Creative Music Workshop

Summer Intensive

July 11-17, 2010

 

 

 

 

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 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

THE CMW SUMMER INTENSIVE session runs in conjunction with the TD Halifax Jazz Festival and takes place at the Shambhala School.  The 2010 intensive session will run from July 11th to July 17th.  The Creative Process program will run in the mornings from 9:00am to 12:00pm (fee $300), and is open to anyone interested in how improvisation can be a key to artistic excellence - musicians and non-musicians alike.  The intensive continues for core program students from 12:00pm-5:00pm (fee $350).

 

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."

2010 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)

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.

Simon Fisk

Jay Clayton

Dani Oore

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 and David Mott
  • 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 are typically 10am - 4pm each day | The dates and cost of each weekend CMW session will vary according to clinicians involved.

CMW Creative Process | July 11-17, 2010: 9:00am - 12:00pm each day | $300

CMW Core Program | July 11-17, 2010: 9:00am - 4:00pm each day | $350

Registration fees to the core program include a pass to the 2010 TD Halifax Jazz Festival.

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.