Snaggle with members of the Loretto Abbey Jazz Band
Jazz improvisation requires a great deal of theoretical knowledge and practical skills in order to master. These two categories are well understood and taught by today’s jazz pedagogy, however, there is a third aspect to improvisation which is oddly absent: mindset. A player’s mindset can shackle them to tired ideas, paralyze them with anxiety or free them to explore new possibilities (obviously we’re going for the last one). In our workshops we aim to take your students outside of their comfort zones to show them new ways of thinking and approaching improvisation.
We know that some of your students may be thinking of pursuing music at university and further down the road as a career. All of us at Snaggle are graduates of the Humber college school of music and have long begun our careers as working musicians. We like to provide our own unique perspective on our experiences with post-secondary education, what opportunities there are in the music industry and what your students can expect from the next 5 years of their education and careers.
If you would like to get an idea what we typically get up to during our workshops please take a look at this sample of a typical 1 hour workshop.
Download Sample Workshop
Snaggle at Merivale High School
Here’s what students and teachers are saying about our workshops
“Snaggle Music provided a top-notch jazz improvisation workshop and concert for my grade 10 students at St. Clement’s School. All of the musicians were kind, patient and extremely talented. They ably encouraged the girls to take risks in a very comfortably, safe environment. The girls and I learned a great deal. I will definitely contact them next year to come back to work with another group of students.”
– Maggie Thompson Music Teacher, St Clements School C.S.S. Toronto, ON
“A well organized student-engaging Jazz improvisation workshop by Snaggle group musicians left the Loretto Abbey Jazz program musicians inspired, captivated, and encouraged to try new ideas in Jazz improvisation. I highly recommend this group of young musicians for future performance or workshop opportunities.”
– Nijole Benotas Arts Department Head, Loretto Abbey C.S.S. Toronto, ON
“The students left charged up and more willing to dive into improvisation. I would highly recommend Snaggle to any jazz program looking to develop improvisation in their ensemble.”
– Tessa MacLean Music Teacher, Merivale H.S. Ottawa, ON
– “It was such a great experience to be able to learn from professionals. I learned a lot of new things that we don’t usually learn in school. It was an experience to remember in my music career.”
– “Thanks so much! I think I really improved over the 3 workshops and feel more comfortable improvising on my instrument now.”
– “Thanks Snaggle. You are amazing musicians. I learned a lot during the workshops. I was really nervous to improvise at first but now I feel much more confident.”
– “You are all so nice and patient! I appreciated your help. Please come work with us again!!!”
-“The Snaggle workshop was an awesome experience and they helped me grasp the concept of improvisation, and become more comfortable improvising on the spot. Their passion for music inspired me and they were fun to work with! They’re a group of very talented guys, and it was really awesome having the little “drum battle” with Tom (the world’s fastest drummer)! Hope to see the guys in concert, in the future!”
-“I think Snaggle was a very important and useful addition to this year’s curriculum. They helped with our weakest category, improvisation. Before they came I didn’t put much emphasis on improv. because being a trombone meant little to no solos and no improv. Our pieces are given to us and practiced meticulously until our teachers deem us good enough. When we watched Snaggle perform they showed me that they can be very good performers who work together to create a tight piece but still being able to put their own voice in things.”
-“Getting Snaggle to come in for a jazz workshop was a really fun and cool experience. Having young hip guys with a passion for music was really nice to see. The feedback and the activities they did with us was so much fun. They got the most shyest people out of their shell, and got them to let loose. What I learned from them was to let the music just come to you and be confident in what you are doing. Plus they were cute ;)”
Snaggle 