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Education Articles

Finally- Online Jazz Violin lessons!!

Posted May 27, 2011 in Education

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String players have been asking me for a long time about improvisation and alternative styles.

So, after working as an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music, teaching thousands of string players in schools around the world,

and touring/recording with artists including Les Paul, Victor Wooten, Spyro Gyra, Bela Fleck, Bill Evans, Sam Bush, Greg Osby, and more,

I’ve decided to share everything I know about improvisation, via comprehensive videos that go straight to the heart of things.

With my new Creative String Lesson Videos, you’ll learn how to improvise fluently, with confidence, in many styles of music.

By getting in now you’ll receive the early bird’s locked in price of under $20 per month.

You’ll learn:

Improvisation

Accessible Music Theory

Jazz, Rock, Bluegrass, Blues, Latin styles, and more..

Hear, Understand, and Articulate Harmony

- Recognize chord progressions

- Form chord scales, learn how and when to combine scales

- Accompany, harmonize, and play songs unaccompanied

Improvise Immediately, whether or not you know tunes, chord progressions, or fancy licks…

-Develop confidence and overcome self-consciousness

-Jam freely with other musicians whether you’re playing jazz, blues, rock, folk styles, and more on viola, violin, or cello.

Go Electric

-How to amplify violins, cellos, and violas
-How to use effects

Career and Music Business Tips

-Get more gigs
-Enjoy more variety of work
-Run your own business

Bonuses!!!
MultiMedia Series- “Easy Tonal Improvisation”-
(8 videos, 5 mp3 backing tracks and a worksheet )
-Learn secrets to help you play notes that ALWAYS sound right!!
-Bass lines, loops, comping patterns in rock, bluegrass, reggae, and more

The Violin Harmony Handbook- 75-page ebook

- Practical harmony tips and comprehensive break down.
-Chord Glossary: Hundres of jazz chords on violin
-Jazzy unaccompanied arrangements
-Practice regimens

Content tailored at your request monthly

-new videos every month
-group calls
-exclusive interviews with amazing guests

Here’s what people are saying:
The Creative Strings video lessons are a great tool for learning improvisation and harmony on the violin for beginning and more advanced improvisers, and for everyone in between (like me!). The videos and Violin Harmony handbook really help fill in the gaps that other traditional improvisational systems leave. It’s wonderful to finally have a method specifically tailored to improvising on the violin that really understands the nuances of the instrument and can deliver the content in a fun, easy and creative way. Thank you Christian for sharing your knowledge and making this available to anyone who wishes to learn to improvis

e! Andrea Baker, (Professional creative violinist/fiddler)

This stuff pertains directly to my life and career as a professional violinist and I love how you cut right to the chase with the theory and make it so accessible. Internalizing chords is EXACTLY what I need in my diet. Please keep the information coming!

professional Nashville-based violinist/fiddler

p.s. feel free to email me with any questions related to any and all of these topics including:
jazz violin, jazz viola, jazz cello
blues violin, blues cello, blues viola
rock violin, rock cello, rock cello
improvisation for violin, viola, or cello

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Read more articles about blues cello, how to improvise in rock, jazz viola, jazz violin, jazz violinist, rock cello

Jazz Violinist, Shu Mei Yap fuses East and West

Posted May 11, 2011 in Education, General Blog

A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, Shu Mei Yap has gained notoriety in both the classical and non-classical scenes in Singapore, and 16 years ago she founded the Mandeville Conservatory of Music.

When she attended during one of the first years of the Creative Strings Workshop, and she already had a history of studying jazz improvisation. I was struck by how advanced she was and how determined she was to develop her voice as a jazz artist, especially given that she lived in Singapore.

Clips

Here are some great clips off her new album, Jazz Canvas, Asian Memories, which I helped produce. All three showcase her versatility and vision.

This first clip, from the opening track “Gotcha” (featuring emcee Malik Wiloughby) is a hip hop tune based on a motif from Katchaturian’s Violin Concerto. It demonstrates Shu Mei’s willingness to break from the confines of any particular tradition.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This next clip is from a song I also played on, called “OCD”.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This last clip, from “Molihua”, is Shu Mei’s take on a traditional Chinese folk tune.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Interview

Below is an interview that Adrian Jusdanis, another CSW participant, did with her regarding her experiences at the Creative Strings Workshop, her cross-genre approach, and what she’s been up to since the album came out.

