HMP’s mission to provide Jazz training to classical music students is another defining element of its curriculum. Students develop the ability to improvise in various styles. Our structured approach to teaching Jazz Improvisation takes students from their first years in Musicianship class to their final years in Jazz Combos. Jazz classes offer an opportunity to learn America’s signature music beginning at a young age. Jazz improvisation provides students with hands-on practice on their instruments working with theory concepts. Students experience both lab-style classes and combos and study with instructors who are active performers throughout the NYC and Philadelphia areas.
We are proud to have won the support of the Bharvaney Fund in support of HMP’s mission to offer jazz study to talented, classically-trained music students. The fund provides scholarships to many HMP students.
Ben Cahill
Ben Cahill has been a part of the Young Artist Program’s Jazz faculty since the Jazz program’s inception in 2001. He has been a teacher, an accompanist, and a co-author of the YAP Jazz Curriculum.
Ben holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, where he studied Composition and Analysis under Eastman School of Music’s Dr. Ernest Livingstone. He attended The University of Miami’s (Florida) Recording Engineering and Jazz programs, where he studied jazz piano under Dave Roitstein and Vince Lawrence Maggio. Ben also studied jazz performance and composition with Laurie Altman. Ben’s compositions have been performed in Westminster Conservatory’s Jazz faculty recitals. He both composes and arranges choral and hand bell pieces, many of which are performed regularly at the Presbyterian Church in Flemington, New Jersey, where Ben has served as the church’s Youth Choir director. Ben continues his study of organ and performs regularly on Hammond organ, other keyboards, and electric bass in numerous jazz and rock ensembles throughout the New Jersey area.
Michael Green
Email: michaelcarlgreen@hotmail.com
Following music composition studies at Michigan State University and film scoring courses at the University of California in Los Angeles, Michael C. Green joined various musical groups in London and Los Angeles, where he gained experience as an arranger in the recording industry.
After moving to New York, Mr. Green continued performing as a trumpeter and pianist in small jazz groups, larger bands, pit orchestras, brass ensembles, church services. He makes frequent appearances in numerous concerts, shows, clubs, private parties, corporate, and civic events and has performed for over ten years as a solo jazz pianist at a major hotel in Princeton, NJ.
Also active as a composer and arranger, Mr. Green has written works for piano, concert band, brass band, various ensembles, choir and organ. He has also orchestrated a Broadway show and the score of a PBS documentary film. He has been involved in jazz outreach programs in Pennsylvania high schools and has adjudicated jazz competitions. In recent years the Princeton Brass Band has premiered two of his compositions, and in 2007 Mr. Green was appointed composer-in-residence of that organization, which commissioned him to write a major contest piece (to be premiered in 2010). He continues active freelance engagements as a pianist and trumpeter in a wide variety of musical settings.
John Paul Velez
Honors Music Program Jazz Coordinator
Email: velez.johnpaul@gmail.com
John Paul Velez – Jazz Pianist
Young Artist Program Improvisation Coordinator
M.A., music education, Teachers College Columbia University; B.M., music education with piano principle, Westminster Choir College of Rider University. Recipient of the Laura Fenn Hood piano award in 2001. Piano studies with Jose Ramos Santana, Ena Barton and James Goldsworthy. Jazz piano and composition studies with Laurie Altman. Piano pedagogy studies with James Goldsworthy, Ingrid Clarfield and Betty Stoloff. Teaching experience: vocal music teacher, Littlebrook School in Princeton, grades K-5 in general music and choir since 2005. Private piano studio in Princeton since 2004. Conservatory faculty since 2010.