Clinic Description: (as it would appear in promotional materials):

Guided “free” improvisation, using structured games & graphically notated scores, provides a legitimate entry point for teaching beginner improvisers. It sidesteps overwhelming students initially with chords and scales. Conversely this approach can be a launch pad for the evolving professional.

Clinic Outline:

Earl's use of structured games and graphically notated scores with students transpired from the need to get students actively improvising in the first session of a summer jazz camp (when in all likelihood they knew nothing about chord symbols, let alone chord-scale relationships or the rich recorded history of jazz). This clinic does not negate the importance of teaching music theory. It provides/demonstrates a legitimate entry point to teaching beginner improvisers. Students will not experience temporary mental paralysis brought about by having too much new material to digest and assimilate as they try to create spontaneously. When similar games have been tried with professional jazz musicians in concert, the response has been gratifying. The structured games and pieces have provided a wonderful contrast within performance sets.