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Jazz Study

Anton is an exceptional player & inspirational teacher... and a lot of fun! He is organized & prepared, and so well versed in so many aspects of jazz performance and education... What more could a student want in a teacher?! — Susan Muscarella, Director, The Jazzschool

I've really enjoyed your approach in the weekly workout sessions. Your teaching style strikes me as a rare combination of clarity, curiosity, creativity, and practicality. — Michael Gold, saxophonist

Anton is a superb teacher. He listens to my playing and singles out specific areas for me to focus on, which has improved my improvisation dramatically. He is engaging & enthusiastic... — Terrigal Burn, pianist

Anton Schwartz, Jazz Educator

Anton enjoys sharing his love of the music and the craft of jazz with aspiring musicians, both professional and recreational. He is a faculty member of the Jazzschool and the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and a frequent clinician for the Brubeck Institute. He is currently mentoring advanced high school jazz musicians through the KPLU School of Jazz program and the Bellevue Jazz Festival Rising Stars program. He also teaches privately in Seattle and Oakland.

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Individual Lessons

75 minutes ▪ $90

Anton teaches lessons out of his studios in Seattle, Washington and Oakland, California. He works with intermediate and advanced students of diverse instruments who have an interest in some or all of the following:

  • Improvising fluidly over chord changes
  • Powerful expression through music
  • Playing by ear
  • Fluency in the many idioms of jazz, plus funk & blues
  • Phrasing
  • Advanced harmony
  • Saxophone technique, including sound production, articulation, altissimo, inflections & effects.
  • The physics of musical sound
  • Efficient practice methods for a busy lifestyle

Anton particularly loves working with musicians who have studied scales and chords but are frustrated in their efforts to use those devices to make great solos.

Combo Lessons

90 minutes ▪ $140

Anton works with jazz combos at his studio, on either a one-time or a periodic basis. He listens to their playing, points out areas of strength and weakness, coaches them to improve the weak areas during the lesson and suggests ways for them to further develop on their own. He has worked with beginning to advanced groups since 1995, at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, The Brubeck Institute and the Jazzschool, and has taught courses and workshops on many of the components that go into successful ensemble playing.


Anton is an accomplished & effictive clinician. He gives workshops frequently at a variety of institutions; here are some upcoming ones that are open to the public:

“Improvising with Pentatonics”

July 29, 2012, Sunday — 10:30am-1:00pm

A theoretical and practical look at pentatonic (five-note) scales and their role in jazz, paying particular attention to the many ways we can use them to great effect in our solos. We lay out the theory behind them from the ground up, show how they may be used in myriad harmonic contexts, and discuss exactly how it is that such a simple harmonic tool (they are the basis of some of the simplest folk melodies around the world) can be used so powerfully in modern music to create so many so many colors and degrees of tension and dissonance.

Prerequisites: A basic understanding of chords and seven-note scales is required; familiarity with advanced harmony (altered, lydian, etc.) is desirable.

For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com

“Improvising with Triad Pairs”

July 29, 2012, Sunday — 1:30pm-4:00pm

A particular sound can be achieved by constructing musical phrases using a six-note scale and grouping the six notes into two triads. It's a sound most closely associated with John Coltrane, and first discussed extensively by Walt Weiskopf. In this workshop we discuss this technique of triad pairs and how it departs from the pre-1960 jazz vocabulary. We explore its harmonic foundations and it various uses, and learn tips for integrating it into our improvisations.

Prerequisites: An understanding of chords and seven-note scales is required; familiarity with advanced harmony (altered, lydian, etc.) is desirable.

For more information & registration visit jazzschool.com