With support from Sam Sharpe Teachers College, the American Friends of Jamaica, S Hotel Montego Bay and Jamaica Nice., Montego Bay music teachers in western Jamaica learned specialized brass instrument teaching strategies.
Wind and brass instruments are integral to Jamaican popular music, especially ska and reggae. During the 1970s-80s Jamaica lost many wind and brass players to migration. Brass suffered the most from this brain-drain and there had not been a specialist brass instructor in Kingston since the 1980s until the Alpha School of Music hired specialists full time from overseas. The decline in the amount of brass and wind players in Jamaica has been gradual but steady and finding suitable brass and wind instructors is now extremely difficult.
The Alpha School of Music is determined to turn the trend around and music teachers across the island are lining up to join the effort. For four days in July, high school music teachers from St James and Hanover huddled together from 9am to 4pm with Dr Jason Sulliman (website) a brass music specialist from Troy University in Alabama. These committed music teachers were determined to learn how to teach brass music performance to their students starting in September.
Feedback from the participants indicates the workshops were effective in delivering a range of practical and impactful strategies. Participants highlighted specific concepts such as tone production, articulation, air flow control, and the importance of helping students first become comfortable making sound before introducing scales or note names. Others emphasized the structure of the lesson itself and expressed confidence and excitement to begin teaching.
“I have been equipped with effective techniques that cater to beginners and understand how to adjust to their needs or find alternative solutions to help them improve,” said one music teacher who participated in the workshop. “I got a step by step way how to focus on [technique] and the sound in general,” said another. “Very interesting.”
Dr. Jason Sulliman is an innovative brass teacher who combines principles from kinesiology and cognitive science to rethink pedagogy in the 21st-century. He is one of the world’s leading experts on facial stability and embouchure rehabilitation and is in constant demand as a clinician and consultant with professional woodwind and brass musicians all over the world.
See the instructional video below on stability training and visit Dr Sulliman’s website jasonsulliman.com or YouTube channel here for more links to courses and resources focused on brass pedagogy and technique.
Many thanks to our sponsors! AMERICAN FRIENDS OF JAMAICA, SAM SHARPE TEACHERS COLLEGE, S HOTEL MONTEGO BAY AND JAMAICA NICE.
