Undergraduate Jazz Curriculum
Undergraduate Curriculum
The core curriculum for undergraduates majoring in jazz studies consists of:
- Eight semesters of studio lessons
- Participation in jazz combos and large ensembles every semester
- Two semesters of music theory and practice courses (Elements of Jazz 1 and Elements of Jazz 2)
- Jazz Repertoire (currently called Elements of Jazz 3)
- Seminar in Jazz Improvisation (currently called Elements of Jazz 4)
- Two semesters of Jazz history, styles, and improvisation in Jazz Styles: Improvisation A and Jazz Styles: Improvisation B (currently called History of Jazz A and History of Jazz B)
- Two semesters of Jazz Composition and Arranging.
Jazz majors may take private studio lessons for up to eight semesters with professionals with extensive international experience. One of the unique aspects of our curriculum is that our studio lessons focus as much on the development of our students as instrumentalists as improvisers and accompanists. To that end, students frequently have the opportunity to split their lessons with artists on different instruments. For example, drummers might study with Gilbert Castellanos or Luca Alemanno and pianists and guitarists might work on accompaniment with vocalist Jane Monheit. Some students may have the opportunity to take a mini lesson with one of our guest artists.
Studio Faculty (2025)
- Brian Levy: jazz saxophone and improvisation
- Luca Alemanno: jazz bass and improvisation
- Gilbert Castellanos: jazz trumpet and improvisation
- Jane Monheit: jazz voice and improvisation
- Karl Soukup: jazz composition lessons and improvisation
- Anthony Smith: jazz piano and improvisation
- Steve Cotter: jazz guitar and improvisation
- Tim McMahon: jazz drums and improvisation
- Christopher Hollyday: jazz saxophone and improvisation
- Derek Cannon: jazz trumpet and improvisation
- Louis Valenzuela: jazz guitar and improvisation
- Kevin Esposito: jazz trombone and improvisation
All jazz majors take at least one combo or large ensemble each semester that they are at SDSU. The focus of our program is hands-on experience. As such, performing in both our small and large ensembles is the highlight of our jazz program. All groups perform a recital during Jazz Week of every semester. Most groups will also have the opportunity to perform with our guest-artist concerts. We are averaging 3-4 guest artist visits per semester since 2023.
Elements of Jazz is a survey of topics within jazz theory and practice that are essential for effective improvising. The topics offer strategies for students to expand vocabulary and help bring greater structural cohesion and musical integrity to solos and accompaniments. By the end of the course, students will have gained fluency using rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas. Therefore, students have the tools to participate in a dialogue with the historical voices that constitute a tradition, both as it came to be and continues to evolve.
To draw connections between practice and performance, the course illustrates topics through transcription, analysis and interpretation of relevant excerpts of famous solos from jazz history. The goal is to put theory into practice. Students learn to reassemble the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas of the masters, not just by repeating them mechanically as licks, but by engaging with the ideas as modules with the potential for infinite recombination; and therefore, a means for the exploration of new contexts.
Coursework consists of in-class practice and performance; transcription, recording, analysis, and composition assignments; and quizzes. A new topic is explored approximately each week in a laboratory-like classroom setting.
Beginning in 2026, Elements of Jazz III will adopt a new title and approach. This course builds on the jazz theory curriculum by exploring more advanced improvisational concepts and applying them in performance. Students deepen their musicianship through focused listening, transcription and analysis, repertoire development, and hands-on practice. By the end of the course, students will have a wider set of improvisational tools and a more robust understanding of jazz language.
Launching in 2027 as the redesigned successor to Elements of Jazz IV, the Jazz Improvisation Seminar serves as the capstone of the jazz theory curriculum. This project-driven course invites students to apply their accumulated improvisational and theoretical knowledge through collaborative work based on significant artist recordings. Students complete in-depth projects on comping, soloing, and vocabulary development, exploring these techniques across multiple stylistic settings. The seminar emphasizes creativity, analytical insight, and the development of a personalized improvisational voice.
Beginning in 2026, History of Jazz 364A and 364B will be renamed as Jazz Styles: Improvisation A and Jazz Styles Improvisation: B. The courses will switch from a 300-level course to a 500-level course that combines undergraduate students together. These courses are modeled by our director Dr.Levy’s favorite course of the 20 or so courses he taught at The New England Conservatory from 2012-2023.
Understanding jazz as a living tradition means creatively engaging in its history through a type of performance practice. In the same way that the practice of Baroque and Classical music, for example, demands that scholars and performers learn to realize figured bass and improvise preludes and cadenzas, the practice of jazz has its own set of historical performance practices. In this class, our study of jazz history blends deep engagement with the music itself, a hands-on approach complemented by contextual readings from the literature.
In the spirit of how jazz giants often learned to improvise and play jazz, in Jazz Styles: Improvisation A, we listen to, compare and contrast, analyze, and play the solos and accompaniments of selected representative jazz artists including Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Papa Jo Jones, Billie Holiday, Bix Beiderbecke, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt, Max Roach, and many others (in 364A) and Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, and many others (in 364B). First and foremost, we transcribe, analyze, and perform the music itself, focusing on both the improvisations of the soloists and the interactions of the rhythm section. Through our hands-on approach (e.g., playing solos and mining them for ideas, vocabulary, and inspiration), we develop a rich understanding of the music while gaining experience playing in historical styles. Furthermore, appropriating the techniques and vocabularies from classic solos into our new improvisations helps us to realize a more personal end: becoming a stronger soloist. The semester culminates with individual projects and presentations on a modern or current performance/solo of your choice.
Students taking jazz arranging and composition courses at SDSU focus on developing a broad set of skills they can apply in their career as students and beyond into their creative professional endeavors. They write lead sheets, learn voicing techniques, apply scoring and engraving methods, analyze classic jazz works, and create original compositions and arrangements that they record and/or perform as part of the class. Projects across both semesters include: 3-horn combo chart, sax soli, brass shout, nonet arrangement, and original big band composition.
