Music Education Monday: A master class with Pulitzer Prize winner Henry Threadgill

Since saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill recently won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for music for his composition "In for a Penny, In for a Pound," this seems like an opportune Music Education Monday to share with StLJN readers a video master class with him.

Threadgill, 72, is a Chicago native who's been creating innovative music since the 1970s with a variety of ensembles, notably the trio Air with bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall; Very Very Circus; the seven-member Sextett; the Society Situation Dance Band; his current group, Zooid; and several others.

An original member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Threadgill (pictured) also has written music for orchestra, solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and theatre, and has released more than 30 albums as a leader or co-leader.

You can see the master class, recorded in June 2014 at the Creative Music Studio Workshop in Big Indian, NY, in the embedded video window below.

For more about Threadgill and his approach to music, read “A Door to Other Doors,” an extended interview with him originally published in 2011 in the journal Critical Studies in Improvisation; and "The Improvisational Techniques of Henry Threadgill," a analysis with notated examples by saxophonist Richard Savery.

Also, just below the embed of the master class, there's a bonus video featuring an hour-long interview with Threadgill conducted a couple of years ago for the Library Of Congress, in which he discusses his upbringing in Chicago, the AACM, his experience in Vietnam, the music of his groups Air and Zooid, and his approach to composition and improvisation.

Music Education Monday: An online course in improvisation from MIT, and more

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA is known as one of the top schools in the country for engineering, math, and science, and as such, they've also been a pioneer in online learning, putting material from many courses on the internet for anyone to access for free.

And while MIT may not be known particularly as a mecca for the arts, they do have some music courses among those online offerings, including the one being spotlighted here today for Music Education Monday, a series of 13 videos recorded in Spring 2013 for the course "Musical Improvisation."

Taught by trumpeter Mark Harvey and saxophonist Tom Hall with some help from MIT students and various guests, the course deals with improvisation more on a conceptual level than in a "here's how to navigate the chord changes" sort of way.

This first video in the series is a lab session "about sonic experimentation, improvising free from judgments of right vs. wrong. It begins with structured improvisation exercises incorporating sound and movement, followed by more exercises with graphic notation."

The series continues with concerts and workshops dealing with an eclectic selection of topics including electronics, improvisation in Indian classical music, and "In A Silent Way," plus demonstrations from musicians including trombonist Robin Eubanks and cellist Eugene Friesen.

All 13 videos are collected in a playlist that will show them in order from the embedded video window at the bottom of this post. You can find more course materials, including supplemental readings and a recommended list of recordings for additional listening, here.

If this piques your interest in some more big-brain content on the subject, read "Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives," an essay by composer, trombonist, electronic musician, Columbia University professor and AACM member George Lewis that appeared originally in the Spring 1996 issue of Black Music Research Journal, a journal published by the Center for Black Music Research - Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois Press.

For some more conceptual musings on improvisation from an academic perspective, check out some of the articles collected under "Music and the embodied mind: A jam session for theorists on musical improvisation, instrumental self-extension, and the biological and social basis of music and well-being," at the online journal Frontiers.

Music Education Monday: A master class in improvisation with Gary Burton

Regarded as one of the most significant and versatile jazz musicians ever to play his chosen instrument, vibraphonist Gary Burton has been an important figure in improvised music since the early 1960s.

Now 73 years old, Burton (pictured, left) is a multiple Grammy award winner known for his innovative four-mallet technique, his pioneering albums fusing jazz with rock and other popular musics, and for hiring as sidemen a series of guitarists who have gone on to greater fame, including Larry Coryell, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and most recently Julian Lage, who currently works in Burton's group Next Generation.

Burton also is known for his longtime involvement with jazz education. A 1961 graduate of Berklee College of Music, Burton served his alma mater in various capacities for more than 30 years before retiring in 2004, and also has presented many master classes, lectures and workshops at other universities and colleges around the world.

Today for Music Education Monday, you can get a look at a video of one of those master classes, a session focused on jazz improvisation that Burton led in 2011 for students at Loyola University in New Orleans. And if that whets your appetite, it looks like Burton once again is teaching a free six-week online course in improvisation via Coursera, as featured in this space last year. 

You can see the video of Burton's master class at Loyola University after the jump...

LNAC sponsoring improvisation workshops

Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center is sponsoring a series of free workshops for musicians who'd like to exercise and improve their skills in free improvisation by working with touring performers who are visiting St. Louis.

The first workshop takes place at LNAC, 3301 Lemp Ave, starting at 11 a.m. this Sunday, February 10, and will be led by members of the End Times Trio, a group based in Springfield, IL that includes saxophonist Frank Trompeter, guitarist Mark Schwartz and drummer/percussionist Richard Gilman-Opalsky.

According to LNAC's news release, "each event will culminate at 8 p.m. with a performance of the workshop participants, and featuring the touring artists. The workshops are open to the public free of charge, but participation will be limited. To register for the event, please email contact@lemp-arts.org and provide information on what instrument(s) you play, your level of ability, and experience with improvisation."

Subsequent workshops will be held on Sunday, March 9 with saxophonist Dan Kozak, who's from Lawrence, KS, and on Sunday, April 13 with percussionist Theo Katsaounis and vocalist Carol Genetti, who both hail from Chicago.

Note that while the daytime workshops are free for the participants, there is a $5 admission charge for listeners who'd like to attend the associated evening concerts. For more information, visit LNAC's Web site or call 314-771-1096.

(Edited after posting to fix some formatting problems.)