Kristina Olsen
Basic Swing Guitar
Meet Kristina: https://kristinaolsen.net/
Learn three and four note jazz chords in the basic Freddy Green style so you can play sumptuous swing rhythm quickly and effectively.
Tom Keenlyside
Woodwind & Brass Workshop
Meet Tom: www.tomkeenlyside.com
The morning horn ensemble is a dynamic and joyful experience, and is open to all manner of wind and brass instruments. With an emphasis on swing, we will delve into various techniques, such as phrasing, articulation, improvisation and the mastery of the rhythms of swing. New big band music will be presented each morning, and we’ll have a blast playing as a section. We will also perform as the mighty horn section for the two swing dances… a great time is guaranteed! The ability to read music is a big asset, but not absolutely necessary. Parts will be provided in all the various keys and clefs, so no transposition required. I encourage players to improvise when asked, but respect those who don’t feel the urge to do so. There is no pressure in this class; it’s all about having fun!
Special Late Morning Class (11:00-12:30)
Focus on Improvising
This will be a user-friendly introduction to soloing for horn players that will include note choice, phrasing, embellishments, style, getting rid of bad habits, etc. We’ll work through the building blocks of improvisation and provide encouragement for those who want to develop their ears for soloing.
Joe Vinikow
Intermediate Soloing
Meet Joe! www.guitarforgrownups.com/gfg_bios.html
Soloing: Your Next Step- Using the blues as a jumping off point, we'll explore some easy and effective techniques for soloing over some basic chord changes you'll find in swing and jazz.
Phrasing, rhythm, arpeggios, riffs, call and response, theme and variations. All instruments and singers welcome.
Neil Fraser
Intermediate Comping
A Field of Wild Chords: In this class we will explore the shifting of some common open chord shapes, triads, diads, and other shapes, up and down the neck, while retaining one or more of the open strings contained in the original position of the chord. (the chord moves, the open string(s) remain constant) This combination of open strings and fretted notes yields some very unique and beautiful sounds which are well suited to Jazz, but also to other genres as well. We will work through some easy standards and sample progressions to demonstrate the huge potential of these sounds.
Mike Rud
Guitar
Meet Mike: https://mikerud.com/index.php/biography/
Chord and scale rundown
In this series, Mike will simplify and illuminate commonly used jazz sounds like altered and diminished scales, modes, bebop scales and more, leaving you with a good solid bag of tricks. Guitarists will receive chord fingerings and useful licks. Non guitarists are more than welcome. You can expect to see some treble clef and some tablature.
Itamar Erez
Guitar
Arranging for Solo Guitar: The guitar is one of the few instruments that can be considered a self-contained band, with the ability to play melody, harmony, and rhythm all at the same time. Utilizing standards from Latin and jazz, we will explore passing tones, bass lines, reharmonization, intros, endings, turnarounds, lead lines, and harmonics and how these tools inform solo guitar arrangements. As part of this process, we will access your full potential by learning tools for “unlocking the fretboard.” Drawing on his background as both a guitarist and pianist, Itamar approaches the guitar with a broader harmonic and textural perspective. This cross-instrument viewpoint brings a different way of thinking about harmony, voice leading, and texture on the guitar which we will explore in the course, encouraging a more fluid and creative understanding of the fretboard beyond habitual patterns. It would be helpful to have a decent working knowledge of basic open chord forms, triads, 7th chords, and “some” reading ability of standard notation.
Bill Coon
Guitar & More
Meet Bill: www.billcoon.com
Ten Steps to Improve your Improvising
By exploring the music of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Sonny Rollins and Jim Hall, we'll learn and practice two different solo concepts each day. Knowing that every song and every artist has the ability to teach us something about jazz improvising, we'll uncover many different strategies to inspire us, and guide us through the jazz journey. All instruments are welcome. Some reading ability will be helpful.
