Summer camps, spring events, and a song and book recommendation

The IfCM Collective performing at Emily Fowler Library last summer. The DJW will be back to the library March 23rd for a kids concert!

It’s February in Texas and I’m enjoying this year’s weather in the 50s and 60s as opposed to our first two years of ice storms. Warmer temps have helped prime my brain for the return of our month-long Denton Jazz Workshops summer session which will run in July (with a final class August 1st) this year. We’ll get together two times a week like last summer, which was a great way to dig deep into new songs, jamming, and understanding what’s going on in the band. Registration is open now for students of all instrument and voice-type and experience level. We had our first session in the spring jazz workshop last week and in our post-class recap Grace and I made note of how happy we are with the 2-hour block schedule that we first adopted last summer. We can learn a few song elements in detail and actually spend time playing and practicing together without feeling rushed! It’s great to see students go from having some trepidation singing and playing a completely new melody, to getting feedback from the instructors and their peers, then putting it all back together in a way that shows new understanding (and is fun along the way). We can’t wait to play again this afternoon as we continue learning the New Orleans blues “Second Line,” Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train,” “When the Saints Go Marching In,” and creating more “same & not-same” loops. (You can join the fun with us in the summer session by registering today.)
 

In addition to the Denton summer camp, I’ll be offering two camps at the Selwyn School in June. The camps run from 9am-noon Monday-Friday at their fantastic campus in Argyle and there's a week for middle school (entering grades 6-8) and high school (entering grades 9-12). I’ve been teaching jazz band at Selwyn this year and it’s a great environment to present the IfCM vibe and audiation-based learning.

 

For our Creative Music Kids private lesson students we have a group class coming up this Saturday (2/17). We’ll share what we’re working on in lessons, sing and play some songs together, and certainly create some experimental creative music. Mark these dates on your calendar and join us for creative music fun:
 

Grace and I are currently accepting private students of all ages, fill out an inquiry form to get started.

Jeff Tweedy, Pat Sansone, Beck, & Elton John

I’ll close with a song and a book recommendation.

Song: “Derelict” by Beck (from Odelay). Check out how the pulse slows and snaps back into tempo every other measure. “Blow back der-e-lict……wind…Lay my soul in the foul of the air…” On an album full of bangers this is the best dance tune on the disc because you are likely to fall down.

Book: “Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back)” by Jeff Tweedy. I went down a shallow YouTube rabbit hole after watching  André 3000’s incredible performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and watched Jeff Tweedy talk with Stephen about his newest book "World Within a Song." The Denton Public Library doesn’t have that book yet but Jeff’s memoir was an incredible consolation prize to listen to this week. From chapter 6, “This might sound ridiculous, but I don't like too much confidence from a musician. Sometimes I think overconfidence allows simple musical choices to be replaced with technical choices that require thinking, and when you're thinking it's hard to be listening too.” We will ponder this quote before playing some free experimental music in DJW this week.

Chris TealComment