Early Bird discount deadline Friday, Feb. 1

The winter weather makes it seem as though summer is far away — but some Stanford Jazz Workshop summer jazz program deadlines are just around the corner!

Sign up for Jazz Day Camp, Jazz Camp, Jazz Institute for Youth, Jazz Institute for Adults, or our Songwriting @ SJW program by this Friday, February 1, to get the Early Bird tuition discount.

The next big deadline is March 1 for Financial Aid applications, but register as soon as you can, as there are supplemental application forms that you’ll need to complete and return to the Stanford Jazz Workshop so that we have them in our offices no later than March 1.

Registration is open!

Find out more about all of Stanford Jazz Workshop’s summer jazz camps and jazz immersion programs by clicking on Jazz Immersion Programs above, or right here. 

Registration for all our 2013 summer jazz programs is now open. Just click on the big red Register buttons, above and below. We look forward to seeing you this summer!

Jazz Camp and other jazz program registration opens in mid-December

Registration for SJW’s summer jazz programs will open in mid-December: We’ll announce the opening of registration via our e-news, please click on the Sign Up Now link below to make sure you’ll get notified quickly.

For the summer of 2013, we have some exciting new options for tweens, teens, and adults. Here’s our new lineup of jazz education programs:

  • Jazz Day Camp for middle school students, ages 11 – 13, July 15 – 19
  • Jazz Camp for ages 12 – 17, week 1, July 21 – 26
  • Jazz Camp for ages 12 – 17, week 2, July 28 – August 2
  • Jazz Institute for Youth, ages 12 – 17 by audition, August 4 – 9
  • Jazz Institute for Adults, ages 18 and over, August 4 – 9
  • Songwriting @ SJW, August 4 – 9
  • Evening Jazz Classes, June 17 – July 17

We’ll have full information for all of these great programs online soon. In the meantime, here is a quick rundown of each of these excellent programs.

Jazz Day Camp for middle school students: Packed with improvisation instruction, big band and small combo playing, and fun activities tailored to middle school students, Jazz Day Camp will run Monday through Friday, and will offer late drop-off and daily lunch options. This will be the perfect jazz experience for students who haven’t had an overnight camp yet, and who want to explore jazz styles, improvisation, and musical creativity. It’s also a great way to prepare for high school jazz programs, for those entering high school.

Jazz Camp: Jazz Camp is our world-famous week-long program for young musicians who want to start playing jazz and improvising in small jazz combos. Taught by a faculty of professional educators and performers and including free admission to the nightly performances at the Stanford Jazz Festival, Jazz Camp immerses students in the study, culture, and language of jazz. Stay on campus or commute from off site.

Jazz Institute: Formerly known as Jazz Residency, the Jazz Institute features the same access to the world’s great jazz artists, amazing master classes and special presentations, and a combo-based performance program. To optimize the jazz experience, we’ve created tracks with certain classes and activities tailored to the needs of youth and adults, respectively. Many activities will still emphasize the multi-generational nature of SJW, and of course, everyone gets to attend the jam sessions and the Stanford Jazz Festival concerts.

Songwriting @SJW: Our growing songwriting program will be taught by the fantastically talented Bonnie Hayes and Cliff Goldmacher in 2013, who will help students master the craft of songwriting, unleash their creativity, perform their songs like pros, and get their music business chops together.

Evening Jazz Classes: Relaxed and informative, our 2013 Evening Jazz Classes on the Stanford Campus offer an entertaining way to explore jazz piano, jazz theory, and more. For adults and youth.

Jazz Residency Showcase Schedule now available

Tonight’s Jazz Residency Showcase is going to be great! You can find out the performance venues and approximate times by clicking here to download a PDF of the Showcase Schedule. The Schedule does not include actual performance start times, but it does include the performance order for each venue. Using the order number next to each performer’s name, you can figure out the approximate performance start time using the following timing information.

Performances in all venues begin at 7:15 p.m. this evening.

All the performances in Dinkelspiel and CoHo will be combos, and will last approximately 10 minutes each.

All the performances in Braun Rehearsal Hall will be vocalists and piano trios, which will last approximately 5 minutes each.

The performances in Campbell Recital Hall are a mixture of combos and piano trios, so estimate between 5 and 10 minutes for each performance.

Jazz Camp Week 2 Showcase schedule now available

Tonight’s the night! The Jazz Camp Week 2 Showcase will feature 230 rising stars of jazz performing on four stages. How do you find out who is performing on which stage at which time? Download the Jazz Camp Showcase schedule below.

Here’s how the schedule is organized:

  • Jazz Camp participants are listed alphabetically by last name
  • The center column indicates combos that rehearse in the early afternoon, which are known as “early combos”
  • The right column indicates combos that rehearse in the late afternoon, which are known as “late combos”

The numbers indicate the order in which the combos perform on a particular stage:

  • If your combo is indicated as “05”, that means the combo will be the fifth combo to perform.
  • Performances begin at 7 p.m. on Dinkelspiel, Campbell, and Braun Rehearsal Hall; performances on the Outdoor Stage begin at 6 p.m.
  • Each performance takes approximately 10 minutes, so a combo slated to perform fifth on the Dinkelspiel stage would begin at 7:50 p.m.
  • A combo slated to perform eighth on the Outdoor stage would begin at  7:10 p.m.