Brian Tate
Swing and Beyond Jazz Choir
Meet Brian: www.briantatemusic.com
Lift up your voice as we dive into the roots of jazz: gospel, blues, swing, latin, African, and Afro-Cuban music. Led by acclaimed choral director and arranger Brian Tate, all are welcome: music reading skills and singing experience are not required. There will be opportunities for soloists, and we will all have a fun time!
Diane Nalini
Vocals
Meet Dianne: https://www.dianenalini.com/about/
Effortless phrasing: the singer's secret weapon
Phrasing - how we shape the melody and lyrics of a song - is one of the most important skills for any jazz singer. Great singers like Ella, Billie, and Nat all had unique yet natural and effortless phrasing that was a core element of their signature style. We’ll delve into the secrets of great phrasing and learn how to apply them to any situation by adapting phrasing to different tempos, grooves and time signatures. Each day will feature different challenges covering a broad range of styles such as swing tunes, ballads, bossa nova, and jazz waltzes. This will be a fun, hands-on class with call and response games, creative experiments and ample opportunity for those who want to bring their own songs to explore and hone in class. This class will help you to unlock your own individual phrasing and shape your unique singing style. All levels are welcome!
Jennifer Scott
Vocals
Meet Jennifer: https://vsoschoolofmusic.ca/faculty/jennifer-scott/
Jazz Singer’s Toolkit:
The performing singer is always on the lookout to formulate methods and ideas to uncover how to become more authentic and engaging with the audience and musicians!
Using vocal techniques, comprehensive vocal performance and interpretation exercises, and repertoire we’ll work on getting you, the singer, to the next level!
Singers are welcome to bring a couple of songs into the class that they’d like to work on.
All levels of singers welcome!
Karin Plato
Vocals
Meet Karin: www.karinplato.com
Karin Plato –“the creative muse chef”
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF SONGS – Let's view the songs we sing as “recipes” which are awaiting variations and arrangements and further creative choices. Together we’ll explore several ideas which can change the character of a song and help redefine and build variety in your repertoire. We’ll look at the lyrics, melody and harmony of some famous and familiar songs and enjoy the various flavors and characteristics found beyond the notes on the page. From simple to unusual, we’re on a path of discovery as we become “creative muse chefs”.
Matt Smith
Vocals
Meet Matt: https://www.matthewsmithmusic.ca/about
Harmony Building Blocks: Fundamentals of Harmonizing for Vocalists
In this course you’ll learn skills and strategies you can use to create simple yet great sounding vocal harmonies with less guesswork. We’ll break down some of the most common chord progressions and forms, and use these as a starting point to explore various techniques for crafting vocal harmonies. There will be lots of opportunities to sing together as we experiment with these techniques and apply them to a variety of jazz (and jazz-adjacent) songs. Lead sheets, written examples, and other materials will be provided, and you’ll leave with plenty of resources and ideas to use as a starting point for your own explorations. While some basic note-reading skills will be helpful in this class, they are not required.
Swing Dance
Toby Chernoff & Tanya Lewis
Introduction to Lindy Hop (late morning class)
Lindy Hop is the original 8 count swing dance that grew out of the music of the 20s, 30s and 40s. It’s as versatile as swing music itself. With its intimate connection between lead and follow and its distinctive together-and-apart basic step, it lends itself to carefree abandon, to adventurous improvisation, and to playful interplay. It can be fast or slow, big or small, crazy or intimate; it can be danced by all ages and fitness levels, and if you see Toby and Tanya dancing with each other, chances are they’re dancing the Lindy Hop.
This class will be aimed at people with no experience in Lindy Hop, but in order to attend any class after the first one, you need to have attended the previous class—you can always drop out, but you can’t drop in
East Coast Swing (Late afternoon).
East Coast Swing is a basic six-count dance that is often called jive, jitterbug or swing. We’ll be teaching a basic repertoire class. Each day we’ll review the basic step, then teach a few moves and/or variations with a strong emphasis on good leading and following skills. Since this is a drop-in class, we’ll tailor the material to whoever shows up, so whether you’re a total beginner or a solid intermediate dancer, this class should have something to offer you.
