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| Jazz Isn't Just For Cool Cats, It's Also For Kids All That the Dog Ever Wanted is an artistic approach at introducing jazz to a young audience. This picture book for children is about a dog named Django who wants to learn to play jazz in order to gain approval from his owner. Django learns to work through his own limitations and he eventually discovers how to express himself through his true and natural talent. The idea for the book sparked from a conversation that the author, Amy Neftzger (Pronounced nef-zghur), had with her husband, guitarist Tyra Neftzger, about the difficulty of introducing children to the genre. "The book isn't designed to simply teach kids about jazz. Teaching them is wonderful, but if we can grab their attention with a story or with a song they're more likely to enjoy what they hear and want to know more about it. Once interest or curiosity is aroused, we can teach more effectively, " Amy explains. The book also includes a section that gives a brief history on jazz and explains why jazz is different from other musical forms. It also gives a brief biography of Django Reinhardt, the main character's namesake. The book is packaged with a CD of three jazz tunes designed for the book. "We included a CD with this book because we wanted kids to do more than just read about jazz, we wanted them to be able to hear it first hand, " explains Tyra, composer and arranger for all three tunes on the CD. "I included one tune that should be familiar to most kids so that they can get a better idea of how jazz is different from other genres." For teachers who would like to use the book or introduce jazz in the classroom, there are discussion questions and some basic curriculum included. Since WAV samples are provided on the site, these tools can also be used by teachers who don't play an instrument. Amy Neftzger, the book's author and illustrator, is also the author of Conversations With the Moon. She has also authored a number of works of non-fiction. Tyra Neftzger, the composer and arranger of the audio CD that accompanies the book, is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. He has worked in a variety of genres, but identifies jazz as his favorite. His recent collection of jazz instrumentals called "Psalmthing Blue" has received radio air play around the world. Chas Williams, dobro artist on two of the recordings, is the author of "The Nashville Number System" and has toured and played sessions with many artists in the Nashville area, including Wynonna Judd, David Gates and Nanci Griffith. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |