"This unique and most creative of art forms attracts a certain
kind of person; one who cherishes the balance of creativity
with intellectual pursuits." Ted Moore

UC Jazz Features

About the author:

Ted Moore

Mr. Moore is Director of UC Jazz Ensembles at UC Berkeley. Aside from his administrative duties, he offers his skills as the Percussion Director of UC Jazz Ensembles Advanced Combo II and the Improv Workshop.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Ted Moore has toured the world with Paul Winter, Marian McPartland, Stan Getz, Joe Williams, Eric Gale, Jack Wilkins, Gene Bertonzini, Joey DeFrancesco, and many others. For several years, he lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, performing timpani and percussion with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, as well as touring and recording with one of Brazil's leading saxophonists, Victor Assis Brasil. Mr. Moore has composed original scores for several films and television series, including the NOVA science series on PBS.

Since graduating from the Eastman School of Music, Ted has pursued a career which has taken him to many parts of the world with many different artists. He is leader and composer for his own Brazilian jazz group, Brasilia, which has released its first CD to national acclaim.

On tour, Ted has performed throughout the US and Canada, as well as Japan, Spain, England and Holland. He has played in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Cathedral of St. John in New York, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

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Teaching jazz at UC Berkeley is a true gift which allows me access to an extraordinary group of young people and young minds. For me, to teach is to encourage, and it is my goal to create an environment where every student will walk through our doors into a supportive space of encouragement. Of course, criticism must play a key role in teaching when it leads to personal growth, but it is a welcome criticism when offered in the surroundings of encouragement.

Ultimately they are one and the same. I hope that every student participating in UC Jazz feels the kind of encouragement which they can carry elsewhere in their experience at UC Berkeley. As we are about to turn this world over to them very shortly anyway, nurturing and encouragement would seem to me the only logical path to follow as a teacher.

From here we move into the world of teaching jazz. This unique and most creative of art forms attracts a certain kind of person; one who cherishes the balance of creativity with intellectual pursuits. Jazz contains and demands both. Teaching jazz allows an instructor to offer many invaluable lessons to a student; history, discipline, creativity, and the possibility of a life-long dedication to the arts. As with all great art forms, one must study the history of jazz to fully understand its development; knowledge of the past enables us to better perform in the present, and to pay homage to the past as well. There is a great discipline involved in developing the personal vocabulary necessary to play jazz, and it is a constantly developing vocabulary. While not all of my students will pursue a career in jazz, at least some will form a life-long appreciation, and even passion, for this music. It is a gift to participate in the process of a young person's immersion in the creative process, and to watch it unfold. It is the greatest joy to see the light go on as a student finds his or her way through the challenges of learning a new aspect of jazz, as the mysterious, and seemingly unattainable, becomes accessible. For those willing to put in the time, the reward is nothing less than the ability to make a highly personalized statement in a world which does not always encourage such audacity.

Jazz is, above all, personal. It is ultimately the ability to create a spontaneous and personal statement within a given set of parameters. It is developing a personal vocabulary, which then contributes to a series of musical thoughts which make sense first to the artist and second to fellow musicians, the end result of which is the dialog which is jazz. Here is the paradox: that it takes hours and hours of preparation, as is the case with any language, to create the spontaneous expression which only fits that particular musical situation in that particular moment. This is the real reward to teaching jazz; to participate in creating the supportive environment where such personal expression can be explored and developed. Hopefully this process of self-discovery through learning jazz will have great value to the students' lives, and those who ultimately do not pursue a career in music, may nevertheless use this process, which they have learned through the study of jazz, in other areas of their lives.

The Individual Voices of Jazz Students
by Ted Moore

While UC Jazz is truly a community, it is a community of individuals, and jazz remains one of the best measures of individuality available in all the arts. It has always been about unique individual expression and in UC Jazz we hear student musicians developing their own unique voices and personal expression. Jazz is loved and respected throughout the world for the depth of individuality it produces and UC Jazz students have the opportunity to feel a part of that history of voices.

Not every experience in a young person's educational process encourages creativity and personal expression. However, even though jazz students may learn the same theory and practice identical exercises, these will eventually be transformed into something very personal. Only a certain type of student is drawn to this music and its challenge. It is truly a gift in their lives to learn the lessons of personal expression that jazz teaches. The community spirit of jazz urges the creation of unique voices which these students will take with them out into the world, undoubtedly affecting everything they do.

UC Jazz Affecting Lives

In the few years that I have been at UC Berkeley, it's interesting to observe the impact that UC Jazz has had on a variety of students; especially those who were not music majors, and who did not originally intend to pursue a musical path after graduating. I would like to recall here a few examples of students who were originally studying something other than music at Cal, but as is often the case, music stepped in (in this case, in the form of UC Jazz) and altered their course.

One student of mine from a few years ago (and a prolific composer at the time) graduated and was headed off to medical school. The next news about him that I heard was that he instead attended Berklee College of Music to study jazz, and was just accepted into the prestigious Monk Institute for graduate study of jazz. Another student who was our equipment manager and worked with our sound system, is now a recording studio owner, and musician in several local Bay Area bands traveling and performing all over the country. A third student graduated recently, having been very active as out UC Jazz president. After year in which he taught in a high school music department, he attended graduate school back East in a Jazz History program (one of the few in the country) and is now employed full time at the Jazz at Lincoln Center offices in New York.

It is heartening to think about these and other students pursuing a chosen path, different from the original, and one which will hopefully be fulfilling to their lives. It is even more heartening to think that UC Jazz may have played a small part in theses decisions. Music is a powerful force.

Ted Moore/Director
UC Jazz