This summer we are excited to introduce our new Educator’s Track as part of Jazz Port Townsend, one of the nation’s premier jazz workshops.

This program will provide specific information and teaching tips to educators who want to improve their skills in teaching jazz while earning 40 in-service clock hours. Clarence Acox (pictured, top) , director of the renowned jazz program at Garfield High School in Seattle, is the lead faculty member. He’ll be joined by several of our workshop faculty who will share their expertise.

Particular emphasis will be given to teaching improvisation, plus sessions in the rhythm section, drum set, big band, jazz theory and a variety of special topics. Participants will watch and work with talented students from the Jazz Port Townsend workshop as you hone your teaching skills. Participants will also observe combo rehearsals and master classes led by our world class faculty. In addition, admission to all performances throughout the week is included in the Educator’s Track tuition.

Program Manager Gregg Miller talked recently about why he’s excited about this new initiative:

“A few years ago we started to think about how we could give more musicians the opportunity to learn from the amazing faculty we have at Jazz Port Townsend. John Clayton does a great job of assembling faculty who are outstanding performers AND educators, which is a central tenet of the workshop. With that in mind it was a natural decision to create a track specifically for educators. Many educators are doing heroic work teaching jazz despite having only cursory training in teaching it. We want to give these people solid information and skills they can use when they head back to the classroom in the fall. In this track they’ll learn from world-class jazz musicians while being immersed in the musical intensity of Jazz Port Townsend.”

For complete information, including a detailed schedule, visit our Jazz Port Townsend Educator’s Track page.