This curriculum requires that all students have opportunities to develop their own creativity and learn about the innovative work of Canada's and Saskatchewan's jazz community. Students and teachers are encouraged to partner with local and/or visiting jazz musicians to immerse themselves in real-world creative processes and develop knowledge of the Saskatchewan and Canadian jazz landscapes. These interactions will help students discover that artistic work is situated within personal, cultural, regional and global contexts; embraces diversity and inclusion; and reveals distinct identities and a unique sense of place.

When arts resources and expertise outside of schools are drawn upon, a new learning space is created which enables a range of formal and informal music education experiences to take place, such as collaborative inquiry projects, intercultural exchanges, mentor-based relationships and the use of new interactive technologies to bring about a synergy of learning among students, teachers and professional jazz artists.

Many opportunities exist for schools and school divisions to enter into formal and informal partnerships with other educational institutions, visual artists, musicians, and composers, dancers and choreographers, dramatic artists, filmmakers and arts and cultural organizations.

E-learning opportunities, arts and learning grant programs, web-based resources, art gallery outreach programs, long-term or short-term artist residencies and workshops with music, dance and theatre groups are example of arts and learning communities working together to provide meaningful educational experiences for all students.

Jazz festivals can be a great opportunity for students to gain access to jazz artists and educators. Many festivals provide opportunities for students (and directors) to attend clinics and workshops on topics such as vocalization, improvisation, accompanying, playing in rhythm section and many others. Festivals will normally supply a sound system tat can accommodate 16 singers; teachers and students should keep this in mind when putting an ensemble together.

Often there are very good concerts for students to attend. Festivals are a great opportunity for students to listen to other groups made up of their peers. At some festivals, the students may get to hear other student groups, university level groups and professional performers. Hearing the progression of learning the lies in the future (lifelong learning) is always good for the student (and teacher)

Students in a vocal jazz program have specific needs for their rehearsal area starting with a dedicated music room. A room designed with music in mind is preferable - a room with walls that are not square; a higher, sloped ceiling; and some sort of soundproofing.

If such a room is not available, sound baffling and diffusing panels (painting these panels may severely limit their usefulness) and carpeting are examples of items to control the sound of a room.

Music rooms are not quiet, so some separation from other classooms is important. The level of ambient noise in the room is critical. For instance, loud ventilation systems or construction noise from practical and applied arts classes (wood shops, welding shops, etc.) can actually hinder the progress and teaching in a music classroom.

Necessary equipment for a vocal jazz program include:

• proper music chairs and music stands for all students;
• a vocal jazz P.A. system which includes:
  • microphones (one for each singer)
  • 24 channel mixing console
  • two stereo power amps (monitors and front of house)
  • front of house speakers (huge cabinets capable of powerful bass response) are not necessary.
  • monitor systems (at least two, preferably four, floor monitors)
  • stereo equalizer
  • 24/4 snake
  • microphone stands, cables
  • power conditioner
  • cabling necessary to connect the parts of the system;
• a drum set (a typical jazz set usually is smaller than a rock set);
• a good quality acoustic piano and/or a higher quality electric piano with full range (88 keys); weighted, touch sensitive keys and a keyboard amp;
• a guitar amp - with a good "clean" sound;
• a jazz guitar (hollow body);
• an upright and an electric bass;
• a bass amp - solid state works well; consider whether an acoustic or electric bass is primarily being used.

Technology to play back recordings in a variety of formats is very important, as is readily available recording equipment so the teacher and students can record and listen back as part of their rehearsal and practice processes. More and more classrooms are equipped with SMART boards and/or large screen TVs which allow easier access to the ever growing number of available resources.

A dedicated music room computer with internet access; notation software; sound recording/editing software; and CD/DVD playing, burning and viewing is encouraged.

Studying vocal jazz requires a variety of resources. Students will need to access to print music, audio resources, video resources and individual instrumental resources (which could be print, audio, video, or any combination of the three) for the rhythm section.

One area of emphasis in the Saskatchewan vocal jazz curricula is listening. A library of recorded music from which the teacher can select recordings for students to listen to is very important. The library should have recordings no just of the songs being sung by the students but the music of the acknowledged jazz masters.

Access a high quality print music is important, even more so if the primary ensemble is a larger group. Many jazz composers and arrangers wrote their music for specific performers or ensembles, so a vocal jazz director will have to choose music to fit the ensemble with which the teacher is working. A piece that works well for one ensemble may not work nearly as well for another seemingly similar ensemble. If the director is in front of a multi-grade ensemble, it may be over four years before a piece of music (no matter how good) may be repeated in programming. A plan for the purchase of music every is important and even more so in a new program that does not have an established, quality library.

Many excellent individual voice and instrument resources are available and many of these resources venture far beyond just the basics of how to sing or how to play an instrument. These resources come in the form of traditional print music (books of studies, transcriptions, exercises, etc.) or sing-along or play-along books that range from the basics of how to play through much higher levels (especially for the rhythm section instruments). A large number of jazz and vocal software resources are available. There are many music related apps, such as metronomes, chord charts, historical time lines and recording studios.

A strong rehearsal pianist for the vocal jazz rehearsals is important. Even if the director plays piano well, it is better for the ensemble if the director is listening to the group and helping the students, rather than being partially focused on the piano. The pianist could be another staff member, a community member or one or more students from the ensemble with advanced standing in piano. Choral accompaniment is a highly developed skill, requiring the ability to sight-read, accompany warm-ups, read from lead sheets, play individual parts out of the score (separately and together), play the harmony parts from the score and play the actual piano part. A strong rehearsal pianist will add greatly to the success of the group.

Chest voice occurs when the voice resonates below the vocal fold (chest) where as head voice occurs when the voice resonates above the vocal folds. These two voices sound and feel very different from each other.

"Falsetto is an airy and light connection of the vocal cords that has no bottom connection and is generally devoid of color and tone. With regards to connection, falsetto does not properly connect to the chest register, which is why you commonly hear the term "flipping into falsetto". Your voice makes a noticeable shift lacking connection when going from chest voice to falsetto.

Head voice, on the other hand, is a solid connection of the vocal cords that connects with cheat voice and has color and tone. With regards to connection, head voice and has color and tone. With regards to connection, head voice can seamlessly connect to the chest register because it does not suffer from a loss of vocal cord closure or vocal compression. When trained properly, there is no distinction between chest voice and head voice - it all begins to mix into one voice.

So many people want to fuse the two together, but falsetto and head voice cannot be mixed because they both sound and feel very different from each other. Now, I would like to introduce one sort of caveat, and that is this: when one has properly trained that head voice, his or her falsetto will begin to sound like the head voice. However, remember to take note that the one who has trained his or her voice understands, and more importantly, feels the difference between the two."

(Griffin, 2010). Head Voice Vs. Falsetto