Ned Rosenblatt is a former high school band director and current Berklee College of Music Associate Professor whose groups competed in the Berklee High School Jazz Festival. Ned has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Music Education from the University of Connecticut at Storrs and a Master’s Degree in Jazz Pedagogy from The Boston Conservatory/Berklee College of Music. He has taught music at Housatonic Valley Regional High School and Old Saybrook High School, Barnstable Elementary/Middle/High School and was the Music Department Chair at Booker High School Visual and Performing Arts Center. His students have gone on to win competitions in Downbeat Magazine and have been accepted into the Grammy Foundation’s Jazz Choir; his high school ensembles have been featured in All-State music conferences including the President’s Concert. He was nominated for a Disney American Teacher Award, and was awarded a position as one of the Who’s Who in America’s Teachers. Ned’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble from Booker High School won at the Berklee High School Jazz Festival eight times, and his Jazz Combo won five times. Berklee Jazz Festival Blogger Lindsay Kupser sat down with Ned to find out how.
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Lindsay Kupser: How and when did you decide to become a music educator?
Ned Rosenblatt: Right out of high school, and during high school I started accompanying. I’m still in touch with my high school music teacher to this day, and she let me do some teaching — lower level theory classes and running rehearsals — and that was it!
LK: Who were some of your favorite teachers at Berklee?
NR: I only did my grad work here; the degree is actually from BoCo (Boston Conservatory), but Brian Lewis, Jeff Stout was fabulous! Jeff was great; you understand everything.
LK: What were some of your favorite classes?
NR: I was teaching full time on the Cape, and some of them I just came in for the exams! I’m an arranger, so Brian’s arranging class was very cool. Jeff’s improv class was very good. A lot of them were done at BoCo, like Beethoven, Haydn, and Bach. I was 30 by then, and I was an accomplished arranger at that point, so I thought “oh good, I have a college ensemble that’s going to play it,” so I just went full on with it.
LK: You’ve been teaching in high schools for a long time. How and why did you transition from a high school in Florida to a college in Boston?
NR: I did 21 years in high school, and I’ve wanted to get to the college level for a good 10 or 12. You feel like you know enough to do it at that point. I’ve always liked to deal with the high-end work, so we were doing a lot of professional level charts, a lot of major works with orchestra, college level and up, because I like being pushed as a director. I wanted to be at University of Miami or here because I love the Boston area and I taught on Cape Cod for years. The reason for going down to the Florida area was because it was a performing arts school and University of Miami. I had some students there, and I got to know them real well. I felt like that’s what I was supposed to do, and I got very lucky in that Berklee actually came after me and I didn’t have to go through the doctorate and work my way, so it was kind of nice to get this position.
LK: What are some of the differences between teaching in a high school, and teaching at a college?
NR: This is only my first year here. Semester one, I basically had incoming freshmen, so it was basically a lot of the same. Obviously the talent pool is a little better. This semester I’ve got some real fire power upperclassmen, up to semester 7 and 8, so that’s fun. I actually have some of my old students back, so it’s kind of nice to work with them again. Now the sky’s the limit; everybody can sing, everybody has technique, the bands can all play, so it was 21 years of waiting.
LK: How many years did you attend the Berklee High School Jazz Festival? Florida is far from Boston, what made you keep coming back?
NR: 19 [times.] We won it thirteen times. There are two schools of thought: some people don’t dig the competitive side of it; I do. The biggest thing is you get to see 3000 students from the Virgin Islands, California - it really is national. From the vocal jazz side of things, there are not a whole lot of places where you can go to hear vocal jazz, at least on this side of the country. The kids had a blast.
LK: What were some of the past highlights for you and your students at the High School Jazz Festival?
NR: Winning six years in a row, my combos winning five years in a row. It’s a national competition, so it kind of speaks for itself. If you can hang on that level, especially for a long time, you’re doing something right. It got insane; we couldn’t even shut the doors to our performances - there were 20 rows out into the hall. For them, it’s stuff they’ll remember for a long time.
LK: What does your Berklee Vocal Ensemble have planned for their performance at the festival?
NR: I’m splitting it between my two upper class ensembles. One of the things that was a shock to me was “we get how much rehearsal time?” Three numbers each, between five and seven minutes, from each of the high-level groups. Hopefully we learn them in time or else there will be some solos!
LK: Will you miss being a competitor this year?
NR: To a degree. The vocal category has evolved into choruses now, and it’s become so many singers now. I’m more about eight or ten, each on a mic, so you either nail it or you don’t. There are probably a lot of people happy that I won’t be competing, but I’m hoping they’ll come over and see what we’re doing here. That’s the main reason I was brought here: to do the vocal jazz thing. I like competition. We’re going to start going after Downbeat here and I would like to submit to the Jazz Educators’ Network Conference.
LK: So far, what’s your favorite part about working at Berklee?
NR: If you’ve been in the public schools, with the testing and things, it’s not what it used to be. Everyone wants instant gratification, but music is old school. That took a big toll on me, and I stopped writing because no one would work hard enough and you end up not liking the charts because they didn’t do the work on it. This semester, with the firepower again, it’s very refreshing. I’m writing again, and you feel good about it. You’re energized when you leave because they’re good and they are committed and you can do the stuff you want to do instead of pulling teeth, which is what the high school gig has become: your will against their will. Anne Peckham brought me up here last October [as an] Artist in Residence and I felt that way immediately — I can be a musician again and looking forward to going to work. I was doing 70 or 80 hours a week in high school, so this is way different to me.
LK: Who are your biggest musical influences or role models?
NR: I’m a pianist, but I’ve always worked on the vocal side of things. I’m not a singer per se; I’m a director. I’ve been all over the map. The guys in New York Voices, I’ve known Peter for years, and they’re great educators. Manhattan Transfer, they really got me into this whole thing in the first place back in high school. I love musicals, the pop thing, jazz pianists — lots of stuff.
LK: Which albums had the biggest impact on your life?
NR: Those older Manhattan Transfer albums, when New York Voices came on the scene that was really refreshing, anything that has good arrangements and gives me good ideas. I’ve had two arranging classes in my life. I just teach myself, listen, and think, “what are they doing to get that sound?” I looked at UMiami and it was scary how similarly we did things. Anything that has cool arrangements that you can incorporate into what we’re doing.
LK: As a former combo and vocal director at the festival, who often placed first, what is some advice you would give to current competing groups?
NR: Instrumentally, it needs to not be completely about the soloing. It needs to be about the ensemble. Here’s the thing: my singers never had the best technique. Actually, it was very low socioeconomically and very few could take lessons. We never had any great improvisers, but we focused on ensemble. We were up against groups with amazing soloists and we would beat them by 15 points. Dynamics, tactful playing … it’s not about soloists. It’s about communicating, comping is huge, and vocally you have to listen to those records. The rhythm section is part of the ensemble, whereas often you get the singers and the rhythm section separate. That was the group the instrumentalists killed to be in; they wanted to play with the singers because it pushed them more. Including the rhythm section and really understanding how that works, and the performance part of it. Don’t just stand there and sing. If there’s a soloist, is your attention on them? People watched us for so many years, and people could out-sing us, but programming is important. You have to keep your audience involved. Also, knowing what to say to the sound guy is hugely important.
LK: Anything else you’d like to add?
NR: Come see us!
Ned’s Berklee Vocal Ensemble will be performing at 2 pm in Ballroom C on the day of the festival. Be sure to check them out!
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