Teaching Improvisation: Where to Begin?
According to the National Standards for Music Education, everyone should be teaching improvisation. How do students learn to improvise? Where do I start? This class will provide a common sense approach that improves your musicianship and that of your students—making connections for general, vocal, and instrumental teachers at all levels of instruction and experience. Using Christopher Azzara’s publication, Developing Musicianship through Improvisation, participants will be introduced to practical techniques designed to: (1) improve musicianship; (2) develop improvisation skills in a variety of musical styles; (3) include improvisation as an integral part of teaching and learning; (4) define relationships among improvisation, reading, and composition; and (5) assess student learning.
Dates: June 13-15
Times: 9:00 AM-3:00 PM Each Day
Noncredit Cost: $400.00
Graduate Credit Cost: Additional $500.00 for 1 hour of graduate credit (Paid separately to SMU)
Housing Cost: $175 for single; $125 for double
Teaching Improvisation Faculty: Chris Azzara
Chris Azzara is Professor & Chair of Music Education and Affiliate Faculty of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music. Pianist, arranger, author, and educator, he has made important contributions to advancing the understanding of creativity and improvisation in the music learning process. Teaching and performing internationally, he is the author of numerous articles, arrangements, and books, including Developing Musicianship Through Improvisation, Creativity In Improvisation, and Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series (GIA). His research and publications are concerned with meaningful relationships among listening, creating, improvising, reading, composing, and analyzing music in vocal and instrumental settings. He performs as a soloist and in various ensembles, including the Chris Azzara Quartet, and has played on and produced many studio and educational recordings. In Rochester, he performs with free-lance musicians, members of the Eastman School of Music Faculty, and members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. An active teacher and clinician, he has presented and performed extensively throughout the United States, and in Canada, Germany, France, Lithuania, Poland, and Japan. He has presented clinics and workshops in a variety of settings, including TEDxRochester, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and leading music schools in this country and abroad.