Guided Practice

These exercises will start to get you more comfortable with your instrument. Whether you are a beginner, or a seasoned musician who needs to brush up on their fundamentals, these starting exercises will help you on your road to improvisation!

Enclosures are ways jazz musicians target a specific note they want to highlight or land on. Figure out how you can start sounding like a pro using the major scales you already know!

Yet another exercise and concept pioneered by the master Barry Harris. Learn how the language of bebop is aided by half steps.

This course brings the overlooked swing style of the 1930s and '40s back into focus—helping students of all levels learn to improvise with authenticity, confidence, and expression.

Practice arpeggios with a smooth, legato feel to capture the authentic sound of swing-era improvisation.

This lesson introduces the fundamentals of mariachi harp playing, starting with proper tuning based on your harp type, identifying string colors, and developing essential hand shapes for octaves and chords. Through gradual exercises and a focus on accuracy over speed, you'll build the physical familiarity needed to confidently navigate the instrument.

This course is designed for experienced clarinet players—especially those coming from a classical or band background—who are ready to dive into the world of Traditional Jazz. If you've ever felt unsure about how to approach this rich and energetic style, you're not alone. In this course, we’ll cover the fundamentals of tone, style, and improvisation in a way that’s approachable and historically informed. The clarinet isn’t just part of the Dixieland band—it’s at the heart of it.

If you know nothing about Dixieland, the first thing you should learn is the role of each instrument in the band.

Now that you understand the role of the clarinet in the Dixieland jazz band, we need to talk about tone—which is just as important here as it is in any other ensemble or style.