Click here to download tonight’s Showcase schedule in PDF format.

Jazz Camp registration now open

Sign up now for 2012 Stanford Jazz Workshop summer jazz immersion programs and evening classes!

  • Jazz Camp is for musicians aged 12 – 17, and provides a fun, encouraging environment in which to explore jazz improvisation and to make lots of new friends. Week 1: July 15 – July 20. Week 2: July 22 – 27.
  • Jazz Residency is for adults, and gives emerging professionals a chance to work with the greatest jazz artists of our time. Week 3: July 20 – August 3.
  • Evening Summer Classes provide a fun and relaxing way to improve your chops and increase your knowledge of jazz. June 18 – July 13.

Click on the links above to find out more, and click on the Register button above to sign up immediately.

SJW alumni at the GRAMMIES®

We’re thrilled to learn that several alumni of Stanford Jazz Camp and Jazz Residency have been selected to participate in this year’s Grammy® Camp Jazz Session ensembles. During the week-long program, participants will perform at events related to the 54th annual Grammy® Awards in Los Angeles, under the direction of Justin DiCioccio of the Manhattan School of Music, Dr. Ron McCurdy of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and Dr. Leila Heil of the University of Colorado, Boulder. Read more about it here, and congratulations to these great SJW alumni who’ve been selected to participate:

Max Boiko (trumpet)
Lucas Del Calvo (guitar)
Ryan DeWeese (trumpet)
David Leon (saxophone)
Connor Schultze (bass)
Laila Smith (vocals)
Christina Takayama (vocals)
MIchael Wang (trombone)

2012 Camp & Classes dates now set

Mark your calendars, the dates for the 2012 Jazz Camp, Jazz Residency, and Evening Summer Classes have been announced:

  • Evening Summer Classes: June 18 – July 13
  • Jazz Camp, Week 1: July 15 – July 20
  • Jazz Camp, Week 2: July 22 – July 27
  • Jazz Residency, Week 3: July 29 – August 3

Online registration will open the second week of December; stay tuned for an email at that time, announcing that registration has begun. Find out more about our jazz immersion programs by clicking on links above.

Campana Jazz Festival participants win SJW scholarships

SJW was treated to a day of fantastic performances at the 36th annual Campana Jazz Festival in Pleasanton earlier this month. Dozens of middle school and high school jazz bands, combos, and choirs came from northern California to compete on the accommodating campus of Amador Valley High School, and to take advantage of the educational clinics given by such notable jazz educators and artists as SJW faculty members Erik Jekabson and Frank Sumares.

The adjudicators were on the hunt for deserving talent on behalf of SJW, and to this end, two budding musicians were each awarded partial scholarships to the 2011 Stanford Jazz Workshop.

campana_winner_middle_school_smPlaying lead alto saxophone for Harvest Park Middle School, Brandon Zhang wowed the audience and adjudicators with his fantastic solo ballad work. His warm tone, musical vibrato, and mature phrasing are hints of what we have to look forward to when Brandon arrives at Jazz Camp this summer! Harvest Park Middle School band director Paul Perazzo has a great-sounding band filled with passionately swinging young jazzers-to-be.

Campana_winner_vocal_smThe jazz juggernaut from Folsom High School rolled into Campana, and rolled out with first-place honors in the “AA” band, combo, and jazz choir categories. In that first-place choir of singers all of whom exhibit exceptional intonation, phrasing, rhythm, and musicality, Tanner Robinson distinguished himself with a splendid performance and captured a partial tuition scholarship to this summer’s Stanford Jazz Workshop. Director Curtis Gaesser has trained a veritable army of excellent jazz musicians at Folsom High; you can find out more about the Folsom Music Program here.

Congratulations to all the winning ensembles, and thanks for all the great jazz!

Trombonist Michael Wang wins SJW scholarship

Folsom_awardIt wasn’t enough for Michael Wang to blow away the Folsom Jazz Festival adjudicators with his astonishing trombone work on a blazing arrangement of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” while performing with the Rio Americano HIgh School Jazz Ensemble 1. He also took a chorus soloing on soprano recorder!

Though Michael wasn’t available to accept his scholarship award at the awards ceremony on January 29, his band director, Josh Murray, kindly stepped in to accept on Michael’s behalf, shown here with SJW Marketing Director, Ernie Rideout.

Everyone in the Rio Americano band did a fantastic job at the Folsom Jazz Festival, winning the sweepstakes for the high school band division. Contratulations to all the great musicians at Rio Americano, and we look forward to seeing Michael Wang this summer at the Stanford Jazz Workshop!

Check out all the other great things the Rio Americano music program is doing:

rioband.net/