Junior Jazz

Junior Jazz helps jazz musicians aged 14 to 18 to develop their skills, confidence and passion for jazz. Previous students include Joe Armon-Jones, Jacob Collier, Kit Downes, Nubya Garcia, Michael Kiwanuka, Femi Koleoso and Alexandra Ridout.

Working under the direction of Gareth Lockrane and Matt Anderson, you will receive a weekly small-ensemble session and, over the course of the year, take part in masterclasses and workshops with renowned jazz performers and educators. In recent years, students have had the opportunity to work with Pete Churchill, Bokani Dyer, Adam Glasser, Dave Holland, Nikki Iles, Pete King, Dick Oatts, Jason Rebello and Gwilym Simcock, among others.

You will also enjoy numerous performance opportunities, including a summer term concert at Soho Pizza Express or Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

Work is largely practical, with most learning and performing happening in small ensembles. You will focus on improvisation, the study of harmonic and rhythmic elements, and playing in a variety of styles.

The course also includes the arrangement of standard jazz tunes for ensembles, and the importance of the ear/instrument relationship in jazz performance is strongly emphasised. You will be encouraged to listen to a wide range of genres and will learn about some of the musicians of the past who helped to shape the development of jazz.

Completing the course will not guarantee you a place on the undergraduate Jazz Programme at the Academy, but one of our key aims is to prepare students thoroughly for further specialist study, and graduates of the Junior Jazz Programme have had an almost 100% success rate of gaining entry to one of the UK conservatoire jazz courses.

We have close links with the senior Jazz Department, led by Nick Smart, and junior and senior students regularly work together.

We welcome applications for the following:

GUITAR | BASS | SAXOPHONE | TRUMPET | TROMBONE | DRUMS/PERCUSSION | FLUTE | CLARINET | PIANO | VOICE