Beyond The Blues Scale with Anton Schwartz

Designed for players accustomed to using a single scale for each song they improvise over, this interactive workshop introduces participants to the rich experience of improvising over changing harmony. The leap from jamming over a chord or a blues scale to playing meaningfully over moving chords can be overwhelming; this workshop breaks it down through progressive exercises that allow students to hear and feel the changes of harmony, paving the way for students to play over chord changes as a natural expression of emotion rather than an intellectual exercise. Participants learn to improvise over a 12-bar blues like a jazz musician, bringing out the unique sound of each part of the blues form, rather than treating it all as an undifferentiated whole.

Prerequisites: knowledge of major and minor scales and facility on a melodic instrument. Bring your instrument. There will be a 30-minute lunch break.

$75 advance purchase/$90 day of the workshop

11am – 4pm
Anton Schwartz