Community College Jazz/Improv Piano Class in Bay Area

Attention: anyone interested in taking a Jazz improvisation class in The Bay Area of Northern California -- There is an Intro to "Jazz Piano and Improvisation" class at Diablo Valley College that meets one day a week from 2pm-4:50pm, starting Thursday , January 17 and running through around the end of May. It costs $55 total for area residents.

I know the odds are small someone will see this and be in a position to take the class, but I have registered for this class for the last two semesters and it has been cancelled both times because of under-enrollment. There are eleven people registered so far, however, which is more than I've ever seen register before. Even one person can make the difference in the class being allowed to go on or not.

It's really easy to apply and register online, and you can pay after it has been determined that the course is a go. If anyone is interested or has a suggestion about where else would be a good place to post a notice on line, please let me know.


Course Description
MUSIC-152
SC
UC/CSU
This course is for the study of the theory and practice of jazz piano through learning chords, voicings, improvisational techniques, and various idiomatic styles. CSU, UC

If I wasn't already signed up for the same class at a campus a bit to the north-east of there for the purpose of a specific instructor, I'd seriously consider the commute.

I'll cross my fingers for you and be happy to help you out with whatever the class teaches and covers, along with of course the far more knowledgeable members here than I, regardless though.

Hello Bobpickle!



Well, from what I understand, even if they do well, students are allowed to and often do take these courses up to 3 times, and instructors often, especially if the class is small, give individual attention to students. So, perhaps we can can switch courses next time



Thanks, same here! It will be really interesting to compare notes, and youtube video recordings

There are 12 people registered for the course as of today--one more since the last time I posted here. I'll be traveling for about a week and may not have access to the internet, so I wanted to re-activate this on the chance someone else might see it in time to register as there are still eleven days left till the first day of class.

I attended the first day of this class and it turns out this course is being deceptively advertized.

First there is no improv allowed in performance assignments, second there is no theory, third the teacher can't even improvise. He brings in someone for two days to lecture on improvisation. The course is combined with two other courses separately listed on the schedule -- Pedagogy and Ensemble Performance -- but you must play from a score, sheet and the emphasis is on interpretation. I think the only reason the Jazz section is included is to get enough people to teach pedagogy and advanced classical interpretation, since there must be a certain quota for the classes not to be canceled and the jazz section got the highest registration of students.

DO NOT TAKE this class if you want to learn to improvise jazz. The class to take is Music 127, which I just registered for and, based on the first class, is exactly what I wanted.

Aww that's kinda sad that they did that.

Sounds kind of like my jazz piano class, but I don't remember if the description of the class mentioned improvisation or not (being jazz, I'm sure it did in some format). I can imagine that to learn something like jazz piano techniques, arranging, etc. in a group or classroom environment would require a pretty heavily formatted schedule of skill and tune-learning, though.

edit: as mentioned, for a purely improvisational focus, you'd want to take the "music" and/or "jazz improvisation" named classes. That being said, though, I can hardly imagine for a pianist, the time spent in the piano class will be unproductively spent.

Yes, especially after I heard about the class that Bobpickle is taking with the same name, which he was kind enough to PM me about on the chance that I might be in a position to make the commute to it. Thanks, BP!

They are both called "Jazz Piano" but that is where the similarity ends. From what I've seen it's closer to a classical master class than it is to jazz.

Well, the classical teachers on the board are getting what they wanted. I'm taking the class. Not because I want to learn classical technique, but because it will allow me sing and play in front of an audience on a fairly regular basis and because it will hopefully lead to my having something more intelligent to say in my comments on the Piano Bar every month.