CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTS ENSEMBLE
Thursday's 7:30-9:30
The focus of this class is to explore more contemporary playing styles and modern improvisational concepts, as well as to gain a deeper understanding of how the influential jazz artists and bands of the vernacular developed them. As this is primarily a performance based class, time is spent examining the roots and progressions of these playing concepts by working on traditional material and it's development into more contemporary styles through playing together as an ensemble. This class can cover topics which might include unusual or changing meter and advanced metric, harmonic or form concepts. A solid foundation in basic jazz form structures, the jazz repertoire and rhythm would be very important for any student interested in gaining some real benefit from this class.
All instruments welcome. Drums, piano, amps and microphones are provided. You just need your instrument!!
Every Thursday 7:30-9:30 unless otherwise noted.
JAZZ IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP
Saturday's 11am-1pm
The focus of this class is to learn typical Jazz song structures, like Blues and Rhythm Changes and the melodies built on them, as a basis for building Jazz vocabulary to create your own improvisations. This simple approach to taking common melodic ideas and using it as a springboard for improvisation is an effective way of opening up the concept of Jazz improvisation, even for those who have little to no experience or find it difficult to do. Most of the class time is spent playing and exploring these concepts in a group setting to not only explore one's individual improvising but also the ability to improvise in a group context, so typical of the professional Jazz performance experience.
All instruments welcome. Drums, piano, amps and microphones are provided. You just need your instrument!!
Please feel free to contact me with questions or to get more info.
Every Saturday 11-1pm unless otherwise noted.