All the best jazz singers are master musicians and storytellers. This class will focus on developing our skills as singers, musicians, artists and song interpreters. Developing better performance skills will help:

• Make your singing more relaxed
  
• Increase your ability to "connect" with the audience
• Build your confidence and lower your stress level
• Help calm pre-performance jitters

What musical skills and techniques can we acquire to make our performance more charismatic, more engaging and more in tune with who we are and what we want to express as artists? How do we craft a performance that is, in the words of the venerable I Ching, "like an arrow" flying towards our artistic goal?

• We'll choose a few songs and get to know them intimately
• We'll work with an accompanist to create custom arrangements and practice tapes
• We’ll do lots of singing and get useful and informative feedback
• We'll work on basic improvisation skills and scat singing
• We’ll prepare a set together with our accompanist and present it for the jazzschool student concert

Class size limit: 6
Prerequisite: Consultation with Maye

Working with other musicians in a bandleading role is the focus for this class with a trio. We'll cover:

• Communicating with the band
• Clear chart writing
• Developing arrangements
• Song form
• Rhythm and improvisational skills
• Lots of singing

We’ll try out various styles to hone our ability to:

• Develop our own style and approach
• Listen to ourselves and others
• Move and keep time with the music
• Enjoy creating music in the moment
• Each student performs in the jazzschool student
  concerts with the trio.

Class size: 6

Prerequisite: 4 songs with leadsheets in your key, memorized melody and words. It's heplful to know the "feel" and tempo of the tune and a rough idea of the arrangement and the "form" AABA, etc.)

Consultaion with Maye

Taking private classes allows us to focus on just the skills that you are interested in developing. I have experience teaching vocal technique, musicianship, performance skills, repetoire development, style and many other aspects of developing your art. I can provide you with tailor made warm-up CD's. We often record during our lessons so you can work on microphone technique and also have a chance to hear how you are progressing. I have a huge library of music and can frequently provide you with charts and leadsheets for your songs in your key as well as practice CD's for study. I believe that studying music should be enjoyable and that you should recognize tangible resutls quickly.

You’ve got the date, you’ve got the band, and now how can you make your performance memorable and engaging for an audience?

In this workshope we’ll work on practical skills for live performance including:

• how to pace a set
• how to talk with the audience
• how to showcase all members of the group
• how to develop a personal artistic identity
• how to command attention
• how to stand out from the crowd
• how to tame pre-performance jitters
• and how to build your audience.

You’ll identify your goals and learn ways for achieving them. This is a workshop for all musicians who want to develop better audience rapport.

Concert Preparation and Performance is an independent studies program designed for advanced vocalists who are ready to present a solo concert.

More information and photos of past artists

 

For application click here