| Workshops |
Anton periodically offers special one-time seminars. Upcoming ones:
"Playing the *@$^%* out of It Could Happen to You"
August 1, 2010, Sunday, 10:30am-1:30pm
This workshop delves deeply into one of the classic standard by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. We examine the song's harmony in ways that will directly help us improvise over it, discussing the chord progression on both a micro level (how each chord leads to the next) and a big-picture level (how they all work together to form a coherent song). Suggestions are given for ways to mentally simplify the song's structure, as well as a variety of neat harmonic tricks to embellish to the chord changes. Students optionally improvise over the song and are critiqued, with recommendations given for a direct path to improvement.
Prerequisites: facility on a melodic instrument or vocals. Knowledge of basic harmony, including major, minor and mixolydian scales.
Suggested: some familiarity with altered chords.
Bring your instrument (optional).
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"Playing the *@$^%* out of Impressions"
August 1, 2010, Sunday, 2:30pm-4:30pm
This workshop delves deeply into John Coltrane's composition, one of the most important modal songs in all of jazz. Unlike other standards, modal songs offer a relatively blank canvas upon which to create. This affords much freedom to improvisers, but also much responsibility, as they must create the harmonic intrigue and structural framework by themselves. We discuss the different tools available to create a compelling solo over a wide-open modal form. Students optionally improvise over the song and are critiqued, with recommendations given for a direct path to improvement.
Prerequisites: facility on a melodic instrument or vocals. Knowledge of basic harmony, including major, minor and mixolydian scales.
Suggested: some familiarity with Impressions, and with altered and half-diminished chords.
Bring your instrument (optional).
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"Beyond the Blues Scale"
August 22, 2010, Sunday, 11am-4pm
Designed for players accustomed to using a single scale for each song they improvise over, this interactive workshop introduces participants to the rich experience of improvising over changing harmony. The leap from jamming over a chord or a blues scale to playing mean- ingfully over moving chords can be overwhelming; this workshop breaks it down through progressive exercises that allow students to HEAR and FEEL the changes of harmony, paving the way for students to play over chord changes as a natural expression of emotion rather than an intellectual exercise. Participants learn to improvise over a 12-bar blues like a jazz musician, bringing out the unique sound of each part of the blues form, rather than treating it all as an undifferentiated whole.
Prerequisites: knowledge of major and minor scales and facility on a melodic instrument.
Bring your instrument.
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"How The Saxophone Works"
October 3, 2010, Sunday, 10:30am-1pm
Think you know how your woodwind instrument works? Think again. This workshop explores the physical aspects of how saxophones and other woodwinds create the sounds that they do, with practical applications for players. Topics include: modes of vibration; what makes octave/register keys work; the physics of overtones; false fingerings; how altissimo works; and the role of the airstream. Students may try various techniques such as growling, harmonics and glissando, and discuss them in light of the physics of the instrument.
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"Jazz Saxophone: Making it Swing"
October 3, 2010, Sunday, 2pm-4pm
This workshop for saxophonists and woodwind players explores, from a technical standpoint, how to make your phrases swing. It presents different flavors of swinging, from down and dirty to light and nimble, and considers the various tools available to saxophonists: rhythmic variation, accents, articulations and inflections. Participants listen to recorded examples and live demonstrations, and practice the ideas on their instruments.
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"Playing the *@$^%* out of In a Sentimental Mood"
October 31, 2010, Sunday, 10:30am-1:30pm
This workshop delves deeply into one of the most widely played of all the jazz ballads, a classic by Duke Ellington. We examine the song's harmony in ways that will directly help us improvise over it, discussing the chord progression on both a micro level (how each chord leads to the next) and a big-picture level (how they all work together to form a coherent song). Suggestions are given for ways to mentally simplify the song's structure, as well as a variety of neat harmonic tricks to embellish to the chord changes. Students optionally improvise over the song and are critiqued, with recommendations given for a direct path to improvement.
Prerequisites: facility on a melodic instrument or vocals. Knowledge of basic harmony, including major, minor and mixolydian scales.
Suggested: some familiarity with altered and half-diminished chords.
Bring your instrument (optional).
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"Playing the *@$^%* out of Caravan"
October 31, 2010, Sunday, 2pm-4pm
This classic from the Ellington songbook, penned by Juan Tizol, begs the question: How do you improvise over a song whose harmony consists mostly of a dominant chord that lasts twelve measures before resolving each time it appears? We discuss and demonstrate ways to sound great over the enigmatic A-section, as well as the straight-ahead bridge. Students optionally improvise over the song and are critiqued, with recommendations given for a direct path to improvement.
Prerequisites: facility on a melodic instrument or vocals. Knowledge of basic harmony, including major, minor and mixolydian scales.
Suggested: familiarity with altered and diminished scales.
Bring your instrument (optional).
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"Non-Linear Improvising with Pentatonics"
November 14, 2010, Sunday, 10:30am-12:30pm
A theoretical and practical look at pentatonic (five-note) scales and their role in jazz, paying particular attention to the many ways we can use them to great effect in our solos. We lay out the theory behind them from the ground up, show how they may be used in myriad harmonic contexts, and discuss exactly how it is that such a simple harmonic tool (they are the basis of some of the simplest folk melodies around the world) can be used so powerfully in modern music to create so many so many colors and degrees of tension and dissonance.
Prerequisites: A basic understanding of chords and seven-note scales is required; familiarity with advanced harmony (altered, lydian, etc.) is desirable.
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"Non-Linear Improvising with Triad Pairs"
November 14, 2010, Sunday, 1pm-3pm
A particular sound can be achieved by constructing musical phrases using a six-note scale and grouping the six notes into two triads. It's a sound most closely associated with John Coltrane, and first discussed extensively by Walt Weiskopf. In this workshop we discuss this technique of triad pairs and how it departs from the pre-1960 jazz vocabulary. We explore its harmonic foundations and it various uses, and learn tips for integrating it into our improvisations.
Prerequisites: An understanding of chords and seven-note scales is required; familiarity with advanced harmony (altered, lydian, etc.) is desirable.
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
Other recent workshops:
"Get your music career on track!"
March 21, 2010, Sunday, 11am-4pm
A practical look at how to build your career as an independent artist. Whether you have you have several CDs and years of gigs under your belt or you're just getting started and have never recorded, this workshop is guaranteed to let you understand the music business - and your place in it - in ways you never had before. Subjects will include selling and distributing your music, the role of a CD, conventional and digital sales, radio airplay and promotion, getting reviews and interviews, dealing with clubowners, using the internet to build your fan base. We'll have fun while we cover plenty of territory, with lots of good anecdotes and inside information!
See the writeup in the East Bay Express.
There will be a 30 minute lunch break.
For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com.
"Altered Dominant and Dominant 13-flat-9 Chords - The How, When & Why of Using Them"
May 9, 2010, Sunday, 11:00am-2:00pm
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. Guaranteed to show you ways of thinking about these chords that you haven't seen before.
Prerequisite: an understanding of basic theory and the mixolydian scale.
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
"Sus Chords - The How, When & Why of Using Them"
May 9, 2009, Sunday, 3pm-5pm
This workshop takes a deep look at suspended dominant chords. We discuss how they operate and listen to examples of their use. Topics include: traditional versus modern use, sus-flat-9, sus-add-3, relation to II-V-I progressions, techniques for improvisation.
Prerequisite: an understanding of basic theory and the mixolydian scale.
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
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Private Lessons
-- Susan Muscarella, Director
