About Us
We are a Vermont nonprofit dedicated to promoting education and training in the art of music and musicianship for all levels of accomplishment in a comfortable encouraging setting.

Music is a continuum of tradition and experimentation.  Historically, it has evolved and been passed along through the mentor to student relationship.  Teachers were once students and students have the power to teach.  Ideas are shared and expanded.  Although each of us must find our unique musical voice, that voice will always show influence from those who have come before.

Come to the Open Music Collective and find your musicial voice.  We offer mentoring programs in private lessons, master classes, workshops, and performances.  Learn how to listen, how to interpret and manipulate rhythm, how to experiment within form, the importance of dynamics, the nuance of articulation, the power of role models, and the meaning of trust.

With this school we hope that all who participate, novice to master, are inspired and enlightened.

2010 Spring Semester Classes Starting week of Feb. 7 

Registration Starts Feb 1st

This class will focus on developing your ability to recognize common chord progressions found in the jazz idiom. You will learn the function of chords in different contexts and explore scale possibilities for improvisation. Emphasis will be on aural recognition and developing your ability to "hear the changes."By concentrating first on the bass and melody lines, you can learn to identify key centers and

modulations. Learning to hear the sounds of chords and their relationship within a harmonic phrase will not only expand your ability to improvise, but it will also aide you in memorization and transposition. Prior knowledge of key signatures and chord construction useful

Fridays 3pm

Guitar Ensemble - Draa Hobbs

This class will focus on jazz and modern classical repertoire for up to five guitars. Jazz arrangements written by such notable jazz guitarists as Peter Leitch will focus on group performance as well as improvisation. A rhythm section will be added for live performance. For classical guitar literature our focus will be on listening and dynamics within the context of ensemble arrangements by Hindemith, Bartok, Ravel, and contemporary literature written by Andrew York for the L.A. Guitar Quartet. A basic knowledge of the guitar and the notes on the neck, as well as some ability to read music will be necessary.

Scheduled for Participants

Jazz Ensemble - Jamie MacDonald

Hands on class where you will learn about jazz and its different genres, sometimes talking about the history of certain composers/players or listening to classic recordings. Material chosen for the specific class. All Levels and instruments, ensembles grouped with like abilities.

Scheduled for Participants

Jazz Vocal Repertoire Class -Jamie MacDonald

Work with a rhythm section on bebop lines, great standards and tunes you always wanted to work on. Some experience preferred.

Monday 5pm

Americana Hot House Group – Phil Bloch

This class is geared towards string instruments - violins, guitars, bass, mandolins, and banjos with repertoire chosen from Hot House Swing and Americana standards with focus on learning tunes and improvising. "In a typical class we'll do a little bit of listening and talking and a whole lot of picking and singing".

Wednesdays 7:00 pm

Open Ensemble – Vernon David

This class is designed for musicians of all levels and disciplines interested in exploring ensemble playing in various genres from classical to contemporary. All instruments are most welcome. The opportunity to play music outside of the tradition of your instrument is encouraged. Players will be grouped with like abilities in mixed ensembles. Emphasis will be on expanding your musical concepts and learning from each other. In addition to working with arrangements, improvisation and composition will be encouraged.

Scheduled for Participants

Open-  

• Affording unobstructed entrance and exit; not shut or closed.

• Affording unobstructed passage

• Accessible to all; unrestricted as to participants

• Free from limitations, boundaries, or restrictions

• Ready to transact business: The store is open.

• Not Muted

• The science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity

• Vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony

• An agreeable sound

• A musical accompaniment

• The score of a musical composition set down on paper

• A distinctive type or category of music

• Denoting a number of persons or things considered as one group or whole

• Formed by collecting

• Marked by similarity among or with the members of a group

• Shared or assumed by all members of the group <collective responsibility>