Bob Lark

Bob Lark

Date Posted: November 15 2008

Written By: Chicago Jazz

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So You Want to Teach Jazz?

BY BEN DOCKERY

Contrary to common belief, jazz education did not begin with the advent of Jazz Studies programs in colleges and universities. The apprenticeship system was and still is a way in which jazz masters pass down knowledge to their pupils. Whether one considers Lenny Tristano¡¦s ¡§cultish¡¨ following or simply the way Miles Davis cultivated the young talents of Tony Williams, ¡§street learning¡¨ has existed throughout the history of jazz. However, jazz education as a livelihood is a much newer concept. Many have heard the old saying, those that can, do; and those that can¡¦t, teach. But it is difficult to maintain this view when so many great artists such as Joe Lovano, Mulgrew Miller or the late Jackie McLean are seen climbing the Ivory Tower. Trumpeter Bob Lark, DMA and director of Jazz Studies at DePaul University, has a unique perspective of this phenomenon. He has built a career in jazz education lasting over twenty years and is of increasing stature as an artist. For him and many others, being a jazz educator has provided a way to stay involved in the music, have an active family life, and pursue a serious performance career in jazz.
While attending a private Catholic school in Cleveland, Lark began learning trumpet in the third grade band program. His selection of the instrument came by his singular deficiency. Lark recalls, ¡§I got an A on every instrument that I tried out on except for trumpet¡V¡VI got a B because I thought the mouthpiece went inside my mouth. The teacher tried to tell me that you buzz your lips, and I said yeah, yeah, and I put the mouthpiece in my mouth and blew. I was really startled to see that that didn¡¦t work.¡¨ Lark enjoyed the trumpet¡¦s challenges at first, but by ninth grade he had become bored and was ready to quit. As a Christmas present that same year, Lark¡¦s grandmother bought him two tickets to see the Buddy Rich Big Band. The less-than-appreciative recipient remembers, ¡§All I knew was that big bands reminded me of Guy Lombardo on New Year¡¦s Eve.¡¨ His father had seen Buddy Rich on The Tonight Show and encouraged Bob to go. Despite his lack of enthusiasm, Bob found his calling. ¡§I knew right then and there. Throughout that couple-hour concert I was thinking, I really dig this. This is good. I was just stunned. And for a kid who went into something wanting to not like it, as corny as it sounds, it changed my life.¡¨ Over the next few months Lark heard Maynard Ferguson, Count Basie, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton¡¦s band all perform at this same venue. He was hooked and began buying records and immersing himself in the music immediately.
It was Lark¡¦s band director that put the bug in his ear about studying music in college. Lark remembers, ¡§Up to that point I really hadn¡¦t thought about going to college. Nobody on either side of my family had gone to college before. We were literally the factory-working family tradition. And working in the factory really didn¡¦t excite me.¡¨ He went to Ohio State, wanting to develop his jazz playing, but majored in music education. Despite the university¡¦s jazz program, he recalls how common this choice was. ¡§Even though the curriculum was in place, there was still this culture that if you¡¦re paying to get a degree you better get something like a music education degree, where at least there¡¦s a tangible job there.¡¨ After earning his Bachelor¡¦s in four years, he received a Graduate Assistantship at the University of North Texas. Despite taking nearly all the required classes for a master¡¦s degree in Jazz Studies, Lark again choose to get another Music Ed degree. ¡§Many of us that went there¡Kwhere jazz was definitely our number one interest, ended up getting music education degrees. It still seemed like the thing to do even at a place like North Texas where jazz was king.¡¨ After finishing his master¡¦s in two years, Lark was burned out on school and frustrated with his musical development. He did not think he was good enough to get a road gig, so he took the very first public school job that came along. This decision was a classic case of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. It was not long into the semester that he realized that middle school band was not for him. He remembers, ¡§That really inspired me to get a doctorate¡K I¡¦d figured out, actually early on in my Ohio State years, that as much as I liked playing and wanted to play professionally, I always thought it was a pretty cool thing to be a jazz professor.¡¨ The appeal of teaching jazz at a university was having better students, job security, and the ability to actively promote the music one believes in. Lark returned to North Texas to work on his DMA in classical trumpet under the teaching of Leonard Candelaria. To this day UNT does not offer a DMA in jazz. So once again, this son of a factory worker rolled up his sleeves and did what he had to. In addition to his classical studies, Lark directed jazz bands as part of his assistantship duties. ¡§I largely took the pedagogy I was learning from Leonard as a trumpet player, and I applied it to jazz. Leonard coached it as music is music. To this day I would say that most of my teaching is borrowed from Leonard.¡¨
