The Combo

The School's Jazz Studies Program uses the combo as its main learning platform.  Combos focus on traditional small-group jazz from New Orleans to Swing to Bebop and modern styles. Students from elementary-age kids to adults with intermediate to advanced ability on their instrument, ability to play all major scales, good music reading skills, and some knowledge of jazz theory and chord structures can be in a combo!

Find Your Combo

Youth Jazz Combo

Adult Jazz Combo

What you'll Learn:

• About music theory and how to apply it to Jazz improvisation.
• Explore intervals, chords (Major, Minor, Dominant, Half Diminished and Altered Dominant), Scales, Voice Leading, and jazz rhythms
• About Jazz history through listening and performing a wide variety of musical styles.
• How to read a lead sheet.
• How to make the music come to life through interpreting a lead sheet Learn the roles of each instrument in the small Jazz ensemble: bass lines, piano voicing, drum-set elements, etc.