Ryan Hoffman Music

WSO Workshop

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:28:01 +0000

In April of 2011, Pearl Django was invited by the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra play a concert with the Orchestra and to lead a Gypsy Jazz workshop at Western Washington University the afternoon before the concert. Michael Gray, Rick Leppanen and I gave the workshop. We talked briefly about the history of the genre and then broke the class into smaller groups, arranged by instrument, so we could discuss and demonstrate technique and musical concepts relevant to Gypsy Jazz. We also worked on a couple of tunes in the small group and after about an hour we brought the whole class back together and everyone played together in one massive combo. And, yes, that is a bassoon in the near left of the second photo. In the spirit of jazz, these work shoppers were interested in pushing the boundaries!

Cigar Box Guitars

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:53:22 +0000

A couple years ago, I had the pleasure of working with the 4th and 5th grade classes at a private school in Seattle leading a cigar box guitar building project. Over about 6 weeks, the kids built guitars step by step using tools and materials that I brought in and with the help of a few parent volunteers. When we finished the project the students presented and demonstrated (yes, the instruments really worked) their guitars is an all school assembly. I even used the prototype I built to play “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” at a gig a few nights later.

New Website

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:56:43 +0000

Welcome to my New Website! I’m pleased to say my new site is finally up and running.