New Projects

Woah, 2020 has been a wild ride and not in a good way.  I hope everybody reading this has been healthy and safe all along. 

Obviously the Baritone Madness tour dates were cancelled along with everyone else's shows. We remain hopeful that a vaccine can be found quickly and that we will be playing for you in person again soon.  In the meantime, I have been working on arrangements and I'll see if we can put out a video for you to enjoy.

In more exciting news, I have been brainstorming of a way to bring music to more people now that we're all social distancing.  I came up with one idea that I'll be launching today.  Please allow me to introduce, Bow River Music Lessons!  This is an online business specializing in group music lessons and I've lined up some of Calgary's finest musicians to be a part of this new project.  I'll be teaching saxophone and some jazz improvisation courses, on clarinet will be Cedric Blary who is possibly the most in demand clarinet clinician in the city.  On flute is the ever positive Rachael Flatt, who brings decades of teaching experience. The same thing can be said for Paul Toutant on trombone, he is a wonderful teacher with tonnes of experience! Finally we have Andre Wickenheiser offering trumpet masterclasses and jazz improvisation classes.  Andre is one of the most creative improvisers in the city and any student would be lucky to have him as a teacher. 

For these classes, they will be operating as webinars on Zoom.  The students will be able to play along with the teacher as they present new skills and review old ones.  All classes will help address fundamental instrument skills while working towards a final video project that students can share privately with friends and family.  We currently have just over a dozen courses offered, but we will be adding more soon.  If you have a request for a project, please send me an email at grouplessons@keithorourke.ca 

Group classes will start the first week of July.  All summer classes will be for 8 weeks with two sessions per week for one hour.  Classes are $12.50 each, due to the nature of group classes, there won't be make up lessons and you'll need to pay for the entire course before the first class to reserve your spot.  The total cost would be $200 for the 16 classes.  There is a digital PDF Brochure on the Bow River Music page of my website that you can click to download here.

Another project that I've got on the go right now is my fundraiser for my next album.  I have created a GoFundMe page called "Bread For Jazz" to accept donations in exchange. This is essentially a bake sale, where you donate and I'll make you a delicious loaf of Sourdough bread.  Since the Covid lockdown, I have had the time to learn this new skill and I have had rave reviews from everyone that has tried it.  I can only practice so many hours a day, so this new hobby is now being put to use to raise funds to cover all the expenses that grants do not cover.  

 

One final thought today, in these difficult times for musicians sales of albums mean more than ever to us.  For your convenience here are a few links to buy my albums and albums I'm on through Chronograph Records.  Buying direct from Chronograph puts the most money in the artists pocket.

Sketches From The Road

Baritone Madness

Prime Time Big Band

 

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