Monthly Ornamentation Jamshop

Other online courses:
The Art of Preluding with Hotteterre
Quantz Baroque Ornamentation Course

Monthly Ornamentation Jamshop
NEW!
All Levels – Monthly meet-ups on Fridays

Click on the piece to have a look at it (proper editions coming up soon)

January 05 2024 – Larghetto by Quantz, first 12 bars 
February 02 2024 – Adagio by Händel
March 01 2024  – Your request – Let us know in the form below!

What?
We are organising monthly online get-togethers to practice ornamentation in a safe, friendly and easy-going atmosphere. If you have done a workshop with me before, you know what I mean ;-).
Each month there will be a very small movement, or even just a phrase from a piece.
Beforehand you will receive the snippet of music (for now click above) and I will provide a simple accompaniment at modern and baroque pitch to practice with and use during the session.
In the session Robert will introduce strategies to approach these real-life examples. Every active partipant also gets to play and experiment with ornamenting the music. The session is set up to have a maximum of 8 active participants, who each get at least 5 minutes to play their own versions (since most excerpts will be around 8-12 bars, you still get to do it many times).

The first two sessions will focus on Quantz in the first and Händel in the second session. Let us know what you want to do in the third session!

Why?
We can all practice some ornaments in a workshop or follow a video-series, but to really prepare a piece to be able to ornament on it is a different thing. And anyway, improvisation and ornamentation takes regular practice. These monthly get-togethers are supposed to inspire you to regularly prepare some ornamentation in real-life music, and at the same time, by hearing the others try the same, be inspired by all those other versions and ideas.

Who?
These sessions are supposed to be as open as possible, so anyone with any level and any instrument can join. You can come with no experience and learn to add a few simple ornaments like trills, or you can be more experienced and challenge yourself in new ways!
It is possible to be an active participant (max 8) and simply to respectfully listen in. Both types of participants pay as much though, so as to ensure that people are listening in for the right reasons :-).

Prerequisites?
NONE! It helps to have done the Ornamentation in the Baroque course (click link), but it’s not a prerequisite!

Cost and duration
Each session will be € 7,50 and take about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Who am I?
I am Robert. You might know me from The Scroll Ensemble or our YouTube channel. If not, in short: I have improvised in various styles in classical music for the last 20 years and teach improvisation at all levels. I teach improvisation at the Conservatory of The Hague, but have also traveled around teaching in various places in Europe and even Texas!
Beside this I have taught many courses designed to teach amateur musicians to learn to improvise and even worked with small children with the starting points of improvisation.
What is important for me, and what I receive most as feedback: Everyone feels safe in my class to experiment, make mistakes and learn together.

Apply here:

Monthly Jamshop 23/24
If you play a 'normal' modern instrument you will be at 440Hz. 415 is for baroque instruments.
These are all Amsterdam times, note winter clock!
For the first two sessions I have chosen some music that makes sense from my perspective. You may have specific questions about other movements though! Let me know here which and I'll try to include them in future sessions!