(Berklee Press). When you think of jazz composers, who comes to mind? Jelly Roll Morton, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Bob Brookmeyer. This book is about what they (and many others) do. Jazz composition has evolved into a disciplined art that often evidences great emotional depth and breadth of sophistication. Berklee College of Music legend Ted Pease demystifies the processes involved in writing jazz tunes and in composing episodic and extended jazz works. Jazz Composition: Theory and Practice is a by-product of Pease’s 25 years of teaching jazz composition. The accompanying audio files help demonstrate melody, harmony and rhythmic elements of jazz and also includes a variety of music-writing exercises focused on learning these same elements to help you begin producing your own effective jazz compositions.
Founded on jazz, the music of the African diaspora, and a dedication to contemporary music, Berklee is a singular institution for the study of the performing arts. The institution continues to integrate and find connections between its historical roots and the contemporary worlds of music, dance, and theater. Berklee is a place where artists come together to innovate and collaborate, and where artistic and cultural diversity is embraced and celebrated. This ethos permeates all aspects of Berklee—from teaching and learning to administration and governance—and is fundamental to the Berklee experience.
Berklee continually cultivates its own promise—stretching, expanding, and reinventing itself in a rapidly changing world. In recent years, Berklee has opened new campuses in New York City and Valencia, Spain, and grown Berklee Online into the world’s largest online music school. In 2016, the Boston Conservatory—the oldest and one of the most prestigious conservatories in the U.S. for dance, music, and theater—joined forces with Berklee College of Music, establishing a performing arts training institution unparalleled in its breadth and depth. As a combined institution, Berklee is an education powerhouse with global reach and vast cultural impact.