Music educator leads the way in jazz
Throughout the month of March, the National Association for Music Education celebrates Music in Our Schools Month, highlighting the work of music teachers like Terence Hobdy, director of Roots, Jazz and American Music at
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Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Visual Arts.
Hobdy, who has spent the last five years leading the school’s jazz program and ensembles, is preparing students to understand the culture and historical significance of the music they play, teaching them to use their own perspectives to create an innovative sound.
“At a young age, I was listening to Dexter Gordon,” said Hobdy, who comes from a musical family. “My oldest brother would play his radio, and I would hear Charlie Parker playing Embraceable You. It was the alto saxophone that made me want to play jazz.”
Originally born in Houston, Hobdy grew up in gospel music environments, often surrounded by drummers. His musical interests began at a very young age, prompting his mother to enroll him in drum lessons at the age of 6.
Hobdy began his formal music education in middle and high school band. He continued his studies at the University of Houston where he received a bachelor’s degree in music. He also earned a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas in 2015.
While studying at North Texas, Hobdy was selected to perform with a university quintet that traveled to Amsterdam. His experience performing in Europe had a profound effect on him, and he developed a deeper appreciation for the technicality of the jazz language.
“Europe is the birthplace of classical music. They apply that level of study to jazz, and there is an incredibly high level of respect for the history and the integrity of jazz music,” Hobdy said.
With familial roots tracing back to southern Louisiana, Hobdy is deeply connected to music’s history. From New Orleans Jazz to R&B, gospel, and hip hop, he draws from these influences as the foundation for his teaching.
Hobdy began his career as a consultant for the arts magnet’s ensembles and as a music instructor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2020, he became the new jazz director at the arts magnet high school.
“My room is a collage of the previous director’s success for the last 30 years before he retired. I am trying to keep it going, making sure it keeps moving in that direction and further,” Hobdy said, now setting his sights on preparing for future Grammy nominations for the school’s ensembles.
Hobdy hopes to evolve music education. He is reimagining creativity through teaching the importance of culture, historical significance and innovation—instilling these ideals into the school’s group ensembles.
“Jazz unifies and moves things forward. Jazz preserves integrity,” Hobdy said. “When you listen to past recordings and study the way musicians of the time presented themselves and the music—there was always some level of integrity.”
Hobdy directs the Booker T. Washington Jazz Orchestra, Contemporary Ensemble, Jazz Combo and the Jazz Fusion Midi Ensemble, which teaches students a unique and flexible approach to improvisation beyond traditional jazz.
“The ensembles are more than just diversity. They honor the spawning of how music came into existence. Each ensemble serves a purpose of historical significance,” Hobdy said.
Next, he hopes to create an African Drumming ensemble to preserve the rhythms that are the root influence for all other music.
Hobdy centers his instruction around culture, engaging students in a variety of indigenous music—from African music to Latin American music, to Afro Cuban and classical music.
He compared the way jazz was formed to the intricate process of making a cultural dish, a tradition he knows well through his family heritage.
“Since jazz is birthed in New Orleans, the best way to think of it is to imagine gumbo,” he said. “The ingredients of gumbo are items that you wouldn’t think go well together, yet they mix well with the right seasoning. It all starts with a good roux—a base or foundation—to help bring those different ingredients together and to help the flavors make sense.” Hobdy compared that to combining different cultures to create a new art form, and both are living expressions of history, culture, and harmony.
