Course Syllabus

Jazz Orchestra, Spring 2024

Course number and code: MUS 178, course code 04600
Class meetings: Wednesdays, 7:00pm-9:50pm, MM 220
Instructor: Michael Dessen, mdessen@uci.edu
Instructor office hour/location: Tuesdays 2pm-3pm, CAC 3023. Walk-ins are welcome, or if you want to reserve time, you can sign up in advance on this sheet.
Teaching Assistant: Brian Shank, bshank@uci.edu

Course summary

Welcome! In this course, we will study, practice and perform diverse works from jazz orchestra traditions. The course has two broad goals:

  • To help you improve your skills as an ensemble musician and an improviser
  • To help you deepen your understanding of jazz as a musical and cultural practice

Our repertoire will cover a wide historical and aesthetic range, from classics composed long ago, to diverse mid and late 20th century compositions, to contemporary works by living composers.

Coursework and evaluation

This is a 2-unit course, requiring roughly 3-4 hours of work per week outside of class, as well as our weekly rehearsal and an additional soundcheck/rehearsal on the day of our concert. Here are the expectations and details on grading:

In-class work (40%)

You are expected to attend and participate fully in all class sessions and the soundcheck/concert. This includes:

    • Being set up and in your seat by 7pm.
    • Bringing focused attention at all times during class, including when a section of music being rehearsed does not involve you. 
    • Putting away electronic devices (out of reach) before class and not using them during class.

Evaluation: At the end of the quarter, I will ask you to indicate the letter grade you think you earned based on those expectations, and I will assign the grade taking into account your self-evaluation.

About absences and lateness: Our work in this course is highly collaborative, so attendance is very important.  If you are sick, please see a doctor and do not attend class. Other than illness and emergencies, absences and arriving late to class will lower your in-class work grade. Missing the concert or missing more than 2 rehearsals may be considered grounds for a failing course grade.

Practice and sectionals (40%)

You are expected to do the following instrumental practice outside of class:

  • Practice your individual parts for roughly 1-2 hours per week in all weeks leading up to the concert. This includes studying the original recordings for reference.
  • Participate effectively in a weekly 1-hour sectional. (Each section will set up a regular meeting time in week 1.)

Evaluation: At the end of the quarter, I will ask you to indicate the letter grade you think you earned based on those expectations, and I will assign the grade taking into account your self-evaluation.

Two study/response assignments (2 @ 10% each = 20%)

These are designed so that you can complete them in about 3-4 hours each. You will choose them from a  Menu of options available from the start of the quarter. The mid-quarter assignment is due May 3, and the end-of-quarter assignment is due June 7.  Each option involves a specific task (reading/listening/viewing) with guiding questions that you'll address in a 400-700 word written response.

Evaluation: I'll provide feedback and mark your assignment either Complete (100 points) or Incomplete (0 points). If your response does not sufficiently address the questions, you'll have an option to revise it to earn a Complete grade. Unless you contact me in advance about illness or emergency, late submissions will be automatically graded down by 10% per day in Canvas.

Repertoire

Here is our tentative concert program this quarter:

  1. Corner Pocket, arranged by Ernie Wilkins for the Count Basie Orchestra
  2. Ecclusiastics, by Charles Mingus (listen to the version by the Mingus Big Band)
  3. Azulito, by Ray Santos (listen to the version on Tanga by Mario Bauza)
  4. Notorious Tourist from the East, by Toshiko Akiyoshi (listen to the provided audio file in Canvas Files or find the version from the album March of the Tadpoles by the Lew Tabakin Big Band)
  5. Blues and the Abstract Truth, by Oliver Nelson (listen to the provided audio file in Canvas Files or find the big band version on the album Swiss Suite by Oliver Nelson Orchestra)
  6. Dance You Monster to My Soft Song, by Maria Schneider (listen to provided audio file  in Canvas Files or purchase it)
  7. A Time for Love, arranged by UCI student Henry Bar-Or
  8. Early Sunday Morning, by Ayn Inserto (featuring soloist Sasha Berliner, vibes)
  9. Tokyo Confidential, by Miho Hazama (featuring soloist Sasha Berliner, vibes) (listen to both the big band version and the chamber group version with Stefon Harris on vibes)

Concert date and details

The concert announcement is online here, and the program will be downloadable on that page later in the quarter.

