All that business Jazz!

Jazz and business training might not seem like natural partners, but two lecturers from the University of Teesside are offering local small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) the opportunity to use the principles of jazz music to improve their business methods.

Senior Lecturer in Marketing Noel Dennis and researcher Dr Michael Macaulay have designed the Creativity through Jazz training sessions which will enable businesses to adapt, improvise and communicate, without losing site of their objectives – exactly the way that a jazz band performs on stage.

Noel Dennis, a Teesside graduate, is the leader of the Noel Dennis Band – a jazz quartet featuring Noel on trumpet accompanied by piano, bass and drums. For the training sessions, the band will also be joined by a top class saxophone player.

Noel said: “We are using jazz as a metaphor for business. A business must have clear priorities and an end objective but must also be able to adapt to new situations and make the most of the creativity and skills of its staff. This is exactly how a jazz band works – a jazz tune usually has an agreed rhythm and tempo that the band sticks to, but all the members improvise as well. We’ll be using these jazz principles and apply it to the business world.

“One of the most fun parts is when we get the entire band to improvise as they see fit – it sounds terrible! But it also shows that all areas of a business needs to pull in the same direction, but still provide room for individuality and personal flair. It’s about the balance of improvisation and planning.”

Researcher Dr Michael Macaulay said: “I’m not a musician, but I’ll be running the sessions with Noel and explaining the parallels between jazz and business. Each training seminar can be tailored to meet the needs of each business client and we have had some very good feedback from recent trials. As well as offering a service to businesses, Noel and I also want to use the sessions as a basis for some academic research which we hope to publish in the future.”

Michael is no stranger to performance having won the 2001 Becks Beer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a piece entitled ‘Under Laboratory Conditions’ – a comedy tribute to Middlesbrough-born magician Paul Daniels.

Any business interested in finding out more about the University of Teesside’s Creativity through Jazz training seminars, should contact Joanne Hughff, Project Development Officer (SME Entrepreneurship), at Teesside Business School at the University of Teesside on tel: 01642 384652, fax: 01642 342889 or email: j.hughff@tees.ac.uk.

---