Webinar: Improv 101 and Beyond: Blues, Bebop, and Vocal Improv Ideas for Your Music Classroom

Presenters: Lenora Helm Hammonds, Danny Kolke, William Leather, Lisa Linde. Facilitator: Bethany Robinson.

This webinar will give you strategies to introduce the blues, bebop, and vocal jazz improvisation to your students. Members of NAfME’s Council for Jazz Education will discuss how to engage large classes, which will make this session something you could bring to your concert band or orchestra. Educators with minimal jazz experience as well as experienced jazz educators will leave with ideas and inspiration.

Chicago native, former U.S. Jazz Ambassador, and Fulbright Senior Music Specialist, Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds feels privileged to serve on the National Executive Board and Equity Committee of NAfME, in addition to her role as Southern Division Representative, Council for Jazz Education. She is the Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Music, Director of Graduate Programs/Jazz Studies, and Vocal Jazz Ensemble Director at North Carolina Central University, as well as a clinician, and published researcher in intercultural maturity, jazz pedagogy, and digital humanities. Academic award highlights for Lenora include the highest faculty honor, the 2021 University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching and the inaugural Jazz Music Awards, Jazz Educator of Distinction. Previously known as Lenora Zenzalai Helm, she is a MacDowell composer fellow, has recorded eight CDs, and received composer awards, including Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works. Her film score to Problem of the Hero, won acclaim in 2022-23 film festival circuits, including: Harlem International Film Festival, Santa Fe Film Festival, Naples Film Festiva,l and St. Louis International Film Festival. Recent recordings For the Love of Big Band (2020) features her ensemble Tribe Jazz Orchestra®, and Journeywoman (2023) features her ensemble Tribe Jazz Orchestra Nonet. Visit www.LenoraHelm.com.

Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator Danny Kolke is founder of Boxley’s jazz club in North Bend Washington. In 2010, Danny founded the Boxley Music Fund (now JazzClubsNW), a nonprofit organization committed to helping support live music performance and Jazz education. JazzClubsNW is a membership-based organization that pays musicians to host clinics and workshops, public performances, as well as organize Jazz & Blues festivals across the Northwest.

William (Bill) Leather is a 2005 graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with a degree in Music Education. He received his Master of Music in 2013 from the American Band College of Sam Houston State University and, in 2016, finished his ninth and final year as an Associate Band Director at Penn High School in Mishawaka, Indiana. At Penn, he oversaw all aspects of the percussion and jazz programs and assisted with the Freshmen Concert Band and Symphonic Band. The Penn Advanced Jazz Ensemble frequently achieved success at festivals throughout the Midwest and was named a top twelve finalist for the 2014 and 2016 Swing Central Jazz Festival in Savannah, Georgia. In 2008, Leather was an assistant conductor with the Penn Symphonic Band for their featured performance at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. In the fall of 2016, he joined the music team at Mount Si High School as Co-Director of Bands. At Mount Si, Bill teaches Jazz, all wind bands, percussion ensemble, and a West African Djembe class. Under his direction, Mount Si Jazz I has been an Essentially Ellington finalist in 2019, 2020, and 2022. Leather resides in North Bend, Washington, with his wife Liz, daughters Mya and Makena, and son Greyson.

Lisa Linde teaches instrumental music in Massachusetts at Newton South High School, where her ensembles regularly receive top ratings at state and national festivals including multiple appearances at the Charles Mingus and Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Festivals. She is also a passionate advocate for gender equality in jazz and is the founder of the nonprofit jazzhers. Linde was the 2018 Teacher of the Year at Newton South High School, the 2022 recipient of the MICCA Hall of Fame award for teaching excellence, the 2023 National Federation of State High Schools Outstanding Music Educator Award for Massachusetts, as well as a 2024 Grammy Quarterfinalist. She is a frequent adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor across the U.S.

Bethany Robinson is a Yamaha Performing Artist, 2022 Grammy Music Educator Award finalist, chair of the National Association for Music Education Jazz Council, president of the Indiana Jazz Educators Association, and serves on the Jazz Education Network Board. She is the jazz band director for Noblesville Schools in Noblesville, Indiana, and an Essentially Ellington Finalists 2021 and 2022. Her awards include 2014 Indiana Jazz Educator of the Year, 2015 Noblesville Teacher of the Year, 2016 Indiana Teacher of the Year semi-finalist, 2022 Jazz Journalist Association Jazz Hero, and 2023 IMEA High School Music Educator of the Year. Robinson helps to lead the annual Indiana Jazz Girls Day events and has presented at the Australia National Band and Orchestra Conference and Midwest. She is an avid clinician, adjudicator, and performer on upright bass, electric bass, and vocals.