Weekly Music Workshop Schedule 2013-2014

Dec 20, ii V sequence.

We warmed up with two and three whole note interval eartraining, equivelant to major 3rds and sharp 4ths. From there we moved on to a ii V sequence through all keys, sightsinging, chordtones only. We explored different options how to create more freedom over these changes and ... more

Dec 20, Two’s and Three’s

We had a very intensive class, working mostly on original material written by the students: a tune in 7/4, quarter notes and halftime, a tune with a cycle of 3/4 – 4/4 – 3/4 – 5/4 plus a metric modulation, and we continued the session with an indian clapping ... more

Arrangement on all Blues

Yesterday in the Standards Class the students came up with an arrangement on “All Blues.” It was great to hear all the ideas and then make a decision on a cool intro and ending. I hope to do more of that with this class. We also started working in the beautiful ... more

Quasimodo & Serpent’s Tooth

At our session yesterday we had a new drummer Eric Puente, and Mathew Mayers on saxophone along with the rest. We played Charlie Parker’s Quasimodo playing the head many times to really try to get a handle on it. Of course we continued to dissect the changes, and there ... more

The First Session

Mark Sherman and David In the first session we worked on Quasimodo by Charlie Parker, which is one of my favorite lines. We discussed how Bird used to take well known standards like Indiana and use the form and changes to write his own melody there by creating a new tune in ... more

Rhythmic sequences

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Preparing for Smalls

This week before the holidays the Bebop Workshop is working on the repertoire that will be performed at Smalls next month. So we are playing some arrangents of famous jazz tunes of the Bebop era, trying to keep the interplay as spontaneous and natural as possibile. admin more