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Learn with Anton Schwartz
LESSONS -
CLASSES -
WORKSHOPS -
MAILING LIST
Anton's Studio
"Anton is an exceptional player and inspirational teacher, not to mention a lot of fun! He is organized and prepared, and so well versed in so many aspects of jazz performance and education... What more could a student want in a teacher?!"
 -- Susan Muscarella, Director
The Jazzschool
"Anton Schwartz is Professor Powerbar -- so much nutritional info packed into each class!"
--Andrea Satin, vocalist
"Anton -- It's rare to find a teacher who really knows the territory, much less one who can teach effectively, comprehensively, and energetically. Rarer still, one who is a model to learn from. Baby, it's you!
--David Altschul, songwriter
"I truly appreciate your teaching, Anton... Thanks for your ideas, enthusiasm, and leadership. I am motivated to continue working on my music."
--John Papini, pianist
Anton enjoys sharing his love of the music and the craft of jazz with aspiring musicians, both recreational and professional. He is a faculty member of the Jazzschool and the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and a frequent clinician for the Brubeck Institute. He also teaches privately out of his own studio.
(To learn about Anton's credentials as a musician, visit here.)
Private
Lessons |
Anton teaches lessons out of his studio in northern Oakland, California.
He works with intermediate and advanced students of diverse instruments who have an interest in some or all of the following:
- expressing emotions powerfully through music
- improvising fluidly over chord changes
- playing by ear
- fluency in the many idioms of jazz, plus funk & blues
- phrasing
- advanced harmony
- [for saxophonists:] saxophone technique, including sound production, articulation, altissimo, inflections & effects.
- the physics of musical sound
- efficient practice methods for a busy lifestyle
Anton particularly loves working with musicians who have studied scales and chords but are frustrated in their efforts to use those devices to make great solos.
The studio has off-street parking and is located minutes from the Bay Bridge and highways 80, 880, 580, and 24.
Lessons are normally 75 minutes long and cost $90. |
| Mailing List |
To stay posted on Anton's teaching activities, as well as occasional pointers and thoughts about learning jazz, sign up for his jazz education mailing list. |
Workout
Sessions |
Anton has started a weekly class at his studio for intermediate-advanced players:
Do you understand lots of theory but sometimes have trouble putting it to use when you solo? Do you hear lots of ideas when you improvise but they don't always come out right when you play them? Find yourself playing the same phrases more often than you'd like? These fast-moving, playing-intensive workouts will help you turn tacit knowledge into real-world skills and reflexes, through a combination of collective exercises and games. Bring your ears and your instruments!
Prerequisites: Facility on a pitched instrument or voice; a basic understanding of jazz chord theory; ability to identify intervals by ear and play all major & minor scales & arpeggios easily by memory.
The sessions are 90 minutes long, cost $25 each (no long-term signup necessary) and are held at Anton's studio. For more information, contact Anton. |
Jazzschool
Classes |
Anton is on the faculty of the Jazzschool in Berkeley, California, where he teaches
weekly classes in jazz, as well as periodic workshops (see below). Upcoming classes:
"Improvising Eighth Note Lines I"
(Winter 2010, Tuesdays, 6:30-8:00pm)
See below.
"Improvising Eighth Note Lines II"
(Winter 2010, Tuesdays, 8:15-9:45pm)
For students who wish to further develop their ability to construct coherent and
compelling eighth note lines over chord changes. Class time consists mostly of
drills and exercises, supplemented by periodic discussion.
Prerequisite: Improvising Eighth Note Lines I.
Combo: "The Art of the Ballad"
(Spring 2010, Tuesdays, 4:45-6:15pm)
This advanced level ensemble performs and discusses the
classic slow songs of the jazz repertoire, focusing especially on
phrasing and feel, and the rhythmic, harmonic and technical tools they
require. Students also explore double-time feel, rubato, cadenzas, and
unconventional slow grooves.
"Improvising Eighth Note Lines I"
(Spring 2010, Tuesdays, 8:15-9:45pm)
This class teaches students how to sound compelling and coherent when playing
streams of eighth notes. Through discussion, homework and in-class performance,
students learn the idiomatic techniques of bebop, coordination of rhythm and
melody, harmonic tension and resolution, smooth transitions from chord to chord,
non-linear elements and modern improvisational devices. Jazz theory often focuses
on WHICH scales to use when; this course focuses on the details of HOW to use
scales.
Prerequisite: facility on a pitched instrument or voice; some improvisation
experience; and ability to play all major/minor scales and arpeggios easily by
memory. Open to all melodic instruments.
