be beneficial, including expected learning outcomes and technical appreciation.