Since
putting on the tour of workshops and concerts in the Rochester, NY area
this March, we've had the opportunity to reflect on and review the
sessions. We'll focus this post on the workshops with area high school
jazz ensembles. The three schools we visited had differently unique
instrumentation and repertoire-types that they were working on with very
talented and respectful students. We organized the workshops in two
parts: first to clinic one or more of the pieces the groups had been
preparing for a concert or festival, followed by teaching a jazz tune by
ear. We'd like to thank directors Mike Kaupa, Brian King, and Erik
Piazza for bringing us in!
March 5th, 2012
The Harley School
Brighton, NY
On the Monday of the tour, we visited Mr. Mike Kaupa's high school jazz band at the Harley School. Mr. Kaupa started the session off with "The Harley Shuffle", an original that the 8 students (2 trumpets, 2 saxes, piano, bass, drums, guitar) had been working on for a couple of rehearsals. All of the though Thelonious Monk’s composition “Misterioso”. Mr. Kaupa regularly teaches tunes and solo vocabulary by ear, so the group very receptive to learning Misterioso without any sheet music as a guide. By the end of the brief 40-minute session all were able to play both parts of the melody, and even take a solo on the tune! The students at Harley were great to work with and learned very quickly! We really enjoyed our time there and hope to bring future programming from IfCM to the Harley School.
Greece Athena High School
Greece, NY
For the second stop of the day, Chris and Nick drove 20 minutes West to Greece, NY where Mr.Brian King was gracious enough to have them work with his jazz ensemble. Nick directed the ensemble of more than 25 students through “Mira Mira”; a syncopated Latin original from Maynard Ferguson’s repertoire. The band was open and receptive to new ideas presented by Chris and Nick to really embrace the spirit of the music and bring the notes on the page to life. We did this by accentuating the shape of the lines in both the shout chorus and a unison horn soli comparing it to a person’s speaking style - not all the words in a sentence are emphasized equally. After a few run throughs with these new ideas mind, the students’ performance of these sections went to a whole new level!
During our time at Greece Athena we were able to touch on the essence of musicmaking. That is, to move beyond just the notes and rhythms and bring life to the music by putting emotion, energy, and excitement into their daily performance. A big thank you to the Greece Athena students and Mr. Brian King for being so open and receptive to what we had to offer!
March 6th, 2012
Webster Schroeder High School
Webster, NY
On Tuesday, we made our way out to Webster Schroeder high school to work with the jazz students of Mr. Erik Piazza. The session started off by reading through an original by another Eastman School of Music alumnus, Russell Scarbrough, called “Upswing”. The band’s drummer was unable to be in attendance, which presented the band with the situation of still having to keep the time, and create musical intensity without the aid of the drummer! This gave us the opportunity to talk about everyone’s individual responsibilities while playing in a big band. Even if the drummer isn’t there to keep time, all the members of the ensemble need to keep their own time, and bring intensity and energy to the music.
Second, we taught by ear, Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso”, by vocalizing the separate parts of the tune in groups, and combining the individual parts together to create the whole line of the tune. The Webster students were definitely quick learners! A few times singing through each section and the band had it down! We really enjoyed our (although short) time with the students!
Director Erik Piazza shared this feedback:
“The Institute for Creative Music presents an innovative workshop designed to provide educators with the tools to initiate improvisation activities in their programs. Nick and Chris foster creativity in a nurturing environment while removing fear from the process of improvisation."
Thanks to the students and educators who made everything possible! We look forward to working with you again.
Nick Finzer and Chris Teal
Artistic Directors, IfCM
www.ifcmusic.org
Brighton, NY
On the Monday of the tour, we visited Mr. Mike Kaupa's high school jazz band at the Harley School. Mr. Kaupa started the session off with "The Harley Shuffle", an original that the 8 students (2 trumpets, 2 saxes, piano, bass, drums, guitar) had been working on for a couple of rehearsals. All of the though Thelonious Monk’s composition “Misterioso”. Mr. Kaupa regularly teaches tunes and solo vocabulary by ear, so the group very receptive to learning Misterioso without any sheet music as a guide. By the end of the brief 40-minute session all were able to play both parts of the melody, and even take a solo on the tune! The students at Harley were great to work with and learned very quickly! We really enjoyed our time there and hope to bring future programming from IfCM to the Harley School.
Greece Athena High School
Greece, NY
For the second stop of the day, Chris and Nick drove 20 minutes West to Greece, NY where Mr.Brian King was gracious enough to have them work with his jazz ensemble. Nick directed the ensemble of more than 25 students through “Mira Mira”; a syncopated Latin original from Maynard Ferguson’s repertoire. The band was open and receptive to new ideas presented by Chris and Nick to really embrace the spirit of the music and bring the notes on the page to life. We did this by accentuating the shape of the lines in both the shout chorus and a unison horn soli comparing it to a person’s speaking style - not all the words in a sentence are emphasized equally. After a few run throughs with these new ideas mind, the students’ performance of these sections went to a whole new level!
During our time at Greece Athena we were able to touch on the essence of musicmaking. That is, to move beyond just the notes and rhythms and bring life to the music by putting emotion, energy, and excitement into their daily performance. A big thank you to the Greece Athena students and Mr. Brian King for being so open and receptive to what we had to offer!
March 6th, 2012
Webster Schroeder High School
Webster, NY
On Tuesday, we made our way out to Webster Schroeder high school to work with the jazz students of Mr. Erik Piazza. The session started off by reading through an original by another Eastman School of Music alumnus, Russell Scarbrough, called “Upswing”. The band’s drummer was unable to be in attendance, which presented the band with the situation of still having to keep the time, and create musical intensity without the aid of the drummer! This gave us the opportunity to talk about everyone’s individual responsibilities while playing in a big band. Even if the drummer isn’t there to keep time, all the members of the ensemble need to keep their own time, and bring intensity and energy to the music.
Second, we taught by ear, Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso”, by vocalizing the separate parts of the tune in groups, and combining the individual parts together to create the whole line of the tune. The Webster students were definitely quick learners! A few times singing through each section and the band had it down! We really enjoyed our (although short) time with the students!
Director Erik Piazza shared this feedback:
“The Institute for Creative Music presents an innovative workshop designed to provide educators with the tools to initiate improvisation activities in their programs. Nick and Chris foster creativity in a nurturing environment while removing fear from the process of improvisation."
Thanks to the students and educators who made everything possible! We look forward to working with you again.
Nick Finzer and Chris Teal
Artistic Directors, IfCM
www.ifcmusic.org
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