AB Workshops
Music Workshops – 07711 998058
🎷 Jazz Theory Workshop with Dan Mar-Molinero 🎷🎷 5th - 6th July 2025 🎷
Saint James CoE Primary School, Moorgreen Road, West End, Southampton, SO30 3EG
🎷 Jazz Theory Workshop with Dan Mar-Molinero 🎷🎷 5th - 6th July 2025 🎷
Saint James CoE Primary School, Moorgreen Road, West End, Southampton, SO30 3EG
We are pleased to welcome Dan Mar-Molinero to host two Jazz Theory Workshops in July 2025. An experienced educator, Dan has appeared at numerous high profile venues and festivals with his own groups and alongside numerous leading jazz and pop performers including Julian Joseph, Billy Cobham and Corrine Bailey-Rae.
Get ready to elevate your musical journey at our upcoming jazz theory workshop, where you’ll dive deep into the world of jazz harmony and improvisation! This immersive experience is designed to enhance your understanding of complex chord progressions and unlock the secrets of improvising with confidence. Participants will engage in hands-on exercises that focus on reading jazz standards, allowing you to interpret and perform with greater ease. Whether you’re a budding musician or an experienced player looking to refine your knowledge, these workshops will empower you to navigate the rich landscape of jazz with newfound assurance. Join us for a transformative experience that will inspire your creativity and deepen your love for this timeless genre!
We are pleased to welcome Dan Mar-Molinero to host two Jazz Theory Workshops in July 2025. An experienced educator, Dan has appeared at numerous high profile venues and festivals with his own groups and alongside numerous leading jazz and pop performers including Julian Joseph, Billy Cobham and Corrine Bailey-Rae.
Get ready to elevate your musical journey at our upcoming jazz theory workshop, where you’ll dive deep into the world of jazz harmony and improvisation! This immersive experience is designed to enhance your understanding of complex chord progressions and unlock the secrets of improvising with confidence. Participants will engage in hands-on exercises that focus on reading jazz standards, allowing you to interpret and perform with greater ease. Whether you’re a budding musician or an experienced player looking to refine your knowledge, this workshop will empower you to navigate the rich landscape of jazz with newfound assurance. Join us for a transformative experience that will inspire your creativity and deepen your love for this timeless genre!
- This is a jazz theory course (as opposed to a composition course)
- This workshops will be very much based around jazz standards
- You can attend one or both days
- You will need to be comfortable with music theory. Dan will not be explaining basic concepts, eg names of modes – as opposed to what they actually do. We will be using the info to apply it when studying jazz standards
- However, don’t be put off if you don’t understand the ‘objectives’. By attending, you’ll learn what these mean as well as how they can be applied to deconstructing jazz standards
- You should be able to write music – pen and paper best but you can bring digital score apps
- At the end of each day Dan will run a ’theory clinic’ where participants can ask questions about this type of theory
- Dan will run through a number of popular jazz standards – the sort of thing you’d find at jam sessions (Eg Take The A Train or Blue Bossa) and we can deconstruct them with a view on making it easier for when you want to go to a jam session (etc) to play them in the future
Entry Requirements for Day 1:
The ability to name all notes in most major scales (or at least work them out fairly quickly). Eg Dan says, “what’s the fourth note of Bb?” he would expect the answer fairly quickly.
Entry Requirements for Day 2:
The ability to identify and understand ii-V-I sequences in jazz standards. Also the ability to work out tritone subs (both subjects covered on day 1.
Day 1 – Some Basics
– Major Tonal Centres – ii-V-i and diatonic iii-vi-ii-V turnarounds etc
– Tri-tone subs and one or two other ideas (sus chords and backdoor subs)
Day 2 – Intermediate
– Examine harmonic minor cadences and look at The Blues
– The melodic minor – especially altered scale and lydian dominant
– If time allows, examine the Coltrane Changes
Anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of jazz theory and be able to deconstruct common chord structures in jazz standards. Dan’s approach and expertise in this area will help you demystify the complexities, we expect many eureka! moments. The decision to make this a theory workshop is intentional! We have improvisation workshops which are hands on, but often the playing (although fun) can get in the way of the theory. This workshop is designed to allow you the time to finally get the answers to how to improvise effectively. We would recommend attending both days to get the full experience. For those of you unsure that they have the required knowledge to attend, if there is enough interest, we will run an additional one day workshop covering “modes / harmonising the major scale”, or in layman’s terms, understanding where the ii-V-I comes from.
As a composer, songwriter and record producer his work spans genres. Dan’s music has appeared worldwide on; film and TV scores, including a Bafta nomination; video games, including the popular FIFA series; and hit records, including a ‘Top 3’ and several top twenty records, having written for major artists such as Craig David, Gareth Gates and Mel C in both the UK and abroad.
Dan’s roots have always been within jazz, in particular large ensemble works, writing and collaborating with artists such as Soweto Kinch, Yazz Ahmed and Courtney Pine. His forthcoming jazz orchestra album “Taproot” was recorded over lockdown and features two of the most in-demand and respected European jazz greats, Jasper Hoiby and Julian Arguelles.
A committed educator, Dan works part-time at the University of Southampton as ‘Head of Jazz, Pop & Musical Theatre‘ and is in constant demand nationally too. Dan is also the Director of the hugely successful Southampton Youth Jazz Orchestra and is a lead tutor and trustee for the National Youth Jazz Collective (NYJC). Dan was also the first individual to receive a ‘Will Michael Diploma’ for ‘Services to Jazz Education’ by Jazz Services and the Music Education Council, an award normally reserved for civic authorities and music services.
- Based at Saint James CoE Primary School in Hampshire, with excellent facilities
- Two full days of tutor lead sessions
- Suitable for anyone with an interest in jazz
- Workshop runs from 10am – 4.30pm each day, with two 30 minute breaks and a 1 hour lunch break
- Refreshments; Tea, coffee (including freshly made filter coffee), juices, a variety of biscuits, fresh pastries
- Price: £45 for each day
- FREE parking
- Safe, simple, secure. We have now set it up for you to be able to book easier than ever before, simply BOOK ONLINE
Alternatively if you have any questions on the suitability of this course for you we will be happy to help. Contact us at hello@abworkshops.com or by calling 07711 998058 and we will be happy to discuss your needs further.
Refreshments; Tea, coffee (including freshly made filter coffee), juices, a variety of biscuits, fresh pastries.
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