Berklee Global Jazz Institute Workshop at the Newport Jazz Festival
The Berklee Global Jazz Institute Workshop at the Newport Jazz Festival, hosted by Salve Regina University, offers aspiring young musicians, including vocalists and nontraditional instrumentalists, a full-scholarship (tuition and housing), five-day intensive jazz program taught by world-renowned faculty and led by Danilo Pérez as artistic director and Marco Pignataro as managing director. The program features ensemble rehearsals, master classes by musicians who have appeared in the Newport Jazz Festival, and final performances, with all students to play on the festival stage.
Note: students accepted into this program will receive a full tuition and housing scholarship to attend.
Students will participate in several core classes throughout the week:
Global Jazz Forum: The Berklee Global Jazz Institute artists' faculty workshops are a daily series of lectures addressing aesthetic, theoretical, and technical issues; analysis of music examples; interdisciplinary topics; and creative performance. Students will develop personal approaches to global jazz interpretation and improvisation. Class meetings will also include listening, ear training, improvisation, discussion, analysis, viewing of historical videos, and presentation of student projects.
Directed Study in Improvisation: In this course, students will explore the various melodic and rhythmic roles of their specific instruments. Students will be mentored and coached by the Berklee Global Jazz Institute's world-renowned visiting artists on a daily basis. Homework may include assigned listening, practice assignments, solo transcriptions and performances of the transcriptions, and creative composition and performance projects. Students will learn how to practice and perform music that includes the techniques learned in class and from the recommended listening selections.
Global Jazz Ensembles: Jazz ensembles will have a special focus on creative improvisation, compositions with emphasis on jazz repertoire, global jazz influences, rhythms, and folklore. Students will be mentored and coached by the Berklee Global Jazz Institute's world-renowned artists on a daily basis. Homework may include assigned listening, practice assignments, solo transcriptions, and creative composition and performance projects.
Ensemble Performance Laboratory: The goal of this class is to integrate and improve the student’s creative performance skills through supervised performance and jam session situations. In this class, students will develop and focus their skills as necessary for the creative fulfillment of their instrumental and artistic role through performance of the global jazz repertoire. Upon satisfactory completion of this class, students will have completed a number of guided performance routines that will, directly or indirectly, address any problems they may have with technique, intonation, articulation, style orientation, improvisation, and ensemble-centered production (listening/response sensitivity), which in turn will increase their viability and confidence in the professional performance environment.
What is the schedule?
Below is a sample of a typical day in the program.
Time
Event
8:30 a.m.–9:30 a.m.
Breakfast
9:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
Ensemble Performance Laboratory
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Lunch
12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m.
Directed Study in Improvisation
1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
Global Jazz Ensembles
3:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
Global Jazz Forum
5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
Dinner
7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m.
Evening Activities, including Jam Sessions
Schedule subject to change
The last activity is the Friday performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, after which students are free to leave. There will be a courtesy bus back to Salve Regina to retrieve stored belongings, though students must clear out their dorm room Friday morning. Otherwise, students must bring their belongings to the festival or arrange their own transportation. There are storage facilities on the festival grounds.
What are the performance opportunities?
Students have the ability to participate in open jam sessions each evening.
The program will culminate in a final performance on Thursday night at Salve Regina and on Friday afternoon at the Newport Jazz Festival. Students will perform the repertoire they rehearse in their ensembles.
What are the requirements to attend?
Students must apply to this program by completing an online application and submitting three links to video performances. If accepted, all tuition and housing expenses will be covered in full by a scholarship.
Participants study and stay in the heart of Newport's Bellevue Avenue historic district on the campus of Salve Regina University. Friends and family of program participants are invited to make a reservation at one of the hotels in the area.
Students will eat in the dining hall at Salve Regina University. Please inform us if you have any allergies or need other special accommodations by emailing or calling rebecca.webb@salve.edu or 401-341-2353.
Please note: students must remain on the Salve Regina University campus during this program.
What do I need to bring?
Berklee will provide backline including drum sets, amps, and other relevant equipment. Drummers will need to bring their own hi-hats, cymbals, and stick bag. All instrumental players, except pianists, are expected to bring or rent their own instruments. Suggestions for rental include Robert’s Musical Instruments in Warwick, Rhode Island, or Beekman Violin in Wakefield, Rhode Island.
Please bring personal toiletries, comfortable clothes and shoes, and professional attire for the day of the festival. If possible, bring a personal fan as the dorms can get very warm at night. Bed linens, towels, free laundry facilities, and wireless internet will be provided. Aside from your personal belongings, we recommend bringing extra spending money.
A Grammy Award winner, pianist, composer, producer, and educator, Danilo Pérez is also a social activist, humanitarian, and leading proponent of global jazz.
Marco Pignataro is a multitalented saxophonist, composer, and educator who has shared the stage with John Patitucci, Rufus Reid, and Antonio Sanchez.
Berklee Global Jazz Institute is a creative music institute with a progressive vision to develop the artist of the new millennium.
Thanks to the generous support of the Wein Foundation, founded by Joyce and George Wein, and the Newport Festivals Foundation, a 501C3 nonprofit founded in late 2010 to continue the legacies of the Newport Jazz and Newport Folk Festivals, it is possible for students to attend the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Workshop at Salve Regina University on scholarship. Avid jazz fans, the Weins created their foundation years ago in order to give back after their own career successes. As the current chairman of the Newport Festivals Foundation, George is proud to be working with Berklee and looking forward to hearing the musicians play at the end of the program.
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