JAZZ INTENSIVE SUMMER 2026 Hone your improvisation skills, expand your repertoire, and have fun jamming with your fellow musicians!
This intensive will focus on small group playing and improvisation. Students will have the opportunity to learn from CMC faculty through masterclasses, guided listening, small group rehearsal and performance, and jam sessions. By popular demand from last year’s intensive, more hours of playing and master classes are included in this year’s workshop.
Ages: Adults, older teens (high school students)
Instruments: Brass, woodwinds, strings and rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass and drums)
Musical Styles: Jazz standards, be-bop, blues, Latin jazz
Prerequisites: Proficiency on an instrument, mastery of scales, preliminary knowledge of basic jazz chords, i.e. major, minor, diminished, half-diminished, and augmented and prior experience in improvisation. Admission with instructor’s consent.
Students will be asked to audition, by submitting a video (or audio recording) in which you play a jazz standard or blues, playing the melody, improvising over the form of the tune and then playing the melody. If you are a drummer or bassist, please play time for the form of the melody, improvise for a chorus and then play time for the melody. If you have a recording of yourself from a recent performance, please feel free to share that in lieu of a new recording. Some workshop groups will receive music in advance, more advanced students will not receive music in advance. Please mark in your questionnaire if you would like to receive music in advance.
Workshop Size: maximum of 20 participants
Location, Day and Time: Mission District Branch, July 31, August 1, August 2
Friday, July 31 6- 8pm, Saturday and Sunday August 1, August 2 10 - 5pm
Instructors: Charlie Gurke, Camp Co-Director, Erick Peralta Co-Director, Other faculty tbc
Additional Information:How to enroll:
Please fill out the CMC Summer Jazz Intensive Questionnaire to submit your information and follow the links to make your deposit online. Directions on how to upload your video audition will be shared upon the completion of your camp questionnaire in a confirmation email. Please be sure to title your video with your first and last name.
Students enrolled in private lessons at CMC receive a discount on class tuition.
Please read CMC's registration policies before enrolling.
Tuition: $525 early bird pricing before February 28, 2026; or $565 after February 28, 2026. Tuition includes a $150 non-refundable deposit. Tuition Assistance is available.Payment:
A $150 non-refundable deposit is due with your registration to hold your spot.
If you do not pay for the entire workshop tuition at registration, the remainder of your fee will be due by May 23, 2026.
Outstanding balances will be automatically charged on May 23, 2026 to the stored account added during registration. If you wish to pay using a different payment method, please make the payment before the pay-in-full date. If you would like to change your payment method, please contact us. Registrations not paid in full by May 23, 2026 may be canceled and the spot opened to our waitlist. Registrations after May 23, 2026 must be paid in full at the time of registration and are nonrefundable.
To apply for tuition assistance, please submit a Tuition Assistance Application Form and accompanying documents.
The application deadline is May 23, 2026, but we recommend applying early to ensure placement. Because camp is designed around the exact number of participants attending, we are unable to issue refunds after May 23, 2026. Prior to the May 23, deadline, please send refund requests to ssherman@sfcmc.org.
