lessons in improvisation and jazz vibraphone/marimba

In August and September 2011 I’m offering lessons in improvisation and jazz interpretation on vibraphone and marimba. Lessons will be in my home studio where the student and I will have enough space for collaborative music making and exploration.

In these lessons I want to help students explore their own musicality and give them tools to encourage them in improvisation, performance in jazz styles, song writing and composition. Students in high school and university are welcome as are adult learners. Students should probably understand the basics of keyboard percussion and need to bring a set of four marimba or vibraphone mallets. These lessons will be offered on an ad hoc basis with no commitment to any number of lessons.

A typical lesson might have some of these activities:

• free form improvisation in a particular scale or key
• creating and recording a simple piece by putting together riffs or chord progressions
• looking at a jazz standard and working on accompanying and soloing from a written chart

Of course, I’m happy to help students with any aspect of their playing.

• instruments: Musser M55 Vibraphone, MalletKat (4 octave), microphones and recording equipment
• location: Charles’ home studio in Ainslie, A.C.T.
• price: $50 per 1 hour lesson, no commitment to any number of lessons
• contact: 0419 176 858 or cpm at charlesmartin dot com dot au or message me on facebook or twitter