Jazz Workshop Australia
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Jazz Workshop Australia (JWA) is an education company. We provide high quality jazz and other music education services including ensembles, music tours, holiday camps, and serviced private tuition studios for music teachers.
Jazz Workshop Australia
2M ago
‘Comping’ in jazz is creating an accompaniment with chords and rhythms. Comping is usually improvised.
What does ‘comping’ mean in jazz?
Comping means to create an accompaniment to a tune using chords and rhythms. It is one of the fundamental roles of the rhythm section, particularly guitar, piano/keyboard/organ, drums, vibraphone, and percussion.
Comping is usually improvised. Players create an interactive accompaniment, in real-time, to go with what everyone else in the band is playing moment-by-moment. Comping can be preplanned or might use variations on conventional patterns. For example ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
2M ago
Is my child ready for music lessons?
Your child is ready for individual music lessons if they can sit still and listen for at least 30 minutes without a parent supervising them.
A young child will only benefit significantly from one-on-one music lessons if they are capable of sitting still and listening to an adult for at least 30 minutes a parent intervening. They need to focus and follow instructions. If a youngster can’t manage that yet, then they aren’t ready for lessons, not at Jazz Workshop Australia anyway.
To be sure, there are teachers who specialize in private lessons for very young ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
3M ago
Dear JWA students, our Term 1 is about to start this Monday, 5 February. That means it is time to enrol or re-enrol. You’ll notice some changes:
some fees have gone up, but we no longer charge a fee for card payments. Also, no more PayPal. We use Square now instead.
There’s now just one form for enrolling, re-enrolling, trial lessons, casual lessons.
You can pay your fees and re-enrol in person: we can take card payments in the studio now.
Term 1, 2024 is 10 weeks: 5 February to 13 April.
We can’t wait to see you all back soon. The summer break has been nice, but its time for our wonderfu ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
4M ago
The Summer Jazz Camp end-of-camp festival will be at Stay KCC, Katoomba, Friday 5 January. It starts at 9:45am.
Here are the performers, their bands, and where to see them. The festival is in the Clairvaux building. Enter via Violet St. Park on Violet St or take your chances in the grounds. One way only.
First name
Last name
COMBO
BIG BAND
Zoe
Alt
9:45
Downstairs
Anita Thomas combo
11:10
Downstairs
Des C big band
Ilia
Ankersmit
10:25
Upstairs
Jacki Cooper combo
10:45
Downstairs
Anita T big band
Alix
Bandiera-Dunn
9:45
Cinema
Saul Richardson co ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
4M ago
It is with uniquely great pleasure that we welcome 2023 Freedman Jazz finalist Sam Gill to the JWA teaching faculty. Sam will be teaching saxophone and clarinet from Term 1, 2024. Sam Gill is a highly regarded teacher, a superlative performing artist, and an accomplished academic. He is quite happy to take dedicated students of any age or level. We are currently accepting applications to study with Sam Gill on saxophone or clarinet.
Sam Gill is a graduate of the jazz performance undergraduate course at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he has recently completed a PhD researching improv ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
5M ago
Here are five more tips for jazz beginners, following on from tips for jazz beginners Part 1. Read that first if you haven’t already.
You don’t need to know jazz theory before you start to play jazz. Just start playing and enjoying the music, then learn different aspects of theory as you need to or want to.
Speaking of theory, there is a lot of theory around jazz, but you don’t need all of it at once or all the time.
Work hard at memorising things like scales or arpeggios. A scale is not much use to you as an improviser if you have to read it whenever you need it.
Following on from that – don ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
6M ago
To celebrate the end of a wonderful year, all the adult jazz combos at Jazz Workshop Australia will be showcased in a festival on Monday 4 December from 6:30pm. The event will feature eight bands on two stages at the JWA studios in St Leonards. There will be groups led by Gavin Ahearn, Peter Farrar, Deven Rahman, and Saul Richardson.
Entry is free.
This year is quickly nearing its climactic conclusion, but we invite enrolments and expressions of interest for adult jazz combos for Semester 1 2024. Whatever your level, we have a group to join.
JWA offers learning, mentorship, community, and insp ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
6M ago
Here are a few tips and encouraging words for jazz beginners. you if you are new to learning to play jazz and improvise (or if you’re teaching beginners), read on.
Don’t try to learn everything all at once
You don’t need to start by ‘transcribing’
Start by giving yourself the chance to build a strong foundation. I recommend key centres first, to help you build a feel and ear for style, rhythm, and tone. Then modes and simple modal music to start building basic harmonic understandings.
Once your foundation is in place you should be able to play most standard tunes, participate in jam sessions ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
7M ago
Jazz combos from Jazz Workshop Australia will be featured performers at this year’s 7 Bridges Walk (2023). We will be playing at the Milsons Point start/finish village in Bradfield park near the station. The 7 Bridges Walk is an annual fundraising event for the Cancer Council and JWA is a proud supporter.
We will be presenting 7 bands for 7 Bridges. Here’s the schedule (subject to slight change). Each band has about a 45-minute set.
8:40am – Jack Stoneham’s “Saturday Morning Advanced” Combo
9:35am – Saul Richardson’s “Saturday 5:30” combo
10:30am – Saul Richardson’s “Sat. 4:15” “Young J ..read more
Jazz Workshop Australia
9M ago
We are excited to welcome JWA’s newest trumpet teacher Amy Fox to the faculty at Jazz Workshop Australia. A wonderful teacher, Amy is both arising star on the Sydney jazz & contemporary music scene as well as a gifted classical player. However, as good as Amy’s playing is, the thing that makes her a teacher you should study with is her expertise as a teacher. Students of all ages can benefit from Amy’s skilful, systematic approach to trumpet teaching, a wonderfully effective approach designed to help you or your child achieve your trumpet-playing goals.
Amy Fox is an accomplished performer ..read more