Off-the-Book Workshop

Soon you'll be jamming, improvising, composing, and playing your favorite songs without any sheet music!

This is a picture of La Marr's Dance Band. Seems like it would be hard for them to dance and play all those instruments at the same time. (State Library of New South Wales collection)Learning to read music is definitely an important skill for a musician. But there is a whole world of patterns, phrases, and pathways that open up when you are listening, communicating, and expressing yourself musically without the safety net of the printed page.

What's really cool is that understanding the language of music will actually make you a better reader! So you can't go wrong in our Off-the-Book Workshop, no matter what instrument you play.

You'll learn:

  • The five notes that pretty much go with everything
  • The three chords that are the first ones you should try when figuring out a song by ear (plus three more that are also pretty useful, and one more that is essential if you want to play rock)
  • A clever way to non-boringly build scales and chords (legos, anyone?)
  • How to figure out songs and melodies by just listening to them (looks like magic, but it's not)
  • A bunch of your favorite songs and some that may be new to you, arranged specifically for you and your fellow workshop participants (you'll tell us beforehand what you'd like to play)

Plus, you'll also participate in:

  • The easiest jam session ever
  • A competition to see who can write the worst song in the world, using the three elements that every song must have
  • A Resonator Bell Relay (get exercise and play music at the same time!)
  • An honest-to-goodness drum circle (dreadlocks optional)
  • An end-of-workshop showcase

We'll organize all the workshop participants according to their age and level of experience. The more musicians we have, the better able we'll be to match you with people close to your age and skill level, so be sure to tell your friends!

This workshop will be offered the weeks of June 11, June 18, and July 2, 2012 at 56 17th Street in Ansley Park. Sign up now!

All Eclectic Music workshops are one-week, half-day workshops in which participants (ages five and up) are grouped based on age and experience. Two workshops can be combined to create a full-day workshop. Tuition starts at $160 per workshop and is 10% off until April 1.