Faculty

This course covers the basic skills needed to begin any serious study of music. Topics include: music notation (including time signatures and key signatures), rhythmic training, major scales, intervals, transposition, chord structure, harmonic progression, ear training and an introduction to musical form and composition.

Prerequisite: none. Open to all instrumentalists and vocalists. Required Text: Practical Theory Complete by Sandy Feldstein (available in The Bassment).

Wednesdays 6:30 - 8 pm DAVE SCOTT (10 weeks) $360

This course is designed as an introduction to diatonic based musicianship skills. Study focuses on an integrated approach to sight singing, dictation, interval recognition, chord quality identification, notation, and some basic theoretical concepts. By the end of the class students should be able to sing at sight simple diatonic melodies, take short diatonic melodic dictations, recognize a subset of the diatonic intervals, and identify triadic chord qualities in root position.

Saturdays 11:45 am - 1:15 pm JEREMY HUNT (10 weeks) $360

Sight Reading for Guitarists

A class for intermediate to advanced guitarists of all styles who wish to improve their ability to read standard music notation. Instructor covers:

• a system for "seeing" the fingerboard as individual notes, not patterns.
• choosing the proper position in which to play a given passage and how to most efficiently change from one position to another.
• reading and counting syncopated, complex rhythms.
• interpreting and executing phrasing and dynamic markings
• identifying how and what to practice, making the process interesting and fun. Sight reading materials represent a variety of styles and genres

Prerequisite: some reading ability

Mondays 8:15 - 9:45 pm BRIAN PARDO (10 weeks) $360

Never improvised? Comfortable with the blues scale but insecure with chord changes? Want to learn or solidify your knowledge of basic jazz theory? This hands- on class provides students with a friendly, supportive atmosphere in which to practice improvising. Starting with the blues, students progress to jazz standards, learning Major, minor and dominant scales and chords, playing at every session, trading licks, learning patterns and building solos. Students learn to identify tune forms and common chord progressions. Ideal for classical players or anyone aspiring to jam or perform with a jazz ensemble. Open to all melodic instruments, including pianists who want to focus on right hand soloing. Pianists are encouraged to take additional classes or lessons in comping and chord voicing.

Prerequisite: facility on an instrument and knowledge of major scales. Please note: limit 2 pianists; not for drummers or vocalists.

Wednesdays 8:15 - 9:45 pm DAVE SCOTT (10 weeks) $360

Open to all instrumentalists, this class shall serve as a hands-on forum for putting theory to work. Students will develop greater fluency with jazz scales in all 12 keys by learning them "from the inside out," i.e., working on specific scale patterns and exercises to become more familiar with scales from other points than just the root. Students will work on transposing licks and entire tunes into every key and will be introduced to techniques and strategies for transcribing solos. This class is designed for students wishing to bring the level of their performance up to the level of their knowledge of theory. All levels welcome!

Thursdays 6:30 - 8 pm WAYNE WALLACE (10 weeks) $360

This course is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of jazz theory and its application to improvisation and composition in the jazz style. Students explore music theory from the standpoint of the contemporary jazz musician and covers material including scale theory, harmonic progression — "chord changes," 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th chords, basic reharmonization, and form and analysis. In addition, this course includes an explanation and demonstration of suspensions and "slash chords," the bebop and pentatonic scales, the blues and "rhythm" changes. Instructor also addresses advanced techniques of playing "outside the changes." Analysis of individual styles of various jazz masters serves to supplement theoretical material as well as to guide students in applying theoretical knowledge to music. Handouts provided.

Prerequisite: knowledge of basic music theory, including basic chord construction and the ii-V-I chord progression. Class text: The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine (available in The Bassment).

Saturdays 1:30 - 3 pm MARK LEVINE (10 weeks) $360

This class is designed to teach students how to sound compelling and coherent when playing streams of eighth notes rather than simply playing scales. Through discussion and in-class performance, students learn the idiomatic techniques of bebop, coordination of rhythm and melody, harmonic tension and resolution, smooth transitions from chord to chord, non-linear elements and modern improvisational devices .

Prerequisite: facility on an instrument, some experience with improvising and ability to play all major and minor scales easily by memory. Open to all melodic instruments.

Tuesdays 8:15 - 9:45 pm ANTON SCHWARTZ (10 weeks) $360

Vocal Improvisation 101

Scat singing and wordless vocalizing are among the trademarks of a jazz singer. This class provides students with the fundamentals of vocal improvisation covering syllables, developing phrases and solos, trading 4's and learning bebop songs that make up the vocabulary needed for an authentic "scat" solo. Students focus on form starting with the blues and work toward learning the structure of more complex repertoire. Students spend some class time listening critically to both vocal and instrumental recordings relevant to the class. If you want to step outside the melodic confines of a song and make it yours, you must learn to improvise - even on ballads! Maximum class size: 10.

Prerequisite: None, all levels welcome!

Thursdays 6:30 - 8 pm LAURIE ANTONIOLI (10 weeks) $360

WORKSHOPS

Miles: Using Space in Solos

Miles Davis first attracted the ears of the jazz world in Charlie Parker's quintet in 1945. He was not as inclined to playing the high, fast lines of his predecessor Dizzy Gillespie and began to develop his own sound early on in his career. By the time he began leading his own sessions, Miles had developed one of the most unique soloing styles in jazz history, one that was based on an understanding of the beauty of space and silence in music. In this workshop, students listen to and analyze two solos from his classic 1959 album Kind of Blue, and another from his 1969 release In a Silent Way. Instructor discusses his use of melodic motives, his strong connection to the blues, and most importantly, his use of space. Students play the solos and then practice improvising in the style, applying techniques discussed in class

Sunday May 25, 11:45 - 1:45 pm JUSTIN HELLMAN $30 Jazzschool Students, $45 others

Altered Dominant and Dominant 13(b9) Chords — The How, When and Why of Using Them

These two chords provide rich colors that are essential to the palette of intermediate and advanced jazz players. This workshop takes a deep look at the chords and their accompanying scales, examining how each is constructed, why they are constructed that way, and how they may be used to maximal effect. Their sounds are contrasted within the context of jazz (e.g. when should one be used rather than the other?), listening to examples of their use. Additional topics include: different types of "outness" and lydian dominant, the "sister" of the altered sound. This workshop is appropriate for students without prior exposure to the subject, as well as students familiar with melodic minor and diminished harmony who wish to deepen their understanding

Sunday, June 8, 10:30 am - 1:30 pm ANTON SCHWARTZ $45 Jazzschool Students, $60 Others