Practicing Better with Anton Schwartz at California Jazz Conservatory

Musical mastery requires a lot of time. So letÕs not waste any more time practicing the wrong way. In recent years, psychological experiments on skill acquisition have given a lot of new results about how to most efficiently develop memories and skills that last. Some of the results are quite powerful and counterintuitive. In this workshop we explore a number of findings and their concrete application to how we should practice. JazzÕs greatest improvisers create music that packs an emotional punch. ItÕs a lesson that tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz learned well. SchwartzÕs Quintet is Winner of 2016 Northwest Acoustic Jazz Ensemble of the Year...

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Musical mastery requires a lot of time. So letÕs not waste any more time practicing the wrong way. In recent years, psychological experiments on skill acquisition have given a lot of new results about how to most efficiently develop memories and skills that last. Some of the results are quite powerful and counterintuitive. In this workshop we explore a number of findings and their concrete application to how we should practice. JazzÕs greatest improvisers create music that packs an emotional punch. ItÕs a lesson that tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz learned well. SchwartzÕs Quintet is Winner of 2016 Northwest Acoustic Jazz Ensemble of the Year. Their latest album, Flash Mob, spent eight weeks in jazz radioÕs Top 10 and earned a four-star review in Down Beat magazine, reinforcing SchwartzÕs reputation as a passionate but poised improviser and smart purveyor of captivating melodies. Schwartz has performed at jazzÕs most prestigious clubs and festivals, including the Blue Note and DizzyÕs (NYC), Blues Alley (DC), YoshiÕs (Oakland), Jazz Alley (Seattle), and the Monterey Jazz Festival. Recent engagements include sold-out shows at Jazz at Lincoln Center and a feature as soloist with the Boston Pops in Boston Symphony Hall. He is a longtime faculty member of the California Jazz Conservatory and has taught extensively at the Stanford Jazz Workshop and the Brubeck Institute. Schwartz is also the author of a popular blog about jazz, improvisation and harmony.,

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