Learn How To Improvise Your Music On Any Musical Instrument

“When you improvise, you play like a child, always leaning out of the comfort zone to build on what you´ve experienced and learned already. You joggle with the parameters of music; in an instant, you react to ideas and moods of your fellow musicians and communicate in a creative way; you are a researcher and composer at the same time.” That´s how Edith experiences improvisation and she wants to help students to feel confident at improvising over various musical styles. Edith has studied with excellent teachers in Vienna and New York. This and her vast experience performing with musicians from all over the world in a variety of genres has resulted in a wealth of know-how. From this, she can teach and advise students on how to improvise in a very practical way and prepare them to make music with other musicians and bands from an early level on.

The abilities to play by ear and to understand and apply theoretical knowledge will be equally emphasized and trained with an approach that combines both. Edith will help the students step by step to become familiar with the basic theoretical knowledge and use it in diverse musical situations in combination with the appropriate rhythmic phrasing and timing. Students will be encouraged to improvise over various grooves and songs with diverse structures, as well as improvise completely freely. Students who are interested in jazz will learn to understand and apply jazz theory, jazz phrasing & timing in a clear and supportive way. They will be encouraged to propose which jazz tunes they want to learn to play and improvise on. Edith also has a long history of playing world music with musicians from various regions (mainly Africa, the Middle East, and the Caucasus, North and Latin America) and can help the interested student to approach and play diverse rhythms and melodic systems from different cultures and improvise over them.

About the Coach: Edith Lettner is an Austrian-born musician, composer, and painter, who performs internationally with numerous outstanding musicians & bands. With her chosen instruments, alto & soprano saxophone and duduk, she plays jazz, world music, and improvisational music. Edith’s unique sound and polychromatic talent have been shaped by an openness to different genres and her extensive travels. In addition, she has studied with prominent professionals and tutors both in Vienna and New York. Improvisation seems to be written into her DNA; it drives her music, her artwork, and her relentless pursuit of excellence in all things, it defines how she lives her life. She has recorded many CDs and has composed music for film, theatre, and dance performances. Edith’s latest CD with her Austrian jazz quartet FREEMOTION gained international acclaim (including DownBeat Magazine and New York City Jazz Record) and the second half of 2020 will bring 3 new CD releases with projects in New York and Vienna. Edith has played with musicians from all over the world – focusing on jazz, African, and Middle Eastern music. “I like to put myself in the middle of things and learn from there”. She has traveled many times to Africa to play with local musicians and exhibit her paintings, and in Armenia, she learned to play duduk, a traditional double-reed instrument with a haunting sound. New York, with its experimental music, bebop, and strait-ahead jazz scenes, is a constant source of inspiration for her. So too is nature, and “joining in with its big orchestra”.