Rocca Brothers Jazz Workshop
Stop learning tunes. Start knowing them.
A practical, in-depth jazz programme for adult musicians who want to understand the music, internalise repertoire and improvise with greater freedom.
Our carefully crafted jazz course is designed around the concept of bringing the intimate, bespoke and detailed approach of a one to one private lesson but delivered in a full band setting. Meaning that everything learnt can be immediately put into a real playing experience. We have found that learning and practicing in a group offers many benefits that musicians often miss when practicing alone.
The course is formed of four in-person sessions at the beautiful ‘Jacksons Lane Theatre’ in Highgate alongside two online listening sessions. The course concludes with a public performance downstairs at ‘The Kings Head’ in the heart of Crouch End, a lovely venue which hosts jazz & comedy. This opportunity allows participants the chance to perform what they have learnt to a live audience in a fantastic venue.
Learn the tune. Understand the harmony. Internalise the language. Make it your own.
Why this course is right for me?
You know the feeling. You've learnt a jazz standard. You can play the melody. You've looked at the chords.
Maybe you've even learnt a few licks to play over it.
Then a few weeks later...
You've forgotten half of it.
Or
…you're staring at the chord chart while you improvise, you know which scales you're supposed to play, but your solos still don't sound like the music you love to listen to!
Maybe you sit down to practise and think:
“What am I actually supposed to do?”
“What do I need to practice to level up?”
This is where we come in.
A different way to learn jazz.
The Rocca Brothers Jazz Workshop isn't about cramming as many tunes as possible into a session.
It's about going deeper. It’s time to get detailed.
Throughout the sessions we will work on a jazz standard and together break down exactly what it takes to internalise it - melody, harmony, key centres, chord tones, language, improvisation and most importantly how to practice.
Then we'll show you how to take that process and apply it to every tune you learn afterwards.
Because the goal isn't to know more information.
The goal is to become a better musician.
Autumn 2026 Jazz Course
ONE TUNE. THREE DEEP DIVES.
A METHOD YOU CAN KEEP.
The first three workshops will focus around the tune Lady Bird.
We will spend the first three sessions exploring this piece from four distinct angles.
You'll learn how to:
01 — Internalise the tune
Learn the melody and chord changes deeply so we can start to get away from the sheet music as well as develop techniques for memorising repertoire by ear.
02 — Understand the harmony
Identify key centres, analyse the changes and understand the harmonic movement within the tune.
03 — Improvise with intention
Work with chord tones, target notes, enclosures, bebop language and melodic ideas to create solos that actually follow the harmony, embody the jazz language and have deep musicality.
04 — Build your own practice system
Learn how to take everything from the session and turn it into effective practice — both for the tune we're studying and for your wider repertoire.
The online listening sessions will give us a chance to go directly to the source; the music. As a group, we will listen to, analyse and breakdown various approaches. Giving us a chance to study with the greats.
The Programme
Workshop 01 - 18th September 2026
Learning a tune the old fashioned way. How to memorise repertoire & not forget it.
The session will be based around learning Lady Bird together.
We'll look at how jazz musicians traditionally learned repertoire — through listening, repetition, singing, playing and memorisation. Away from the real book.
You'll develop practical techniques for remembering:
The melody.
The form.
The chord changes.
The key centers.
The aim is to get the tune out of the book and into your head.
Workshop 02 - 30th October 2026
Understand What's Happening
Harmonic Analysis · Scalic Improvisation · Bebop Scales · Key centers
Now we go deeper into the tune.
We'll analyse the harmony and explore how the chord changes create different key centres and opportunities for improvisation.
You'll learn how to move beyond simply thinking:
“What scale goes with this chord?”
and start thinking:
“Where is the music going & how can I understand the foundation clearer?”
Workshop 03 - 20th November 2026
Make the Changes Sound Like Music
Chord Tones · Target Notes · Enclosures · Jazz Language
Knowing the harmony is one thing.
Hearing and playing through it is another.
We'll explore how to target important notes, connect ideas between chords and incorporate & create your own authentic jazz language within your improvisation.
The focus is on creating melodic, connected and intentional lines.
Workshop 04 - 4th December 2026
From Practice Room to Performance.
Melodic Improvisation · Repertoire · Performance Preparation
We'll bring everything together.
We'll work on how to improvise melodically, creating your own melodies, creating longer musical ideas and applying the techniques from the course to a wider repertoire, including:
Blue Bossa
Autumn Leaves
Blues
Lady Bird
You'll also learn how to take the principles we've explored and apply them to the tunes you are already working on.
Tuesday 8th December 2026
AND THEN WE PLAY. The Gig.
The autumn course finishes with a live performance. We feel that learning jazz isn’t complete just when something is learnt at home alone! As a beautifully collaborative & expressive art form, we feel it is crucial to take everything we have learnt and practiced on to the band stand.
The final performance gives you the opportunity to take everything you've worked on and experience it in a real musical setting with your band mates in-front of an audience. Having a goal in mind and an opportunity to perform creates the perfect pressure cooker for our course. It gives our work the clear outcome. So much learning and reflection happens after giving it a go on the bandstand and we would love to give our students the opportunity to experience their own jazz gig in London.
You'll perform the repertoire you've developed throughout the term alongside the other musicians on the course.
No exam.
No grades.
No pressure to be perfect.
Just the opportunity to play.
WHAT YOU'LL ACTUALLY LEAVE WITH
By the end of the programme, you'll have more than a handful of new tunes.
You'll have a repeatable approach to learning jazz.
You'll be able to:
Learn tunes more effectively
Understand how to memorise melodies, forms and chord changes.
Hear harmonic movement
Recognise key centres and understand what's happening beneath the melody.
Navigate chord changes
Use chord tones, target notes and melodic ideas to create stronger lines.
Develop authentic jazz language
Understand how to take vocabulary from the jazz tradition and incorporate it into your own playing.
Practise with purpose
Know what to work on when you sit down with your instrument.
Build your repertoire
Apply the same process to the tunes you want to learn.
Improvise more melodically
Move beyond simply running scales and start developing musical ideas.
Play with confidence
Put everything into practice in the final performance.
Costings
£125 per Jacksons Lane Workshop
£12 per online listening session