Beyond the Notes, from the site to the content to the instructors, came from a very personal place. It wasn’t just about creating a jazz workshop. It was about finally answering a bunch of questions I’d been asking for years, questions I could never seem to get full, straight answers to. And honestly, a lot of those questions came straight from my Reddit search history.
As ridiculous as that may seem, Reddit has always been where I go to ask stuff like “better practice methods” or “which summer jazz programs are actually worth it.” For all my confidence in reddit though, the results always seemed lackluster, like someone trying to answer a life-long question in a two-sentence reply.
The disappointing answers weren’t the search engine’s fault though. Jazz education is inherently apprenticeship-based, and that doesn’t translate well to online spaces.Would you really learn much if all your lessons were over WhatsApp? That comparison doesn’t even touch on the dubious qualifications of online responders.
But, don’t get me wrong. Even though reddit isn’t the most helpful, the platform showed that there were a lot of jazz knowledge gaps that couldn’t be filled in traditional ways. Your private lessons or ensemble teacher probably can’t help with summer jazz camps — they’re probably a few years removed from those experiences. Other questions like how to practice and how to do ear training might yield a more helpful response, but it will be specific to them and might not resonate with you.
It also revealed the possibilities for jazz education using the internet. There isn’t a space where students can find clear answers to the questions they can’t ask their mentors, but shouldn’t there be?
So taking only the knowledge problem into consideration, I started Beyond the Notes workshop, to fill all the little knowledge gaps through real-life mentorship — with a curriculum and instructors picked to give clear and comprehensive answers from people who know what they’re talking about.
Then I realized — we have the internet. Why not try and one-up Reddit? So in this resource section, you’ll find all the workshop materials: curriculum breakdowns, handouts, session recordings — all free and designed to answer the questions the internet never really could.
P.S. Let us know how and if you’re using our materials (not for copyright or anything; I just think it would be cool to know)