Microjazz: an Interview With Composer and Clinician Christopher Norton
There are few piano teachers in the English-speaking world who are not familiar with Christopher Norton and his compositions. Most renowned for his groundbreaking Microjazz series of teaching pieces, Norton has introduced aspiring pianists to the world of jazz and popular music for over 30 years. And in his work as a composer and a globe-trotting clinician, Norton’s commitment to excellence and approachable style has made him an inspiring guide for generations of pianists and piano teachers.
It is fitting, therefore, that Norton’s publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, will release books 4 & 5 in the Microjazz series on December 1, 2021. In addition, this publisher is honoring Norton’s compositional legacy by re-releasing his entire catalogue, as well as associated audio for all the pieces, over the next couple of years. When I learned of these upcoming releases, I jumped at the opportunity to interview Norton for No Dead Guys. It’s a honor to feature him on this blog.
When did you first become interested in music, and what drew you to the piano?
I was from a family with no knowledge of or interest in classical music. My mother had “All Shook Up” on a 45 and she remembered pop songs from the 40s, but that was it, apart from some religious music on LPs – Tennessee Ernie Ford, Burl Ives etc…. But I really was drawn to classical music from a very early age – whenever it came on the radio I was immediately all ears. We didn’t have a piano but I think I must have figured things out on a piano at church and on holiday with cousins, so by the time my mother had decided she had to rent a piano and get me lessons (I was 8 years old) I could somehow play already.
How old were you when you started composing, and what sorts of pieces did you first write?
I listened to a lot of music, and with the aid of a reel-to-reel tape recorder I recorded things off the Concert Programme (yes, New Zealand had a classical music station in the 1960s) and began to read books about composers and even books of music analysis! But I didn’t think to write my own music until I was 14 years old, on holiday at my cousins (all of whom were very musical). The pieces I wrote were influenced by my favourite classical composers, but because I had wide-ranging tastes, I immediately wrote things in quite a variety of styles. One of my earliest pieces was written for a composition group for school-age children run by an enterprising local teacher and the pieces I wrote were already a bit jazzy, a bit Ravel and Debussy, a bit Faure, Prokofiev and Shostakovitch.
What was the music scene like in New Zealand when you were growing up, and how did it contribute to your decision to become a composer?
There wasn’t a music scene that I was aware of, but in those far-off days if you wrote music, you could go to the local radio station and record your own pieces for broadcast. So I did, and the pieces I recorded included “Bush Pieces” for piano (quite dissonant and abstract pieces trying to draw musical pictures of the New Zealand landscape) and a Rhumba for cello and piano. It got the attention of university-based composers in Wellington, so I started to get a reputation as a new voice from perhaps the age of 16. I eventually moved to Wellington and was given much encouragement by, among others, New Zealand’s best-known composer, Douglas Lilburn.
Given that you were educated as a classical pianist, when did you start playing jazz, and what attracted you to it?
As I said, I was drawn to classical music but it was perhaps inevitable that popular music and jazz would attract my attention eventually. I went to university at the age of 16 and a good friend of mine was really into rock music and started to educate me about what was worth listening to. I immediately liked lots of rock and pop – Genesis, Yes, Van der Graaf Generator, Man, Caravan, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles…as usual, an eclectic mix. I was also interested to see that the principal bassoonist of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra was giving a series of introductory talks on jazz, and I loved the talks – the exploring of chord types and chord progressions and the idea of improvising were all things I had been waiting to hear about. So I began to explore this field, going to rock and jazz concerts and in due course joining a very good band and trying to do it myself! I graduated and taught high school music for 4 years, so it was necessary to know pop and rock, and I began to write pieces for my students.
You’ve written stage musicals, ballet scores, piano music, popular songs and orchestral music as well as jingles and signature tunes for TV and radio, but you’re best known for your teaching music, especially your best-selling Microjazz series. How difficult was it to introduce jazz concepts to beginning and intermediate students?
Microjazz was written at the request of the education manager for Universal Edition in London – he said to me, “How about writing a set of graded pieces in popular styles?” That brief question created the first 40 or so Microjazz pieces, which roved about stylistically, referencing jazz, but also R&B, Latin styles, Caribbean styles and semi-classical styles as well. I remained a great fan of classical music as well as of rock and jazz, and this was reflected in my writing. The concepts enshrined in the Microjazz books are many and varied – there are very simple pieces, with straightforward chords, there are pieces that are subtle and full of unusual chords (look at the end of “Intercity Stomp”, one of my most popular pieces – chords in 4ths piled on top of each other) It’s now that I am teaching students and teachers about popular music and jazz concepts that I’ve started to analyze what I did instinctively all those years ago.
How challenging did you find it to get classical piano teachers excited about teaching jazz?
Microjazz pieces were used by the ABRSM not that many years after the books came out and the effect was dramatic. Students really wanted to play the pieces and they wanted to play more pieces like them. So teachers were forced to confront the language of Microjazz – driving rhythms, very specific articulation, swung 8s etc. My own wife ,who did a music degree, sight-read some of my Microjazz pieces and exclaimed “I don’t play like this!”
Since it was first published by Boosey & Hawkes in 1983, Microjazz has introduced generations of beginning and intermediate pianists to jazz. Tell me about how you balanced piano teachers’ pedagogical needs (and, possibly, unfamiliarity with jazz) with playable pieces?
