PORT ANGELES — Flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny will present a free jazz workshop/clinic from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today.
The workshop, “Melodic Mastery,” will be in Maier Performance Hall at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. It is open to all interested educators, performers, improvisers and listeners. It will be sponsored by the college’s music department with the help of the PC Jazz Ensemble.
Matheny will perform in Maier Hall at 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets will be available at the door, for $12 general admission and $5 for students with public school or college ID.
His program on “Melodic Mastery,” which he has presented at more than 100 colleges, high schools, jazz camps and community organizations in the western U.S., is based on the teachings of his mentor, legendary flugelhornist Art Farmer.
Matheny advocates a lyrical, melodic approach to jazz which stands in stark contrast to the chord scale and pattern-based methods currently in vogue.
“Your solo is an opportunity to express something entirely new and profoundly personal,” Matheny said. “Create your own melody. Tell your own story. Sing your own song! This is no time for plugging in recycled, memorized material.”
In each workshop, Matheny explores the mental processes that take place while playing a jazz solo and the skills required for true improvisation.
The workshop outlines the elements of music (melody, harmony, rhythm, tone, timbre and form) from the soloist’s perspective, and why the melody should be the guide when improvising. Matheny explains how to spontaneously create melodies and develop them in real time through a series of simple or complex harmonic changes. He provides recorded examples, demonstrate specific techniques on his horn, and share anecdotes from his professional career and years of tutelage under Farmer.
Several members of the PC Jazz Ensemble will perform as part of Matheny’s workshop.
For more information contact David Jones at 360-417-6405 or at djones@pencol.edu.
