About Our Workshops and Masterclasses

We believe that musical talent, historically, was the ability to communicate music, not merely the ability to play it. Indeed, there are musicians who use these 11 techniques totally intuitively, but they are the exception. Like us, most musicians aren't so endowed. That is why we conduct workshops and masterclasses, by showing musicians what we have learned from thinking about this for 25 years, we hope to help musicians really rediscover the joy of making music...the reason most musicians go into music professionally. We have found that once musicians are exposed to the techniques and are shown how to apply them in a "layered" approach, most can learn them rapidly and successfully. Our workshops are normally 4 days long with 6 hours of sessions per day. We use the mornings to explain in great deal the cognitive basis for these techniques and demonstrate how they are used. This provides everyone present with a common set of terms and a way of understanding how we managed to uncover these techniques that are indispensible for communicating music to listeners. The afternoon sessions we customarily reserved to coach participants on their instruments with the music they most like to perform. Since the techniques are not specific to any style or type of music, we have worked with Jazz musicians, Classical musicians, Early Music performers, and Pop musicians. Communication is communication in music...it either works or it doesn't and the type of music being communicated is secondary to whether or not it works for the listener. We also show how these techniques can be used to improvise music in a convincing manner. How composers in the past used these techniques to create music. And, we provide opportunities for participants to "get their feet wet" and improvise. Our methods are designed to be so easy to use that they can even be applied by people who have no musical training at all. We emphasize the concept that making music necessarily involves the Soul of the musician if it is to touch the hearts and Souls of listeners, which we believe is the highest aim in music. It is during the workshops that we present a focused means for how to involve the Soul in making music. Our masterclasses are typically abreviated versions of our workshops. These are aimed primarily to provide highly motivated communication enthusiasts with coaching. Thus we touch on theory only as the need for it arises. Consequently, more time is spent showing musicians how to apply all the techniques in the music they come prepared to play. If you are interested to attend one of our workshops or masterclasses, click on the Learn Techniques button to the left and fill out the form. We will use the information you supply to inform you by email when the dates for the workshops or masterclasses will be. The dates for upcoming workshops have yet to be set. However, here is where you will find them when we post them.