The USC summer camp jazz intensive provides aspiring high school jazz students with
experiences in ensembles, improvisation, history, rhythm training, and private lessons
with USC’s jazz faculty. Students will learn new repertoire, musical skills, and develop
new relationships with mentors and peers, preparing them for a successful life in
music in whatever capacity they choose to pursue. The camp will conclude with a public
performance that will be professionally recorded and streamed.
We are following the All-State Jazz Audition Requirements for the Jazz Intensive. Please upload your video audition links during the registration process. If you have any questions about the audition requirements, please contact Jennifer Mitchell at jmitchell@mozart.sc.edu or 803-777-4281.
| 7:00-8:00 | Breakfast | ||
| 8:00-9:00 | Theory/Rhythm | ||
| 9:00 | Improvisation | ||
| 10:30 | Jazz History | ||
| 12:00 | Lunch | ||
| 1:00 | Combo Rehearsals | ||
| 3:00 | Private Lessons | ||
| 3:30 | Listening Class | ||
| 4:00 | Practice/Relax Time | ||
| 6:00 | Dinner | ||
| 7:30 | Evening Concert |
Craig Butterfield is professor of double bass and jazz studies and directs one of the largest double bass programs in the Southeast. Butterfield has performed extensively as a jazz artist as well as a classical soloist and clinician. He has toured with jazz trumpet player Maynard Ferguson.
Drummer, composer, educator and bandleader, Dr. Colleen Clark is the first drummer and woman to earn a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Jazz Performance at the world-renowned University of North Texas, the oldest jazz institution in America.
Lauren Meccia is director of jazz bands at the University of South Carolina and USC Aiken and instructor of saxophone at UofSC Aiken. She is the founder and director of the CSRA (Central Savannah River Area) New Horizons Band for senior adults in Aiken, SC and assistant director of the Congaree New Horizons Band in Columbia, SC.
Trumpeter, Composer, Educator, and technologist Dr. Matthew White is a curious musician, often blurring the lines between musical styles and conventions. Before entering academia, he was a freelance and session musician in Nashville and Miami.
Michael Wilkinson is a versatile music educator and musician who doubles on tenor and bass trombone (as well as alto, contrabass and euphonium) and taught middle school band in Arizona in his “past life.” Equally at home in varied musical styles, he has played with the South Carolina Philharmonic and the Brass Band of Central Florida, as well as being a member of the newly-formed South Carolina Jazz Masterworks Ensemble. Michael released his first solo CD, “Wait for Me!” on Random Act Records in 2017, and is an S.E. Shires Trombone Artist.
Bert Ligon was director of jazz studies. Ligon has published several jazz books, and published several original compositions and arrangements for big band, jazz orchestra and steel drum ensembles.