Master Class: Susan Muscarella – Introduction to Voicings & Voice Leading

Born in Oakland, California in 1950, Susan Muscarella began playing the piano when she was eight years old. Predisposed to improvising, she was encouraged by her first teacher to play the music she loved – jazz.

Muscarella made the decision to become a professional musician while still in high school. In 1975, she was a composition major at UC Berkeley when UC Jazz Ensembles invited her to join its program’s faculty. The extracurricular program’s students inspired Muscarella to expand the curriculum into a bona fide program of study. She was promoted to Director in 1984, and, for the next five years, grew the program’s enrollment, expanded its curriculum and produced the largest annual collegiate jazz festival in the country – the Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival.

She credits her tenure at UC Jazz Ensembles with preparing her for the school she was to establish in 1997 – the Jazzschool Community Music School. In 2009 Muscarella launched a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies and applied for institutional accreditation. The institution gained accreditation in 2014, inspiring it to rebrand to California Jazz Conservatory.

In this Introduction to Voicings & Voice Leading class, Muscarella will provide a step-by-step method for harmonizing jazz standards on piano.

Can’t make it in-person? You can stream it! Click here to register.