JAZZ FAN PRACTICES WHAT HE TEACHES : MUSIC CONDUCTOR DIGS OTHER GIGS AS AUTHOR, INSTRUCTOR.Byline: Mary Beth Alexander Daily News Staff Writer Gerald Eskelin played baseball as a teen - but he was more interested in finding the right pitch for the altos, tenors and baritones of his high school choir. He started conducting at 17, when he won a competition to become a student choir director. He has been at it ever since. ``Music was just a part of my life, part of my family life,'' Eskelin, 62, said. ``I don't remember when I couldn't read music.'' He recalls how he used to sit in church as a boy and follow along as his father directed the choir. Decades later, Eskelin is director of the L.A. Jazz Choir, a music instructor at Pierce College In 2006 the Library won a national Excellence award. Academics Pierce College offers associate's degrees, mainly in the arts and sciences. There are also certificate programs in early childhood education, social services, dental hygienist, and others. and an expert witness in music plagiarism Using ideas, plots, text and other intellectual property developed by someone else while claiming it is your original work. trials. On top of all that, he is working on the second edition of his first book, ``Lies My Music Teacher Told Me,'' an irreverent ir·rev·er·ent adj. 1. Lacking or exhibiting a lack of reverence; disrespectful. 2. Critical of what is generally accepted or respected; satirical: irreverent humor. look at some of the creeds of music instruction that he dispels. ``At this stage in my career, I think I have something to contribute to music education,'' Eskelin said. Colleagues say Eskelin already has been contributing for many years. ``Gerry has been one of our most valued and most esteemed community college teachers,'' said Elizabeth Barkley, vice president of the Music Association of California Community Colleges. ``Everyone in the state really admires what he has done in terms of vocal jazz Jazz Singing can be defined by the instrumental approach to the voice, where the singer can match the instruments in their stylistic approach to the lyrics, improvised or otherwise, or through scat singing; that is, the use of nonsensical meaningless non-morphemic syllables to imitate the .'' Eskelin has been teaching since 1963. He held posts at a variety of California colleges, including the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission , before he arrived at Pierce College in 1971. There he began directing the Pierce College Jazz Choir, a small group of students with a surprisingly high talent level. ``They sounded terrific,'' Eskelin said. ``And people weren't used to hearing college choirs sounding so slick See SLC. . ``The kids got so good that we got into some very interesting places,'' including the Playboy Jazz Festival The Playboy Jazz Festival is an annual event sponsored by Playboy Enterprises to celebrate jazz as well as feature both established and up and coming musicians of the genre. It was founded by Hugh Hefner and was first held in Chicago, Illinois at the Chicago Stadium in 1959. , Eskelin said. The students graduated or left Pierce, but they wouldn't leave the choir, showing up every Tuesday and Thursday nights for practice. Eskelin worried that the participation of nonstudents might be unfair to enrolled choir members, so he helped form a nonprofit organization Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. to fund what became the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Jazz Choir. The Jazz Choir has been performing for about 15 years. Now only professionals are in the group, including many looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a break in the music business. The group's two albums were nominated nom·i·nate tr.v. nom·i·nat·ed, nom·i·nat·ing, nom·i·nates 1. To propose by name as a candidate, especially for election. 2. To designate or appoint to an office, responsibility, or honor. for Grammys, although neither won. The Jazz Choir continues to perform seasonally at festivals and competitions, with Eskelin at the helm. ``These are really very talented people,'' Eskelin said. ``What's kind of neat is that they love getting together.'' Though he still loves leading a choir, Eskelin has ventured into new territory. He testifies at trials, offering expert opinion about musical works suspected of being stolen from copyrighted compositions. The Pierce jazz choir disbanded more than a decade ago, but Eskelin has continued teaching music theory at the college full-time. Now, Eskelin says his new love is writing. He is putting the final touches on a second edition of ``Lies,'' published two years ago. Eskelin said the book was born a decade ago when he jokingly suggested to colleagues, who were planning a seminar, that one discussion topic should be lies from music teachers. ``Everybody fell to the floor,'' Eskelin said. ``Then, I guess since I brought it up, I got the assignment.'' His presentation was a hit, and Eskelin took his speech on the road. ``I got such positive response,'' Eskelin said. ``I knew I was onto something.'' Years later, he turned his speech into a 172-page book, lightheartedly poking fun at some common music instruction - for example, to use a piano to tune a voice, which he calls not always reliable. Along with updating the book, Eskelin plans to create a World Wide Web page on the Internet and to write a textbook textbook Informatics A treatise on a particular subject. See Bible. , which he already has advertised in the ``Lies'' book. It's enough to keep him busy for quite a while. ``That and play golf twice a week? It's impossible,'' Eskelin said. ``I can't do it all. But I have fun trying.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Gerald Eskelin, who teaches music classes at Pierce C ollege, also directs the L.A. Jazz Choir, twice nominated for Grammys. David Sprague/Daily News |
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