Your future, our focus
POWELL, WY – The 3rd annual Vocal Jazz Academy returns to Northwest College on Saturday, September 14, giving students and teachers the opportunity to spend a full day learning more about the musical genre. The workshop runs from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. in the Nelson Performing Arts Auditorium on the NWC campus and ends with a concert at 5 p.m. that is free and open to the public.
Interested participants can register at vocaljazzacademy.com/reg/ by selecting the Wyoming location. Due to a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council, registration costs for the first 65 teachers and students will be free, and additional registrations will be available at a discounted rate. Lunch, publisher reading packets, and mass choir music are all included in the cost.
Online preregistration will close on Monday, September 9, with walk-up registration available on September 14 beginning at 8:30 a.m. Those seeking more information on group discounts should contact Eric Hagmann, Vocal Music Instructor at Northwest College, at eric.hagmann@nwc.edu.
The one-day workshop features jazz reading sessions, and breakout sessions on topics such as jazz solo singing, vocal technique in choral and jazz settings, and improvisation. Teacher round table discussions will also take place. Participants will also rehearse throughout the day as part of the Academy Mass Choir, and perform in the free concert that night, with selected solo performances by students, as well as the Northwest College Studio Singers and Sixth Street vocal jazz ensembles.
The Vocal Jazz Academy, founded by Matt Falker, is a mobile one-day event which travels around the country, with the goal of educating and connecting vocal jazz educators and students as they prepare for the new school year. Each Academy is customized to fit the needs of the local jazz community. Leading this year’s event at Northwest College are Hagmann, Powell High School choir director Rachel Schoessler, and guest director Amy Murphy.
Murphy currently serves as the Director of Choirs at Windsor High School in Colorado and was a member of the University of Northern Colorado vocal jazz faculty for eight years prior. She also served as Managing Producer of the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival, co-Director of the UNC Jazz Camp, and founded the vocal jazz ensemble at Front Range Community College.
Previously a finalist for the Denver Lyric Opera Guild, Murphy also sang at the United Nations as a national finalist in classical voice for a Fulbright grant to study in Germany, where she spent a year at various locations. She performed as a guest soloist for festivals and concerts in Schwäbisch Hall and Bremen, and sang with the BachChor, Leipzig. Murphy received her B.M. in Vocal Performance and M.M.E. from the University of Northern Colorado.
