workshops • residencies • lecture/demos

 

Well known as a leading performer of traditional jazz and ragtime, Butch is also adept in the classroom. His expertise in early jazz and its culture makes him a natural fit for any music, humanities, American history or arts curriculum.

He has classroom experience at all levels, kindergarten through post-graduate, and offers a comprehensive menu of workshops. He is also happy to work out special material for your syllabus in addition to the following menu:

• The history of ragtime and early jazz (1899-1930).
• Improvisation in early jazz.
• Ragtime and early jazz piano technique
• Regional styles in piano jazz: New Orleans, New York, and the Midwest.

Butch Thompson's lectures draw freely from his experiences as a performing musician as well as his research, giving these topics a personal slant and immediacy that bring the music and its environs alive in the classroom.