The Music Workshop Company Blog

Each month the Music Workshop Company publishes two blogs. One blog, written by the MWC team addresses a key issue in Music Education or gives information about a particular genre or period of music. The other blog is written by a guest writer, highlighting good practice or key events in Music Education. We hope you enjoy reading the blogs.

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To contribute as a guest writer please email Maria@music-workshop.co.uk

Posts tagged “JAZZ”

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Ella Fitzgerald

Posted on 17th April 2025 at 12:49

Ella Fitzgerald has been named "First Lady of Song" and "Queen of Jazz".

Her renditions of jazz classics, with 2,000 recorded songs, are viewed by many as definitive interpretations and she won 14 Grammy Awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Despite a challenging childhood, Fitzgerald went on to become one of the most famous jazz singers in the world.

The Model Music Curriculum lists two of her songs - “Cry Me a River” and “You Took Advantage of Me” - as recommended listening. Here, we delve into her life and her impressive career.

Image: Carl Van Vechten - https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2018461

NYJO Learning: King's Cross Summer Project

Posted on 23rd December 2024 at 18:00

Here at the Music Workshop Company, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to make music, regardless of their age or background. But too often, for many, those opportunities can be hard to find - which is why programmes that open up music to wider audiences are so important.

NYJO (also known as the National Youth Jazz Orchestra) exists to do just this, and we were delighted to hear about their successful 2024 King's Cross Summer Project for 14-18-year-olds. This month Beth Ismay, NYJO's Learning Programmes Manager, returns to the blog to tell us about the project and the impact it made for the young people involved.

Jazz in our community

Posted on 31st January 2024 at 15:26

When the Watford Jazz Junction was founded in 2020, its festival put inclusion and mental wellbeing at its heart. (It’s one reason we at the Music Workshop Company didn’t hesitate when we were asked to be involved, and we’re delighted to be back this year delivering a special workshop for young people aged 4-12).

Each year, Watford Jazz Junction works to ensure its events represent the various communities it serves, offering people of all backgrounds a way to connect and express themselves. With the organisers busy preparing a diverse programme for 2024, Chris Newstead, the festival’s Director and Founder, took time out to tell us more about the ethos behind the event.

(Image: participants at the Music Workshop Company's 2023 workshop at Watford Jazz Junction.)

Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue

Posted on 16th January 2024 at 12:04

This month our blog explores the life and work of George Gershwin. Famous as a songwriter with his brother, Ira, Gershwin mixed European Classical music traditions with Blues and Jazz to create a sound that is particularly linked to his birth city of New York.

Despite a relatively short life, Gershwin's musical output was huge, including musicals, an opera, orchestral music and film scores.

The Model Music Curriculum suggests listening to two of his most famous songs “I Got Rhythm” and “Summertime” as well as “Rhapsody in Blue”.

This blog explores “Rhapsody in Blue” and suggests activities linked to creating arrangements.

Image credit: Carl Van Vechten, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Jazz: the “Standard Repertoire”

Posted on 15th June 2020 at 16:06

Jazz standards are musical compositions that form a fundamental part of the repertoire and language of jazz.

They are often performed and recorded, and are therefore widely known to listeners.

They are also used within education to introduce key musical concepts such as certain chord progressions and modes.

Celebrating the Centenary of Two Jazz Greats: Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie

Posted on 15th August 2017 at 14:30

October 2017 marks what would have been the 100th birthday of two jazz legends: Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie.

Born 11 days apart on October 10 and 21, 1917, pianist, Monk and trumpeter, Gillespie, shaped the landscape of jazz composition and improvisation, each exploring harmonies with a complexity previously unheard in jazz, leaving behind an immense legacy of music.