Traditional jazz refers specifically to iterations of New Orleans style jazz since its beginnings in the early 20th century. It has been labelled "Dixieland," "Classic Jazz," "New Orleans jazz," "Trad," or "Our Kind of Music (OKOM)" among other names. As a scholar-performer, I learned this style of music in my undergraduate studies in Provo, Utah and later taught it as a graduate student in Phoenix, Arizona. This research grows out of the challenges I encountered mediating between the academic institution, the non-academic tradition, and student needs. Combining musicological methods such as historiography and artifact analysis with reflexive ethnography and performance pedagogy more typical of other disciplines, I consider how educators might represent traditional jazz in a more culturally responsible way. To begin, I reference historical newspapers and oral histories to show how the labels of “Dixieland” and “traditional jazz” have evolved over time and taken on a variety of associations. Specifically, I note how the word “Dixieland” is problematic for the ways it reinforces nostalgic fantasies of the “old south” and prevents African Americans from participating without the oppressive and offensive stereotypes created by white minstrel entertainers. I then consider how prominent figures have established their authority to speak for traditional jazz by looking at several pedagogical artifacts for the style of traditional jazz drumming. I highlight how each of these artifacts’ authors present the subject and color their audience’s view of traditional jazz. Having analyzed these methods of genre definition, I discuss the tenuous place of traditional jazz within university jazz programs and its potential futures through interviews I conducted with jazz educators. These interviews focus on teaching traditional jazz within the academy and the potential for the jazz ensemble as a site of scholar-performer interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, following models of reflexive ethnography established by ethnomusicologists leading world music ensembles, I analyze my own experience teaching traditional jazz ensembles. My synthesis of methods from musicology, ethnomusicology, music education, and jazz performance departments serves as an important bridge between these disciplines, and in turn, improves jazz instruction, offers insight into genre definition, and illuminates how institutional structures shape the subject.

Dr. SoonAe Kim was one of the first Korean female composers to contribute substantial works for kagok, or the Korean art song. In 1920, the year she was born, Korean society was undergoing critical changes throughout the nation as a result of wars, colonization, and political upheaval. Due to these circumstances, Dr. Kim had to deal with multiple unexpected events like most Korean people had during the period. The experiences she faced tremendously influenced her musical identity and composition. This paper will examine three significant factors, such as Christianity, the Korean War, and kagok (Korean Art Song), that affected Dr. Kim’s professional musical identity and composition. Christianity helped her to affirm her independent and brave identity as a female composer and Christian hymn gave numerous inspiration to her music. The Korean War gave her the strength and ability to overcome extreme hardship. It also gave her deep empathy for Korean people and their experiences, which affected the atmosphere in her music. Lastly, kagok, the art form for which she received her greatest enthusiasm, became her main power for encouraging Korean people’s spirits to recover a peaceful and stable life. SoonAe Kim dealt with her despairs bravely throughout her entire life and successfully overcame them with her music and became an irreplaceable figure in Korean Western-music history. I heartily believe it is essential to study her musical identity and unique compositional style, especially in kagok, to appreciate SoonAe Kim’s importance as a significant female musician. This document will also serve as a performance guide for non-Korean singers and musicians who want to perform Korean art songs yet are hindered by the language and cultural barrier. This performance guide includes the International Phonetic Alphabet for the Korean language, companion pronunciation recordings, and a brief musical analysis. The performance guide will encourage better access and performances of Korean art songs by foreign artists and singers who are not familiar with the Korean language and bring kagok and SoonAe Kim into the universal art song canon.

In Arizona part-time instrumental music educators often spend more time per week with high school students than full-time core subject teachers. Members of the gig economy and heavily involved in the marching arts, these part-time teachers make the conscious choice to seek multiple gig positions to piece together a full-time income void of traditional employee benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the American workforce, prompting employers to hire more gig workers than standard salaried employees across all industries. However, some part-time workers who rely on social interactions for income are struggling to maintain a career throughout the health crisis. Although unable to see their students in person and prepare for competitions like a normal season, part-time instrumental music educators are continuing to work and teach. Whether each teacher is explicitly aware of it or not, the entire part-time teaching community relies on the accrual and mobilization of social capital to secure and maintain gigs and, by extension, a living. In this thesis, I employ Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital to investigate how part-time instrumental music educators are adapting to virtual remote teaching prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and why they have not experienced job loss to the same extent as many other Americans in this arduous time. Through participant-observer ethnography and direct interviews with 12 active part-time instrumental marching music teachers I analyze not only the social mechanisms that lead to career success but also how each teacher conceptualizes their own vocational narrative. Unlike the idealized “American Dream” narrative of hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, part-time teachers attribute their success to social relationships and luck. As Arizona prepares for a harsh decline in music student enrollment over the next five years due to the pandemic part-time music educators must be aware of how to encourage their students to become the next generation of teachers and how they can work to overcome the daunting privilege gap in musical ensemble participation.