Julian Smedley
Shushwap Strings Workshop
IMeet Julian: https://www.facebook.com/julian.smedley.3/
We’ll swing arpeggios, slur syncopations, punctuate hits and refine riffs to further invigorate fresh arrangements of jazz standards. We’ll also explore bowing, shifting, tuning and section playing in preparation for two nights as the Shuswap Strings return to Sorrento.
Cindy Fairbank
Swing Piano
Meet Cindy: https://cindyfairbank.com/
Beginner/Intermediate This course is for swing pianists of all levels. The morning class will concentrate on the foundation skills: basic jazz harmony, understanding chords, working with lead sheets, building basic jazz voicings, and the pianist's role in the band. This would correspond to the first three chapters of Mark Levine’s The Jazz Piano Book (highly recommended!). As always in swing camp we are working on skills to help you have more fun playing in groups with other players!
Intermediate/Advanced This is a special class offered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. As in the morning class, we will tailor the material to fit the levels of the players, so expect to dive into soloing over changes, left hand stride and boogie woogie patterns, and all that really fun stuff!
Rene Worst
Bass Explorations
Meet Rene! www.southdeltajazzfestival.com/faculty-2024/
A fresh approach to Swing Bass this year! In addition to working on a classic blues piece and some cool transcriptions we can play together, we’ll get back to basics.
We’ll learn how to walk with a good groove, Latin lines and some cool melodic lines!
Bass clef reading is an asset, but is not compulsory. All bass instruments are welcome.
Phil Belanger
Percussion
Meet Phil: https://www.jayekrebs.com/groovetownmarket
This class will be a fun exploration of the world of percussion and rhythm. It is open to everybody – beginners and beyond. Starting with a few general exercises, we will then add some of the most commonly used percussion instruments—shakers, tambourines, cowbells, guiro, etc, and also the hand drum family—djembe, cajon, congas, and bongos.
We will play some of the main foundation rhythms from Brazil and Cuba, as well as classic swing rhythms for the snare drum and drum set.
If you have brushes and a snare drum, please bring them to class.
Rueben Gurr
Swing Blues Workshop
Meet Rueben: https://www.facebook.com/rueben.gurr/
This is a fun performing/arranging class based on how swing and blues intersect: the concept of removing a song from its native style: ie. a jazz ballad now with a reggae feel or a 60s pop song given jazz harmonic complexity with a vocal arrangement. Lots of opportunity for singers and soloists. The focus will be on the groove and how to support it.
The process will be a combination of charts, various handouts, as well as some improvised and written vocal harmonies, horn and string arrangements. Every song will have opportunities for those who wish to solo. During the week there will be “ mini clinics” on various styles eg. Blues, reggae, R&B.
The Outcomes of this class:
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How various musical styles can be arranged quickly
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Methods of supporting a large musical group
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How to support a “Groove”
If you are a guitarist who wishes to solo you will likely need to be amplified. There will be a PA for singers as well as overhead mics for the strings and a back line as well. The performance will be two or three songs at a time and place TBA.
Guido Heistek
Jazz Ukulele
Meet Guido! www.stageit.com/Guido_Heistek
This year we will focus on playing as a group! We will learn compositions by Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. These songs will be arranged in parts, including bass lines (for uke), chords, melody and harmony. Experience the thrill of hearing all the parts work together! There will be opportunities for singing, for improvisation and soloing, and there will be time to work on rhythm and groove, chord inversions, strumming and right hand techniques that will really get your playing swinging! We will also study at least one solo uke arrangement in chord melody style. This class will be light-hearted but challenging. It is not recommended for complete beginners. Some knowledge of tablature, and some experience with chord inversions higher up the neck will be very helpful. Materials will be provided in GCEA tuning.Intermediate to Advanced level.