Education

Photo © Ravi Abcarian

All classes and workshops listed below meet at 55 Washington Street (in Jack London Square), Oakland, CA

Combo Workshop

Performance Ensemble Workshop

Improvisation class

Theory class

Live Audio Reinforcement

Private lessons

How to apply:
Please click the link below and fill out Oaktown Jazz Workshops’ Interest Form. We will contact you within 3 days to discuss registration, tuition, and which of our programs suit your young musician best.
Interest Form

Photo © Grayson Littles
Photo © Grason Littles

Traditionally, young musicians learned to play jazz by hanging out with more experienced professional musicians in their neighborhoods and nightclubs. In more recent times young musicians have learned to play in school bands where the focus is on reading music. By employing professional jazz musicians as instructors, Oaktown Jazz Workshops uses the traditional model to offer a distinctive approach to jazz instruction that gives students a foundation in the jazz fundamentals of improvisation, arranging and learning to play by ear.

Our students benefit from their instructors’ collective years of experience as performers and their highly developed sensitivity to the unique dynamics that set jazz apart from other disciplines.

Oakland Youth Jazz Education