Jazz St. Louis Education programs nurture leadership and cultural appreciation in the next generation of musicians and listeners through training, educational resources, and transformative engagement with local and touring professional musicians. Jazz St. Louis has an extensive portfolio of education programs aimed at elementary through college students in the greater St. Louis area and beyond. We provide field trip experiences, hands on training programs, in-school clinics and masterclasses, and curricular resources for teachers, all at no cost to participants. Since 2020, we have been committed to expanding the reach of our education programs through online tools that allow us to impact people around the world, all while still serving our community right here in St. Louis. To stay engaged with our education offerings, join the JSL Education Facebook group, follow the JSL YouTube channel, or sign up for our monthly newsletter.
Stay engaged with JSL Education!
Partnerships
with area schools
Students
impacted since 2000
Serving
of students are from low-income communities
Free
programs offered to families, students and schools gratis
JazzU
With the help of our charitable donors and foundations, JazzU places talented middle and high school musicians in small jazz combos, which meet weekly between September and May. Students not only get the benefit of working with JazzU faculty, but also the opportunity to meet and work with musicians participating in the Jazz St. Louis Artist Residency Program.
WeBop
WeBop is an early-childhood jazz education program for children three to five years old that invites families to stomp, strut, and swing to the joyous rhythms of jazz as they learn about the core concepts, instruments, and great performers of jazz. All WeBop classes are child and adult participation classes.
Emerson Jazz For Our Schools
The Emerson Jazz For Our Schools program allows students from area schools to engage with, and experience the world class musicians who perform on the Ferring Jazz Bistro stage. The artists participate in a number of different activities, including performances, master classes and clinics.
Jazz Academy
Jazz Academy is a free music and leadership development program for middle school students who have an interest in performing music and want to strengthen their abilities on their instrument. Open to students in 6th through 8th grade, Jazz Academy members meet weekly, after school at Jazz St. Louis.
Jazz St. Louis’s Artist Residencies
Jazz St. Louis’s Artist Residency Program brings professional jazz artists and educators to St. Louis for an entire week. During the week, the artists travel throughout the metro area, conducting master classes and clinics with small groups of middle and high school musicians, performing for large groups of elementary students, and presenting concerts in the community.
Elementary Curriculum
Jazz St. Louis’s Elementary Curriculum Partnerships are a district-wide initiative with Jazz St. Louis, focusing on reaching general music teachers and students on a much deeper and more comprehensive level. Designed using “Depth of Knowledge” levels, students learn rhythmic, harmonic, and improvisation concepts as well as develop a solid understanding of the social and cultural climate that made the development of jazz possible.
Regional Essentially Ellington Festival
Jazz St. Louis is proud to partner with Jazz at Lincoln Center to bring its internationally acclaimed Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Festival to St. Louis. This FREE, one-day festival will feature an all-star line up of clinicians. In addition to performance and written comments, participating bands will receive a free workshop from one of the festival clinicians as well as the opportunity to attend instrument/section-specific master classes.