8pm Wednesday, May 22, Winifred Smith Hall
Schedule that day:

  • 3:30pm: Rhythm section players arrive to set up drums, bass, piano
  • 4pm: Everyone be in the hall with your instrument ready. Soundcheck and final rehearsal.
  • 5:45pm at the latest: Break
  • 7:40pm: Call time (be backstage)
  • 8:00pm: Concert

Please note that after our concert, we will continue meeting at our regular class time in weeks 9 and 10, and attendance is required. 

Academic integrity and AI

For all coursework, especially the study/response assignments that involve writing, you must be always careful to avoid representing another person's work as your own. This means that whenever you draw on others' work or ideas, you must cite those sources fully, and that if you use direct quotes from any source, published or unpublished, you must place the text in quotation marks in addition to providing the citation. In addition, you may not use AI software such as ChatGPT to generate your written responses, even if you edit them afterwards. If you would like to use AI software in a critical and intentional way within an assignment, you must discuss this with me and get approval for the method you are proposing before completing and submitting the assignment. Any violations of these academic integrity policies will be reported.

Help, accommodations and inclusivity

If you ever struggle with this course, especially if it is not clear how you can improve, I urge you to let me know as early as possible, so I can help. 

If you have accommodation requests related to a disability, you must contact the UCI Disabilities Services Center at the beginning of the quarter and have them send me the accommodations request, then follow up with me to discuss it.

My intention is always to facilitate welcoming, inclusive and respectful environments for collective learning among diverse students, in the spirit of the UC's system-wide policies on diversity.Links to an external site. By remaining in the course after reading this syllabus, you are affirming that you share these intentions.

Campus support resources

As a UCI student, you have access to a wide range of resources on campus to help you with not only your academic work, but also many other kinds of challenges, including food and housing insecurity, mental health and much more. I am always happy to talk if you are not sure where to start, and I also recommend consulting with CTSA Student Affairs staff, who are experts on these campus resources and very experienced at helping students with all kinds of challenges. Here is a list of campus resources I encourage you to be aware of:

  • CTSA (School of the Arts) Student Affairs: A great starting point if you're not sure where to go, or if you prefer to talk to a staff advisor there rather than a professor.
  • UCI Basic Needs Hub: Help for UCI students struggling to meet basic food or housing needs.
  • UCI Counseling Center: Counseling for UCI students, and an excellent resource to help you cope with stress.
  • Disability Services Center: Support for UCI students with disabilities, including helping you to establish accommodations in your courses.
  • UCI LGBT Resource Center: Provides support for LGBT students and "education and advocacy services supporting intersectional identity development." 
  • UCI Dream Center: MIssion is to "stand with and serve those impacted by immigration policy through advancing systemic change, deconstructing oppressive policies, and fostering community."
  • Student Outreach and Retention Center (SOAR): Support for academic success, wellness and empowerment, especially for underrepresented students
  • UCI CARE (Campus Assault Resources and Education): "Free and confidential support services to members of the UCI community who have been impacted by sexual assault, relationship abuse, family violence and/or stalking."
  • Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD): Promotes "equal opportunity, affirmative action, and nondiscrimination at UCI," and a place where students can report and get support for any perceived violations of university policy or the law, such as hostile work environments
  • Office of Academic Integrity & Student Conduct (OAISC): Oversees academic integrity and student conduct, and also a place where students can submit reports or speak with staff about perceived violations of UCI policies and codes of conduct

Thank you for reading the entire Syllabus. I look forward to working with you this quarter!