A Day at the Con! 2025 - Jazz Performance

A Day at the Con! 2025 - Jazz Performance
ᴡᴏʀᴋꜱʜᴏᴘꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴄʜᴏᴏʟ ꜱᴛᴜᴅᴇɴᴛꜱ

Date: Saturday 30 August 2025
Time: 9:00am–1:00pm (Registration starts at 8:40am)
Venue: Madley Rehearsal Studio, Madley Building, Elder Conservatorium of Music, The University of Adelaide
Registration: Attendance is FREE but registration is essential!

Registrations close at 1:00pm on Thursday 28 August 2025, or when session capacity is reached.

Explore your creativity through improvisation and jazz interpretation with our faculty of award-winning educators, composers and performers, including National Jazz Award Winner's James Muller (guitar) and Lauren Henderson (voice), National Jazz Award semi-finalists Mark Ferguson (piano) and Alex Taylor (brass), new staff member (nearly Dr) Timothy Clarkson (saxophone), and Dr Lyndon Gray (bass), along with some of our award-winning current students. 

The day is held in four parts - we encourage you to participate in all four sessions, but if you only have time for one session, come to Session 4 at 11:45am–1:00pm

Applications now open for trumpet, trombone, saxophone, clarinet, flute, piano, guitar, bass, drums, vibraphone, violin and voice. If your instrument is not listed, let us know and we just might find a way to have you involved!

Drum kits, bass amps and guitar amps will be provided, and each room has a piano!

Schedule:

9:00am–9:20am: Session 1 - Whole group workshop with all staff and students

Instruments not required - other than your hands and voices!

Students will listen to staff and current Elder Con students perform and demonstrate jazz concepts.

Students will participate in vocal jazz warm-ups and staff will guide students through a short active listening session.

9:30am–10:15am: Session 2 - Instrument specific Masterclasses

Instruments required!

10:25am–11:30am: Session 3 - Workshop session in smaller groups

Instruments required!

Depending on your experience we will place you in one of the following smaller group workshops, but please state your preference and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

a. Jazz Improvisation and small ensemble preparation workshop

If you haven’t had a lot of experience in jazz, then this is the workshop for you! 

We will explore how to interpret a melody, how to get started with improvisation and the roles of the jazz rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass).

b. Small jazz ensemble

If you have intermediate/advanced jazz skills, then this is the session for you!

You will have the opportunity to work in a small ensemble setting with other high school students and current Elder Conservatorium jazz students, mentored by one of our jazz staff members.

How will you know if you are up for this? Check out the attached lead sheet for 'The Jody Grind' by Horace Silver, and if you feel like you are ready to interpret and perform this piece in a small jazz ensemble setting, then join this session. You don’t need to be an expert - you're just checking to see if these are concepts that you have started exploring!

The Jody Grind - Parts Download

c. Vocal jazz workshop

If you want to focus on developing your jazz vocal skills, please attend this workshop with our award-winning jazz vocal lecturer Lauren Henderson!

11:45am–1:00pm: Session 4 - Interactive performance with all staff and students, and Q&A with current students and staff

All students together for a session which will include:

1. Interactive concert with our Elder Con jazz staff and students

2. Performance of tunes from some of the Day at the Con small ensembles

3. Performance of a tune by morning session jazz vocalists

Students are welcome to come as observers only, but this music is best experienced by playing it!

For questions and enquiries, please contact our Head of Jazz Performance Mark Ferguson.