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
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| Workshops |
Anton periodically offers special one-time seminars. Upcoming ones:
"How The Saxophone Works"
January 24, 2010, Sunday, 11am-1pm
Think you know how your woodwind instrument works? Think again. This workshop explores the physical aspects of how saxophones and other woodwinds create the sounds that they do, with practical applications for players. Topics include: modes of vibration; what makes octave/register keys work; the physics of overtones; false fingerings; how altissimo works; and the role of the airstream. Students may try various techniques such as growling, harmonics and glissando, and discuss them in light of the physics of the instrument.
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
"Jazz Saxophone: Making it Swing"
January 24, 2010, Sunday, 2pm-4pm
This workshop for saxophonists and woodwind players explores, from a technical standpoint, how to make your phrases swing. It presents different flavors of swinging, from down and dirty to light and nimble, and considers the various tools available to saxophonists: rhythmic variation, accents, articulations and inflections. Participants listen to recorded examples and live demonstrations, and practice the ideas on their instruments.
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
"Playing the *@$^%* out of There Will Never Be Another You"
February 28, 2010, Sunday, 11:45am-1:45pm
This workshop delves deeply into one of the most widely played of all the jazz standards, a classic by Harry Warren. We examine the song's harmony in ways that will directly help us improvise over it, discussing the chord progression on both a micro level (how each chord leads to the next) and a big-picture level (how they all work together to form a coherent song). Suggestions are given for ways to mentally simplify the song's structure, as well as a variety of neat harmonic tricks to embellish to the chord changes. Students optionally improvise over the song and are critiqued, with recommendations given for a direct path to improvement.
Prerequisites: facility on a melodic instrument or vocals. Knowledge of basic harmony, including major, minor and mixolydian scales.
Suggested: some familiarity with There Will Never Be Another You, and with altered and half-diminished chords.
Bring your instrument (optional).
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
"Get your music career on track!"
March 21, 2010, Sunday, 11am-4pm
A practical look at how to build your career as an independent artist. Whether you have you have several CDs and years of gigs under your belt or you're just getting started and have never recorded, this workshop is guaranteed to let you understand the music business - and your place in it - in ways you never had before. Subjects will include selling and distributing your music, the role of a CD, conventional and digital sales, radio airplay and promotion, getting reviews and interviews, dealing with clubowners, using the internet to build your fan base. We'll have fun while we cover plenty of territory, with lots of good anecdotes and inside information!
See the writeup in the East Bay Express.
There will be a 30 minute lunch break.
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
"Altered Dominant and Dominant 13-flat-9 Chords - The How, When & Why of Using Them"
May 9, 2010, Sunday, 11:00am-2:00pm
These two chords provide rich colors that are essential to the palette of intermediate and advanced jazz players. This workshop takes a deep look at the chords and their accompanying scales, examining how each is constructed, *why* they are constructed that way, and how they may be used to maximal effect. Their sounds are contrasted within the context of jazz (e.g. when should one be used rather than the other?), listening to examples of their use. Additional topics include: different types of "outness"; and lydian dominant, the "sister" of the altered sound. This workshop is appropriate for students without prior exposure to the subject, as well as students familiar with melodic minor and diminished harmony who wish to deepen their understanding. Guaranteed to show you ways of thinking about these chords that you haven't seen before.
Prerequisite: an understanding of basic theory and the mixolydian scale.
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
"Sus Chords - The How, When & Why of Using Them"
May 9, 2009, Sunday, 3pm-5pm
Prerequisite: an understanding of basic theory and the mixolydian scale.
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
"Playing the *@$^%* out of Autumn Leaves"
June 13, 2010, Sunday, 11:45am-1:45pm
This workshop delves deeply into one of the most widely played of all the jazz standards, a classic by Joseph Kosma. We examine the song's harmony in ways that will directly help us improvise over it, discussing the chord progression on both a micro level (how each chord leads to the next) and a big-picture level (how they all work together to form a coherent song). Suggestions are given for ways to mentally simplify the song's structure, as well as a variety of neat harmonic tricks to embellish to the chord changes. Students optionally improvise over the song and are critiqued, with recommendations given for a direct path to improvement.
Prerequisites: facility on a melodic instrument or vocals. Knowledge of basic harmony, including major, minor and mixolydian scales.
Suggested: some familiarity with Autumn Leaves, and with altered and half-diminished chords.
Bring your instrument (optional).
For more information visit jazzschool.com.
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Private Lessons