Lark¡¦s first college position was at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. After rehearsing the band as part of his job interview, he remembers, ¡§The committee chairman pulled me aside later that day and said, ¡¥What do you really think of this band?¡¦ And I said, ¡¥Well, do you really want me to be honest?¡¦ He said, ¡¥Yeah.¡¦ And I said, ¡¥It¡¦s the worst band I¡¦ve ever heard.¡¦ And he slapped me on the back and said, ¡¥I¡¦m glad you said that. We¡¦re going to hire you.¡¦¡¨ He was at Emporia State for three years teaching applied trumpet and jazz studies. Clark Terry¡¦s jazz camp was there in the summers. By taking the position Lark became co-director of Clark Terry¡¦s Great Plains Summer Jazz Camp. There, Bob had the privilege to learn from Terry directly. ¡§I think that¡¦s when in some ways my real jazz education began. We¡¦re really taught to read and look as much as listen, in my opinion. North Texas is a great school, but to strive to make the top big band you had to become an excellent reader. I was devoting too much of my time to reading because I needed to get in that band and stay in it. But Clark was all about getting off the printed page. Trust your ears. Basically it was like, Don¡¦t you hear it? But he never said that out loud. It was, I play, you play; I play, you play. It¡¦s the same thing if they are seventh graders, high school kids, or college kids.¡¨ This learning by rote became a key part of Lark¡¦s teaching technique. Lark continues to use the call and response approach to pass down the subtleties and nuisance in the aural tradition. When a jazz studies position opened at DePaul University, he thought, as someone who grew up in the Midwest, that there had never been a strong jazz program in the Chicagoland area. So when he was hired as the Director of Jazz Studies in 1990 he was delighted to start building the program amongst a population with such a rich tradition in jazz.
Lark has observed that the biggest challenges in directing a college big band is the lack of stylistic acquaintance, sense of phrasing, and sense of time among students. A typical and otherwise good college or secondary school big band often plays too loud too often, over articulates in the horn section and generally has unsettled time. Lark continues, ¡§I think what separates the best bands from everybody else is their sense of playing in time together. It need not be metronomic¡K that can be a good thing if it¡¦s swingin¡¦. But it needs to feel good. In human music there needs to be some ebb and flow.¡¨ In addition, Lark commonly coaches bands to follow the dynamic shape of the line. When notes go up they get louder. When notes go down they get softer, and the context determines how much so. This quarter at DePaul, Lark is coaching a jazz combo in addition to the Jazz Ensemble. The Phil Woods Ensemble, as it is called, is a new group dedicated to the charts of Phil Woods. The impetus for the formation of this group is the exhaustive library of original charts and lead sheets donated by Woods himself. Keeping with tradition the group plays songs from the American Songbook, original compositions from members of the band and, of course, Phil Woods charts. When it comes to coaching small jazz ensembles, Lark notices, ¡§in otherwise pretty good groups I often hear the heads are kind of sloppy and maybe it feels a little stiff or frantic. And then once it¡¦s in the blowing it gets better. One thing I¡¦m doing is restricting the duration of the improvisations in the combo for right now. If it¡¦s a song form tune that¡¦s thirty-two-bars long, we¡¦re not going to kill the first half-hour of rehearsal on one tune.¡¨ For someone hoping to work as a jazz educator there are more responsibilities than teaching lessons or coaching ensembles. One such task is working within an administration. ¡§If you are a jazz educator, you are working in a music department or school of music that is by-and-large focusing on classical literature. Most schools primarily focus on music of the European classical tradition, so it¡¦s important that we realize that we have to be supportive of those other programs. And if we¡¦re smart we can have a symbiotic relationship so we¡¦re helping one another.¡¨ Inevitably there will be conflicts between faculty and administrators who disagree about the way in which classes and ensembles are taught. Bob advises, ¡§Take it off what you think it should be, and make it about what would best serve the needs of the students. That catch phrase or something along those lines gets results, I¡¦ve observed.¡¨
