If you are interested in learning to sing jazz or play jazz then this opportunity is for you.
This year the Cape Breton Jazz Festival, June 16-19 2022, will place emphasis on music instruction by having several days of musician development workshops during the Festival.
Anyone interested in learning to sing or play jazz are invited to attend the workshops which will provide instruction and helpful information on playing jazz music. Both beginning players/singers and advanced players/singers are welcome to take part. All instruments are welcome.
Some of the instruction during the three days of workshops may be given by some of the top jazz musicians in Canada, such as Kirk MacDonald on saxophone, Lorne Lofsky on guitar, and Neil Swainson, on bass, along with Ethan Ardelli and Jim Doxas on drums. All are performing at this year’s Festival.
Also some of Atlantic Canada’s top jazz musicians may participate in the workshops. Players such Paul Tynan on trumpet, Paul Rushka on bass, Jake Hanlon on guitar, all St. Francis Xavier University Jazz professors may be some of the musicians providing instruction. The Festival is also excited to present this year singing workshops taught by with Antonia Pigot, jazz vocal teacher from Halifax, providing instruction.
The workshops will be held on Thursday June 16 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm then will continue on Friday 10:00 to 1:00 pm and on Saturday from 10:00 to 1:00 pm. For those interested there will also be opportunities to play on stage during one of several public playing opportunities. Public performance opportunities will be held each of these three days, both during the afternoons from 4 pm to 7 pm and in the evenings and from 10 pm to 1 am. The schedule will adjusted depending on the number of performers on each instrument.
The workshops will be held at the Hearthstone Inn on Kings Rd in Sydney. For instrumentalists, aspects of instruction will include such topics as: following the jazz form, understanding chord changes, different ways to improvise, learning tunes, performing tunes, playing with others, playing the blues, and so on.
The Jazz Vocal Workshop will cover topics such as vocal jazz style, rhythmic and harmonic awareness, lyric interpretation, vocal exploration, improvisation and group and solo performance.
There will be no better opportunity for anyone to learn how to play jazz. All skill levels and all ages welcome. Spectators welcome also.