AJ: What was your experience like attending the Creative Strings Workshop? What did you learn from it, and how did you grow as a musician?

SM: I attended two of the CSWs. It was really fun and I got to know many great string players of the alternative styles. I was very inspired and I learned a lot from everyone there.. I got to try out my originals there too and it was great to have all these great players play and interpret my stuff.

AJ: The album covers many styles and genres, from traditional Chinese and Malay folk songs, hip hop, classical, to jazz and various Latin styles, often times fused together. At what point did you begin to integrate these various traditions in your playing?

SM: Christian got me interested in this after I met him at the American String Teachers Association Conference sometime in 2006. He told me to write music that is unique to me. I am Chinese and I come from a classical background. So it is natural for me to fuse classical music and my culture into jazz.

AJ: How has your music education differed from the East to the West?

SM:There’s a lot of freedom of thoughts in the west. It was more like in the east we were told what we were supposed to do whereas in the west, we were asked how we wanted to do things.

AJ:Now that the album has been out for a little while, what are you doing?

SM: I am playing in a band with four other girls and we play our original music and work out songs that are of interest to us. I am really happy to be playing in this band as we practice regularly. It was hard to find a band that was willing to practice even for no occasions. Besides that I am teaching as usual and running my music school of 16 years.

…

Click here to buy Shu Mei’s Jazz Canvas, Asian Memories

1 Comment - Leave a Comment »

Summer Camps for String Players

Posted April 5, 2011 in Education, General Blog

If you’re trying to develop as a creative string player, summer camp is a great option for adults as well as kids.

First let me tell you about the innovative Creative Strings Workshop, catering to adult pros/semipros, teachers, and/or serious players as young as 16. This conference is devoted exclusively to a wide array of improvised music for string players. You’ll have the opportunity to rehearse intensively and perform in ensembles with our guest artists in several of the 25 concerts we present during the week. Lug gear, take road trips, deal with live sound, and be prepared to receive high fives from fans because you will lay it all on the line ONSTAGE, accompanied by top of the line rhythm sections.

Our guest artists are amazing, and you will work with them as a member of their band!

See these highlights regarding some of the guest artists set for this year: Claudio Peña is a creative cellist conducting bowed group improv Jason Anick is a fresh and informed voice in gypsy jazz, fiddle styles, and more. Billy Contreas is the greatest genius on the violin in the history of the universe.

Other Camps

There are some other great camps this year as well to check out including Mark O’Connor’s fiddle camps in Tennessee (June 20-24) and Boston (June 27 – July 1), the Mike Block String Camp for fiddle styles in Florida (June 26 – July 2)), Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp in Colorado (July 31 – August 7), Alasdair Frasier’s Sierra Fiddle Camp in California (June 18 – June 26), the first year out for Peter Rolland’s Camp for fiddle styles in Colorado (June 26 – July 2), Django Camp in Massachusetts for gypsy jazz (June 14 – 19), and the Mt. Shasta Invitational Music Camp in California (check out my blog for videos of me and camp founder Tashina Clarridge talking camps and jamming!).

All of these camps will help you develop as a creative string player and allow you to network with other like-minded musicians.

Violin Harmony Handbook now in Portuguese!

Posted in Education, General Blog

Mario Marçal Jr. has successfully translated the Violin Harmony Handbook to Portuguese and the first part is now available in the online University Magazine of the Center for the Arts of Santa Catarina State University – International (CEART-UDESCO).

To see the full article, click follow this link: O Manual da Harmonia no Violino.

Posted March 18, 2011 in Education, General Blog

Watch the video below this post. You’ll see 2011 Creative Strings Workshop and Festival faculty member, Claudio Peña, conducting nearly 100 improvising cellists at the Botanical Garden in Buenos Aires. Using predetermined hand signals, Claudio leads the musicians through a beautiful and haunting musical arrangement composed in real time. His conducting can initiate or modify harmony, melody, rhythm, articulation, phrasing, or form, allowing for the composition to be collectively and spontaneously developed.

Claudio has won numerous awards in Argentina for jazz and avant-garde, as well as music for theatre and children’s shows.

You will be able to take classes from and play along side with Claudio, as well as many other noted creative string players, such as Marcelo Vieira, Billy Contreas, Jason Anick and myself, at this years Creative Strings Workshop and Festival, being held June 21-26 in Columbus, OH. Click here for more information and to register.

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