Music and Performing Arts

Improvisation may be a daunting prospect for even the most experienced musician, but as the saying goes 'when someone played a wrong note jazz was born'. Improvisation is in itself a form of spontaneous composition as practised by Bach and Beethoven and can be incredibly fun and extremely rewarding. Everyone on this course will learn to improvise over standard blues and jazz chord sequences, learning from past masters while finding their own individual voice.

Participants will need to have a minimum standard of grade 3 on their chosen instrument. Each person will go away with practice materials/ideas and the knowledge and confidence to improvise in most situations.

Monday

Brief history of Jazz. The pentatonic/blues scale, blues improvising.

Tuesday

Blues improvising, jazz standards, ii V I chord progressions.

Wednesday

Minor ii V I chord progressions, minor blues.

Thursday

Bossa Nova, major/minor improvisation.

Friday

Performance techniques.

Essential equipment

Please bring your own instrument. If you are a guitarist or bassist please bring your own amp. Pianists may need to bring their own equipment depending on participant numbers.

Colin Speight

LGSM CMTA

About Colin

Colin Speight studied Jazz guitar at the 'Guildhall School of Music and drama' in London, he then completed his 'Certificate in Music Teaching to Adults' at Goldsmiths College/University of London where he gave his final exam performance on classical guitar.

He is a busy player and educator playing jazz/blues and classical concerts all over Europe, he was an examiner for the 'London College of Music' and has been on radio 2 discussing Jazz History with Acker Bilk.