As a long-term viewer of BBC2’s University Challenge, I’m amazed by the students’ ability to correctly answer highly obscure questions that I often find difficult to understand, let alone respond to. That said, certain subjects seem to baffle many teams. It’s dangerous to generalise, but questions on UK geography often result in surprising answers; for example, on a recent Christmas alumni show, guesses for the name of the town in the middle of a map of central Scotland were Edinburgh and Glasgow – obviously, none of the contestants knew much about Stirling.
Another topic that invokes puzzled looks is ... jazz.
Jazz
came up several times on this week’s edition of the show (broadcast on 29
January), between the Open University and Trinity College, Cambridge. Firstly, the captain of the Open University
team correctly identified the subject of one of Stevie Wonder’s most popular songs
as being Duke Ellington. Later on,
during the music round, the students were asked for the names of jazz Grammy
Award winners. Sadly, the tracks they listened
to flummoxed them. Neither team
recognised the soaring voice of Gregory Porter; Open’s guess of Jon Batiste
wasn’t bad, although I was surprised that Jon’s name came up again when Open
were asked to name a guitarist. Their
guess of Marsalis (Branford, presumably) for a saxophonist was reasonable, but
they were well off the mark when trying to recognise a bassist/vocalist.
This
shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all,
when was the last time that music by Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker or esperanza
spalding was featured on BBC2, or any of the other main TV channels? I’m very
pleased that the makers of University Challenge have decided to include
questions on jazz in their show. But surely,
television could do much more to spread the word about jazz to the general public?
It
would be wonderful if – as I suggested in a recent post
on this blog – there could be a prime-time TV programme in the UK showcasing
music from various genres, including jazz.
Such a programme exists in Italy, with
guests in recent weeks including Omar Sosa, Giovanni Tommaso and Jack
Savoretti. If that weren’t possible
here, then why not have a quiz show covering a broad range of musical types and
styles? For example, a music-only
spin-off of University Challenge, or a totally new show? Experience from Italy shows that it is
possible to inform, educate AND entertain at the same time. Colin Muirhead
1 comment :
Help! On tonight's edition of University Challenge, UCL were asked to recognise a saxophonist who's collaborated with Kendrick Lamar. Their response: Jamie Cullum!!
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