This interactive demonstration will offer ways to include improvisation and non-traditional repertoire in rehearsals and performances that will enhance our interaction with standard repertoire and also challenge how we traditionally approach the large ensemble experience with our students. Thoughts on why improvisation is important, tried and tested games and exercises geared at introducing students to improvisation, and suggestions for unique uses of performance spaces will be offered.
Jason Caslor
- Biographical Information
Jason Caslor was appointed Associate Director of Bands and Orchestras at Arizona State University in 2015. From 2010-2015, Caslor served as Assistant Professor of Instrumental Conducting at Memorial University where he conducted the Wind Ensemble and oversaw the undergraduate and graduate instrumental conducting programs. Prior to that, Jason spent three seasons as Resident Conductor with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra (TBSO). During his tenure with the TBSO, he conducted over 75 concerts (including a CBC Radio national broadcast) and recorded a full-length, internationally distributed CD with Canadian blues artist Rita Chiarelli. Recipient of an “Excellence in Teaching Award” from the Memorial University Students’ Union in 2012, Caslor also spent several years teaching in the public school system as an instrumental and choral instructor. His current research interests include developing a user-friendly iPad application that will allow for the transmission of high quality audio over the internet for the purposes of internet-based rehearsals/clinics and spontaneous improvisation as it pertains to both conducting pedagogy and large ensembles. In addition to numerous regional engagements, he has presented his research at the 2013 College Band Directors National Association National Conference and the 2015 World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles International Conference.