Author: Sammy Miller

Hey everyone! After spreading #joyfuljazz with Denton High School, Sammy and I were eager to interview the band director responsible for it all: Jesse Woolery!.  Jesse Woolery has served as the Associate Director of Bands and Director of Jazz Studies at

In the past few years, we’ve seen the education world go digital. Long gone are the days of Pen and Paper, now replaced with Chromebooks and iPads. Classroom learning is supplemented with Apps and the binging of Tik Tok and

Growing up as “the woman” in my school band, I did not feel encouraged to pursue music as a career. It was the female figures of jazz that inspired me to keep going. Today, we have more amazing female role

Hey everyone! Tristatesax here with the latest Playin’ Around with Playbook, an IGTV series where Sammy and I interview educators, performers, and artists on their life experiences and knowledge. This past week, I spoke with Corbin Jones. California-born, Colorado-raised arranger and multi-instrumentalist

As a studying music educator, it is so inspiring to meet renowned educators from across the country. This week, Playbook went in person to the Wisconsin Music Educators Conference and caught up with Daniel Emerson. I was fortunate enough to

Today we’re talking about the final building block: Harmony. You’re going to read a lot of similar information to what was covered in Parts 1-3 - Especially Part 3, since the Harmony and Bass Line are deeply intertwined. Before we

Now that we’ve got our Groove and Melody (and we’ve had some fun playing around!) it’s time to add the Bass Line. Like we talked about in Part 1, the Bass often rhythmically aligns with the Drum Set, forming the

Once your band is dancing to the Groove, the next thing to do is learn the Melody. Ensuring that every member of the band knows the Melody is important for many reasons.  The Melody is the most recognizable part of

We begin every song by learning the first Building Block: The Groove. The Groove is the heartbeat of the song. Its pulse and rhythm is the framework into which everything else fits. It’s helpful to think of it as a

Why teach the song before the arrangement? We’ve all had that moment where something cool happens in an arrangement, we look out on our students with excitement, and