The Dordogne Jazz Summer School is based at Chateau
de Monteton, a real mediaeval castle, in south west France;
and led by pianist and composer Andrea
Vicari. A week of total immersion in jazz and improvisation.
An intensive musical language course in a supportive enviroment,
with a lot of enthusiastic people at all levels. You may surprise
yourself ....and it's fun !
Improvisation, jazz harmony, the exploration of various jazz
idioms, and group performance will be the main areas covered.
There are nightly organised jam sessions from 6.00pm and all-night
jams after dinner in the Cave, plus free concerts by the tutors
and other professional jazz musicians. At the end of the week
the students perform to a live audience. Open to all instruments
and levels. Adults (18+) only, unless chaperoned (16+)
more details
NEW for 2010
This year we are introducing a second week in a different format.
Andrea will be the main tutor and will take a group for intensive
improvisation studies. The idea is to give students sufficient
time to really work on their soloing without the distraction
of constantly changing tutors and pieces; examining harmony
in depth; playing from memory rather than sheets music; and
other advanced skills. If there is enough take-up we'll bring
in a second tutor running another group. Extra booking conditions
1. No beginners - It will only be open to people who have been
on the course before (or do week one this year for the first
time) as we want to teach to a higher level than the general
course. 2. There will be limited space - especially for rhythm
section players (obviously) - as we're sharing the Chateau.
3. Priority will be given to people who book for both weeks
and to more advanced players - and of course those who book
early. Others will be put on a waiting list.
Prices cover six days of jazz tuition, including
course materials; accommodation, continental breakfast, lunch
and evening meals with wine; full use of facilities, including
swimming pool, bar, restaurant; and transfer from Bergerac airport
or rail-station to the Chateau. No hidden extra charges, euro
surcharges or cab fares costing more than your flight. Pianos,
keyboards, drum kits, PAs and some amps are provided..... more
details ?
Fly direct to Bergerac
Airport from London (Stansted, Gatwick or Luton), Amsterdam,
Brussels, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester,
Southampton, Nottingham, Exeter, and Leeds-Bradford with RyanAir;
FlyBE
or Transavia.
For an ethical journey take the
Eurostar via Lille or Paris to Bergerac.
UK customers - why not pay with an Ryanair or FlyBE card and
claim a free flight (just pay taxes and charges)..... see
the TRAVEL page for details
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT BODY
The Dordogne Jazz Summer school welcomes students
from all countries. In past years these have included the UK,
France, Ireland, Spain, Japan, USA, Holland, Isreal, Austria,
Canada, Turkey, Norway, China (Hong Kong), Sweden, South Africa,
Catalonia, Austrailia, and Italy. Teaching is primarily in English
with French translation available as Andrea Vicari, Jon Bratoeff
and drum tutor Scott are fluent and the rest of us get by. We
use the internationally recognised jazz nomemclature (as found
in the "Real Books"). To translate pages click on
the AltaVista Babelfish Banner and type or paste in the URL.
Use the menu above to learn more or contact us using the details
below. Translate this page by clicking the flags to the left.
N.B. There are limited places on the
jazz summer school. So please book as early as possible.
Rooms will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
If in doubt EMAIL
