Registrations for Essentially Ellington Down Under 2020 are now open!
Essentially Ellington Down Under 2020 is a high school jazz band festival and professional development workshop for high school music students and teachers held in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth delivered by Jazz Music Institute (JMI) and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
To register for Essentially Ellington Down Under 2020, please go to www.jazz.qld.edu.au/ee
Here’s what some previous attendees to the Essentially Ellington Down Under program have to say about their experience:
“The Essentially Ellington Down Under festival is the one of the most important and hippest jazz education events on the Australian calendar. If you lead a big band, you simply must bring your band to participate. It ticks all the boxes for me as an opportunity to perform in a non-competitive environment, to get immediate feedback from experts in the jazz field, and for me and my band to learn new concepts. Taking your band to this festival is the right thing to do.” – Eric Dunan, Band Director at Wollongong Conservatorium
“The Essentially Ellington Music Festival brings this great art-form to new generations of students. It’s great to see and hear teenagers performing these landmark works. Vince and Jerome bring knowledge, fine musicianship, integrity and a joyful enthusiasm to the workshops. Our students and directors walk away better human beings.” – Bernie Hickey, Band Director at Killester College
“I found the event extremely informative. I came away with lots of practical, applicable information that will improve my skill set as a Band Director. Vince and Jerome were generous with their knowledge and I fed off their absolute passion for jazz and big band music. The students and teachers are very fortunate to be exposed to this level of coaching.” – Robin Findlay, music teacher at Concordia College
Big Band Festival
The big band festival component of this program is a non-competitive performance festival for high school jazz bands throughout Australia that is focused on education. The objective of the festival is to ensure that every jazz band that participates leaves the festival a better band with more knowledge and inspiration to perform the great art form of jazz music.
Dates for the festivals in each city are
Sydney – 8th & 9th August 2020
Brisbane – 13th August 2020
Perth – 16th August 2020
Adelaide – 19th August 2020
Melbourne – 22nd & 23rd August 2020
Teacher Workshops
The teacher workshop component of this program is a professional development activity designed for music teachers to gain a deeper understanding of jazz music and ways to teach this music to young musicians. The workshop is a full day activity which is engaging and interactive, including using a real high school jazz band to demonstrate teaching methods and techniques to teachers. The objective of these workshops is to increase awareness and knowledge of jazz music and pedagogical approaches to teaching jazz.
Dates for the workshops in each city are:
Sydney – 10th August 2020
Brisbane – 14th August 2020
Perth – 17th August 2020
Adelaide – 20th August 2020
Melbourne – 224th August 2020