ANNOUNCING:
JAZZ-TAI CHI SUMMER WORKSHOP
July 18-21, 2024 one to four day pricing options
in beautiful Conway, MA

An intimate workshop where guitarists, vocalists and other instrumentalists work on solo playing (composition, arranging, improvising) or duo playing with Freddie Bryant.

A holistic workshop that incorporates the practice of tai chi and meditation throughout the day taking time to nurture the body as well as the mind. Beautiful nature is in abundance in this pastoral Western Massachusetts community.

Musical styles include: blues, ballads, bossa, be-bop, classical, straight-ahead, Brazilian and Latin

The workshop takes place at a private home. Housing is not included – students stay at local B&B/hotels or are local day students.

Here are the basic price options including breakfast and lunch:
$100 for one day
$200 for two days
$300 for three days
$400 for four days

Please contact Freddie directly for more information: freddiebryant@yahoo.com

GENERAL INFO ON FREDDIE’S WORKSHOPS:

Freddie Bryant offers workshops and clinics at the University and grade school levels. Some courses are general master classes that focus on repertoire, improvisation and performance for guitarists or ensembles as with the Charles Mingus workshops taught at Rutgers University to more specific classes in Brazilian jazz for all instruments and guitarists taught at Williams College and University of North Texas, fingerboard harmony for classical guitarists taught at the Yale School of Music or finger-style technique for jazz/Brazilian guitarists and Blues Guitar: Harmony and Rhythm at Berklee College of Music, among others (listed below).

He has taught at many major universities and conservatories throughout the world including: The Yale School of Music, University of Central Oklahoma, University of North Texas, Williams, Amherst, Bennington, Holyoke Community and Brooklyn Colleges, conservatories in Hamburg and Dresden (Germany) and Groningen (Holland), Damascus (Syria), Amman (Jordan), Muscat (Oman), Istanbul (Turkey), and schools and academies in Germany, Barbados, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Swaziland and India. He is on the faculty of the Interplay Jazz Camp, Vermont Jazz Center Summer Workshop and Guitar Sessions at Berklee and has taight at the Litchfield and Jazz in July (UMASS) Jazz Camps and as well as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s “Jazz for Teens” program.

All of these courses can be taught by Freddie alone or with his group. For more information and booking please e-mail or call 646-373-7069.

PERFORMANCE MASTER CLASSES: CLASSICAL OR JAZZ

Solo guitarists or ensembles perform and receive evaluation concentrating on repertoire, technique, performance or improvisation.

CLINICS: LECTURE DEMONSTRATIONS

Freddie performs a program and narrates illustrating certain points about the music or his experiences. Themes vary from solo guitar (electric, nylon and/or 12-string) to Brazilian jazz, arranging, composing or rhythm (focusing on alternative rhythmic approaches), Blues (harmony and rhythm), Voice Leading for Guitar (harmony for comping and chord soloing) These can be for solo performance, an impromptu advanced student group or a group performance with Freddie’s group.

ACCOMPANYING A SINGER

This is a performance master class geared toward pianists and guitarists focusing on comping and arranging for a singer. It can also serve as a critique for the singer and his/her charts, interpretation and stage presence. This is sometimes co-taught by Freddie and vocalists that he works with in a Brazilian or straight-ahead style.

BRAZILIAN JAZZ: FOR ALL INSTRUMENTALISTS, VOCALISTS and GUITARISTS

This is a course that teaches all students to play basic Brazilian rhythms on percussion instruments (tamborim, ago-go bells, ganza-shaker, surdo) and to transfer them to their instruments, arrangements and performances. The goal is to give students an understanding of Brazilian music – a feeling for the music that can then be used in their jazz especially in terms of phrasing, arranging and composition. Emphasis is on Samba and Bossa Nova, but also extends to Baiao (and other Northeast genres), Partido Alto, Choro. This is truly an interactive class where students play and work out arrangements as an ensemble. Freddie brings printed hand-outs as well as recorded examples that explain and demonstrate the aforementioned rhythms – as well as Chorinho, Maracatu and Frevo.

The guitar class is similar to the instrumental/vocal class, but concentrates especially on accompanying. It can also focus on solo arrangements.

FINGERBOARD HARMONY FOR GUITARISTS (CLASSICAL OR JAZZ)

This started as a workshop given at the Yale School of Music especially for classical guitarists. Classical guitarists are often bound to the printed note and unfamiliar with chord symbols. The course demystifies the bridge between theory, their guitars and the music they perform and gives them the tools to make their own arrangements and sight read chord charts. It can be taught with many different levels in one room and the exercises are tailored to the needs of each individual student. Of course, all guitarists need an understanding of harmony and how it applies to their own instrument, so the course is open to all guitarists and sometimes develops into an advanced course on chord melody, chord soloing and comping.

FINGER STYLE TECHNIQUE FOR JAZZ GUITARISTS

Jazz guitarists, who often play with a pick, sometimes miss the wonderful possibilities that right handed finger technique can offer. Inner voices can be brought out and chord progressions can be interpreted more as polyphony rather than static block chords. This can also lead to different textures in soloing sometimes alternating between pick, finger-style and hybrid.