The Healdsburg Jazz Festival’s Education Program shifts into high gear from March through May every year, reaching nearly 4,000 students from Healdsburg and neighboring schools. These exciting and important programs bring the living tradition of jazz directly into classrooms, assemblies, band rooms, and the hearts and minds of young listeners and players. These programs are supported by your membership and sponsorship.

Percussion, Song, and Dance Workshops
Each spring the inspirational African drum and dance master Tacuma King presents his brilliant six-week Percussion, Song, and Dance Workshops for school children. The classes are designed for ages 6-9 and ages 10-14; each class is 90 minutes long, and the program runs in six sessions, from May to June. For more information call 707-433-4633.

Operation Jazz Band
Led by Babatunde Lea and his band, this program teaches Healdsburg fifth-graders about the instruments of a jazz ensemble. This form of enrichment to the standard American history curriculum is always extremely well-received by teachers and students alike. Every day for four days the musicians visit the Foss Creek, Geyserville, Sonoma Day, Healdsburg and Westside elementary schools. Musicians Babatunde Lea and David Frasier demonstrate the importance of drums and percussion; bassist Walter Savage and pianist Glen Pearson explain the interplay of a rhythm section; trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, saxophonist Richard Howell, and trombonist Angela Wellman, show off their horns while teaching basic blues chords and melody. Richard Howell and Babatunde Lea return for the fourth demonstration to show how the singing voice is used as a jazz instrument. The project culminates with a gathering of students from each of the schools at the Raven Theater, where the children listen to the jazz ensemble with newly sharpened ears. The joint jumps with call-and-response, hand-clapping, singing and the joyful noise of hundreds of children enjoying jazz, America's music.

Jazz Appreciation Classes
Classes are designed to give participants a concise yet thorough perspective of the evolution of today's popular music known as Jazz. It is a uniquely American story with African and European origins, and an intrinsic connection to the socio-economic history of working-class communities. Rare recordings and video clips from the instructors' collections are often featured. Classes consist of lecture, listening and discussion in which participants and instructor will analyze the music together.

It takes Volunteers Want to help out? Volunteer with the Festival for education, event production, marketing, newsletter or fundraising projects.