Because I have a classical piano background (including playing concertos and heavyweight repertoire) I write my pieces out in great detail – fingering, articulation, phrasing and pedaling are all marked very clearly. And this is the meeting point – teachers know what to say in terms of these pianistic matters. Meanwhile the student is playing something they can relate to and enjoy.
Your publisher, Boosey & Hawkes, is planning to release your new Microjazz books 4 & 5, on December 1, 2021. What new jazz concepts do you introduce to students in these books?
I wouldn’t say I’m introducing new concepts – there’s the usual wide range of styles, but technically the books are harder than Microjazz collections 1-3. The pieces are generally longer. So it’s hopefully a natural progression from Books 1-3 to Books 4 and 5. And of course the 5 books of Preludes and the Jazz Piano Sonata await them after that!
Boosey & Hawkes is repackaging and republishing the vast majority of your compositions, all of which will be available over the next couple of years. In addition, all associated audio will be available online for the first time. How do you think the combination of the rereleased sheet music and the audio will help students and teachers understand and appreciate jazz and pop?
The backing tracks, done with great musicians from the UK and America, give you the feeling of playing a lot of styles with other musicians. There’s a time-keeping element, but I like to think that it’s a way of getting “inside” a style. The recordings also provide demonstrations of how the pieces should sound, including solo piano versions and versions with band accompaniment.
You’ve lectured all over the world on aspects of your work. Now that the pandemic is receding, will you be touring to present your new books (and the rereleased publications)?
That’s a hard question to answer! My wonderful wife (the composer Wendy Edwards Beardall-Norton) and I have really enjoyed this time together without having to travel internationally and we would love to do it less! I’m doing enormous numbers of webinars and masterclasses on Zoom. I’ve done seminars directly to China, seminars for the ABRSM examination group, for Conservatory Canada, for music education specialists in music stores. I’ve done lots of adjudication, sometimes of piano performances, often of student compositions. The pandemic enabled me to get lots of big projects done that I might not have got to – preparing three Essential Guides (to pop, jazz and Latin styles) for Superscore and Boosey & Hawkes, writing Connections Preparatory and Preparatory Duets and of course writing Microjazz Collections 4 and 5!
What future projects are you most excited about?
The Essential Guides are going to be a great addition to colleges, universities and private studios. And I have a major jazz/improvisation series planned for Boosey & Hawkes.
What advice can you offer piano teachers regarding teaching jazz and pop to their students?
Learn the piece first, with a lot of attention to phrasing, fingering, dynamics etc. Then (and this is something I’m doing a lot online) take the piece, with its backing track – I have backing tracks for pretty much everything I’ve written – and play simple chords with it. Expand that to your own rhythms (still using the chords) and then start to explore right hand melodies, a note at a time.
What advice can you offer to musicians who wish to become composers?
Do what comes naturally – write to order if that’s the job, but otherwise, as I have, start a lifelong exploration of the unknown voice inside yourself. Everyone has an individual voice as a composer and I would encourage you to try to find that voice. Listen to lots of music and see what you are particularly drawn to – Spotify will soon tell you where your real interests lie!
Christopher Norton was born in New Zealand in 1953. He began composing at the age of 14, and, by the age of 16, had an orchestral work performed and broadcast. Having completed an honours degree in music from Otago University, Dunedin, in 1974, he met with some success as a pianist in New Zealand, playing with the New Zealand Symphony orchestra and broadcasting on the Concert Programme. At the same time, he was teaching music in local high schools, beginning to freelance as a composer and arranger, and had also started to play keyboards in a rock band, having becoming interested in jazz and pop.
Coming to the UK in 1977 on a University Scholarship, Christopher Norton studied composition at York University with Wilfred Mellers and David Blake, writing a variety of pieces, including choral works, orchestral pieces, piano music and musicals. While playing in various bands, he started to experiment with combinations of styles that crossed the divide between his classical background, and more contemporary popular styles.
In 1983, Christopher Norton was signed by Boosey & Hawkes, and the first of the Microjazz series series appeared —music which appealed greatly to children and teenagers but was sufficiently rooted in the classical tradition to be useful as teaching material. The series has expanded over 20 years to include music for all of the major instruments with piano, ensemble books and midi file backings. It is now the biggest selling music series for Boosey & Hawkes, with over a million sales to date.
The success of Microjazz was followed by many other award-winning publications for Boosey & Hawkes. His bestselling titles include the Essential Guides to Pop, Latin and Jazz Styles; the Rock, Country, Latin and Jazz Piano Preludes; the Big Beats playalong series (called "Microjazz for the next generation" by Piano Magazine); and the Christopher Norton Concert Collections of original repertoire for solo piano.
Christopher Norton is now well established as a composer, producer, arranger and educationalist and has written stage musicals, ballet scores, piano music, popular songs and orchestral music as well as jingles and signature tunes for TV and radio. He lectures all over the world on aspects of his work and likes to integrate traditional teaching methods with aspects of modern technology. He has also found time to produce huge numbers of albums for the gospel market, with releases worldwide selling in excess of 1,000,000 units.
Christopher Norton is published by Boosey & Hawkes