Towards Improving Jazz Education in South Africa: The Impact of the National Youth Jazz Festival at Secondary Level

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate the educational potential of jazz festivals by using the National Youth Jazz Festival (NYJF) in Makhanda, South Africa, as a case study between 2001 – 2023, with the aim of further improving jazz education at a secondary level. The NYJF is an education-based festival that partners with the National Jazz Festival, whose performers facilitate the bulk of the workshops of the NYJF. Many teachers who attend with their students also facilitate workshops and conduct youth bands. Furthermore, the NYJF is the platform through which the National Youth Jazz Band and the National Schools Jazz Band are selected each year. In the past decade I have attended the NYJF as a university student, high school teacher, workshop presenter, audition panelist, and administrative assistant, as well as being an audience member in many live performances at the National Jazz Festival. During my involvement I have been a recipient as well as an astute observer of the positive impact of the festival on the South African jazz community. Operating within a framework of practice-led research, I undertook this study to show how the festival achieves its impact. The findings are intended as a resource for any person involved in music education and festival programming to maximize the value and impact of their practice. I investigated the means of the festival’s impact on jazz and jazz education in South Africa by doing a thorough survey of past festival programs and interviews with artists and educators who have been involved with the festival for more than ten years. Furthermore, I facilitated a collaborative jazz ensemble workshop with a group of seven high school musicians, who also completed questionnaires, as part of the festival’s teaching program to test the viability of using the core elements that make the festival impactful in a single ensemble context at a secondary level. Finally, I interviewed the festival director who has been involved with the festival since 1993, providing the reader with a unique perspective from a source intimately connected with the festival. The key findings of the overall project were that the festival’s notable impact on jazz performance and education is present and consistent at every level. The combination of elements responsible for its impact is exposure to high quality live jazz of diverse styles coupled with access to professional musicians, from South Africa and abroad, through numerous workshops in a context where both artist and student spend six days together on the same campus. Exposure, access, networking, and community are the underlying principles that enable an inspiring and educational experience for every festival participant that promotes long-term involvement in the music industry.