On going ensembles

March 2010 workshop - cancelLed

Summer Intensive

March 6-7, 2010

CMW Rhythm & Pulse

in Small Ensembles

with JERRY GRANELLI
 

Learn how to set a groove within various different musical genres and playing styles.

Rhythm & Pulse will involve a combination of playing and listening to different forms of music/rhythms and incorporates various creative process exercises.

Saturday & Sunday, March 6-7 CANCELLED
1313 Hollis St.
10am - 4pm each day
$75

Open to musicians of all levels of experience.

Starting in October 2009

ON GOING ENSEMBLES
1313 Hollis St
$20/week for four weeks

We will be starting to run a few ONGOING PROGRAMS for more advanced students. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in participating in any of the following programs:

FREE ENSEMBLE
TBD

The free jazz ensemble will rehearse once a week. The format will be based on the number of people interested so please let us know if you would like to be a part in this ensemble. 
 

The CMW Curriculum 

The Creative Music Workshop (CMW) is a unique approach to learning music.  It is an ongoing path with two repeatedly intersecting tracks that continuously reveal new directions, personal goals and challenges:

A. The Creative Process: on this track, the fundamental skills for playing music of any kind are developed - the underbelly of technical ability and artistic voice.  Students on this track work toward the goal of HEARING what to play rather than THINKING about what to play (this track is open to non-musicians as well as musicians).

• listening
• communication
• working with fear and self-conciousness
• risk taking
• basic pulse work
• commitment

B. The Ensemble: on this track, students develop an understanding of the practice required to play with others.  Students work towards SUSPENDING SELF-JUDGMENT about good/bad, success/failure and learn to SERVE THE MUSIC FIRST. 

• musical form
• technical skills and theory - chord voicing, roots of chords, cycles of fourths, minors and 7ths, playing within and outside of harmony
• internalization of pulse and rhythm
• rules of spontaneous composition

Weekend CMW sessions led by renowned musicians and educators are held every six weeks at 1313 Hollis St.  Each workshop focus is determined by the guest clinician. Saturdays are typically for students of all levels and abilities, while Sundays are for advanced participants only. 

The CMW two week intensive session runs in conjunction with the Atantic Jazz Festival and takes place at the Shambhala School.  The 2010 intensive session will run from July 4th to July 17th (fee $475).  The Creative Process program will run from July 4th to July 10th (fee $300), and is open to anyone interested in how improvisation can be a key to artistic excellence - musicians and non-musicians alike. (Video by Andrew Danson Danushevsky)

What They Said

Denma Peisinger, guitarist (Halifax): "CMW has changed my life and the way I play.  It has allowed me to experience directly what it means to be a musician ... and to understand the process and how to work to get there." 

Dani Oore, saxophonist (Halifax): It is not a question of how dramatically I feel that I have improved, as much as a question of how much more I now see I can improve.

Mike Murley, saxophonist (Toronto): The chance for young Maritime musicians to workshop with Canadian and International jazz artists is a rare and wonderful opportunity. I only wish that the CMW had existed when I was growing up in Nova Scotia.

Caylie Staples, vocalist (Toronto): "CMW provides the tools needed to bring you to new places with your instrument and awareness, if you are open.  I sang higher and louder than I ever have before ... I became aware of how important it is to commit to the music."

Core Faculty - Summer Intensive

Jerry Granelli percussion — There's no better mentor for aspiring young musicians than a seasoned session ace like Granelli who has logged time since the early '60s with a wide variety of artists, ranging from Ornette Coleman to Mose Allison. (Dan Ouellette, CD Review)

David Mott baritone saxophone — Mott's work is greatly influenced by non-western musics. He is actively involved in shamanic and healing aspects of music and is chief instructor at Cold Mountain School of Martial Arts where he teaches Uechi-ryu Karate and Qi Gong. Mott teaches graduate composition at York University in Toronto.

David Tronzo slide guitar — performing & recording artist, Tronzo is credited with developing an innovative body of extended techniques for the slide guitar: fluid single lines, finger-behind-the-slide chords, and harmonic slaps, using unconventional slide accoutrements such as plastic cups, rags, pencils and wires. Currently on faculty at Berklee College of Music.

Christian Kögel guitar & electronics — Based in Berlin, Germany, Kögel teaches, performs and records internationally. He is a long-time Granelli collaborator.

J Anthony Granelli acoustic, electric & piccolo bass — From NYC and an active artist all over, Granelli is the founder of Love Slave Records for the distribution of self produced creative music.

Skip Beckwith acoustic bass — once a student of Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown, Beckwith is the leading acoustic player in Eastern Canada. Beckwith’s sound is powerfully simple, with an unmatched musicality and time-keeping ability. Beckwith is currently the faculty bassist in St. FX’s jazz department.

Clinicians Have Included:

• Vocalists Sheila Jordan, Jay Clayton & Kurt Elling
• Bassist Rufus Reid
• Saxophonists Jane Ira Bloom, Dave Liebman, Kirk MacDonald, Mike Murley & PJ Perry
• Clarinettist François Houle
• Trombonist Gene Smith
• Pianists Steve Kuhn, Paul McCandless & Andy Milne
• Guitarists Ralph Towner & Lorne Lofsky
• Violinists Daniel Lapp & Jesse Zubot
• Drummer Akira Tana
• Composer Greg Carter
• Trumpeter Mike Herriott
• World Music artists Debashish Battacharya & Liu Fang, Suba Sankaran & Ed Hanley, the Lee Boys Sacred Steel, Vineet Vyas, Warsaw Village Band, Besh o droM, Abdullah Chhadeh

Registration

For more information about Creative Music Workshop programs contact JazzEast at 492-0812 or send an email to Lulu Healy.

CMW weekend sessions | Saturday & Sunday every six weeks exact dates TBA, 10am - 4pm each day | The cost of each weekend CMW session will vary according to clinicians involved.

CMW Creative Process | July 4 to July 10, 2010: 10am - 4:30pm each day | $300

CMW Core Program | July 4 to July 17, 2010: 10am - 4:30pm each day | $475

 The Creative Music Workshop would like to thank the Shambhala School and the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage for helping to make the summer CMW session possible.