Being a jazz educator does not always mean that one works within a college or university. One way to work in jazz education is by doing clinics or master classes at local secondary or junior high programs. Lark frequently teaches clinics for big bands, combos and on improvisation. Surprisingly he does not use preconceived lesson plans. Instead he says, ¡§I want to trust my ears and hear and see what¡¦s going on, and work from there.¡¨ He also likes to take a somewhat diplomatic approach. When he speaks to the school¡¦s director, he offers his willingness to cover any topic that needs reinforcing. In clinics, or in any rehearsal, Lark makes sure the students are on their instruments for most of the rehearsal instead of listening to him talk about music. Likewise he makes an effort to play his trumpet during rehearsals. ¡§I think there¡¦s usually a connection too if you can demonstrate on your instrument for the students. I think they like seeing their teacher play.¡¨
Work as a jazz professor is not the idealized, glorified day job that so many musicians would imagine it to be. As with any profession there is a certain personal cost in doing a good job. Bob recalls the early days, ¡§Well, I always played. I would say that when I first came to DePaul in 1990, I really made it a priority to get the program here better established, so I didn¡¦t take nearly as many gigs as I could have. Then after time I started feeling kind of left out, you know. Like I wasn¡¦t catching as many nice gigs as I¡¦d like, and getting older and it¡¦s the same gigs. And the nice jazz gigs, they¡¦re hard to come by for anybody. So, it¡¦s hard to be married and have kids and a job and practice and then get gigs and do all these clinics, you know. It¡¦s really a matter of managing time.¡¨ This constant juggling act is business as usual for Lark. In the early years, especially when his sons were young, he had to focus on teaching more than playing. The thought of practicing so much that he could not see his kids grow up was not an option. Now that his children are teenagers, Lark has felt renewed interest in progressing as a player. In the fall of 2005 Lark had what might be described as a moment of personal crisis. ¡§I took a leave of absence for a term to work on my playing, because I had become very frustrated. I literally told myself and others I¡¦m either going to get a lot better or I¡¦m going to stop. It¡¦s time to fish or cut bait; I¡¦m in my forties. It¡¦s time to practice like I used to when I was in college, three or four hours a day. I think I know better now how to practice, to be more efficient. I want to write some tunes, and I¡¦m going to go record with Phil Woods and McNeely, Gilmore and Goodwin. If it works out, great. And if I say, ¡¥I suck,¡¦ then that¡¦s going to be it.¡¨ Fortunately for musicians and audiences alike, this pilgrimage into the practice room was a success. ¡§It turned out better than I hoped. I mean, I¡¦m not Randy Brecker or Nicolas Peyton, but it turned out better than I hoped. And I¡¦m committed not to not letting myself slack too much.¡¨
So what does it mean to get advanced degrees in jazz? According to Lark, it is not an easy path, but there are no easy paths in music. Just like an English degree or some other discipline in the humanities, jazz is not the most practical or lucrative field of study. He adds, ¡§You¡¦re learning the skills. You¡¦re learning to become excellent at what you do. Then it¡¦s up to you to carve your path.¡¨ So what if your path involves teaching at a university? In Bob¡¦s experience the Number One criteria that most schools are looking for is excellence in teaching. For many people just starting out in the education field this is a bit of a catch twenty-two. The alternative is to continue one¡¦s education by obtaining advanced degrees. One thing to remember in the job search is that all job openings are unique. Much depends on the location. An urban school may have different expectations from a rural school. One may prefer experience over a terminal degree or vice versa. Lark says, ¡§Often times, the smaller the school, the more they are requiring the doctorate. The more established a program¡Kthey are looking for excellence and perhaps, depending on the school, are not as concerned about the degrees.¡¨
Life as either an artist or educator is no easy path. Some musicians become dissatisfied living out of a suitcase on the road and fantasize about landing the dream teaching gig. Others wish to play, but find themselves with few opportunities outside of continuing their studies in academia. For both the grass may always be greener. But for Dr. Bob Lark, and many others with the right focus and determination, life as an artist/educator has been a rewarding and fulfilling career. Lark says it best when he concludes, ¡§I couldn¡¦t be luckier or happier with my lot in life.¡¨ The best way to keep up with Lark is to visit his website, boblark.com. There one can see his impressive discography including his new CD, Live at the Jazz Showcase, featuring the Bob Lark/Phil Woods Quintet scheduled to be released in 2009. One can also find his live performance dates. Be sure to hear the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble with special guest Phil Woods at the Jazz Showcase, October 23 through 26.
ƒÞCJM

Ben Dockery is a jazz pianist living in the Chicagoland area since 2005. He is currently a DMA candidate at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Contact Dockery via email: bdocker2@illinois.edu.

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