John Clayton YSU Masterclass

Farin · #1 03-23-2006, 03:15 PM

So I just found out that I will most likly be playing on John Clayton's masterclass at Youngstown State University! Is anyone else planning on attending this masterclass? I believe its Sunday, April 9th in the afternoon.

TroyK · #2 03-23-2006, 03:41 PM

I'm not sure what you mean by "playing on" his master class, but I've been to a few and it is something to look forward to. He is great bassist and strikes me as a very genuine person. You'll leave inspired.

Farin · #3 03-23-2006, 04:04 PM

From what I can tell, its a gathering where selected bass players get to play with John. Not quite sure of the details yet.

TroyK · #4 03-23-2006, 05:11 PM

Well, generally in a masterclass, you'll be in a room with some number of participant bassists and class leaders, might just be John, might be him and someone else. He'll talk and likely play (hold onto your seat), people will ask questions and he'll likely expect everyone to come up and play something. He'll ask for feedback from everyone and then he'll give his. He's gentle, encouraging and constructive. There might be some group playing exercise, depends probably on how many participants, how big the room and how long the class.

Enjoy it, listen, throw yourself into the process and savor the experience. Then, of course, come back here and post about it.

jgbass · #5 03-23-2006, 05:47 PM

I attended a bass conference last fall where I attended John Clayton's master class. A few people played for John and got some constructive feedback, but we mostly talked about things that were on our minds. My topic was learning Standards and a lot of the time ended up being on that topic. Constructive information was shared. Not that many people signed up to play. If I had known I could play for more than one of the staff, I would have also signed up for John's class to play.

Master Classes are a great opportunity to play in front of a great bassist and your peers and get valuable feedback. At that conference, I played for Rabbath. Right now I am taking a college course where we play weekly in front of the instructor and peers, and it is a valuable experience in performing.

John is a warm, genuine person, as mentioned above, I don't see how you could walk away from this experience without being inspired and glad you spent some time with him.

musicman5string · #6 03-23-2006, 08:10 PM

That sounds great JGBass; I can't imagine performing for Rabbath.

Yeah, John Clayton is one amazing guy and bassist. Any info on what was discussed about learning standards?

Farin · #7 03-24-2006, 01:06 PM

Since we are on the subjest of masterclasses,
I also just attended a George Vance masterclass. He had a lot of good things to say, especially about teaching. I think he's very underrated, he has alot of ideas though.

ee-san · #8 03-24-2006, 02:42 PM

I attended a Clayton master class in Cincinnati 20 years ago and learned a great deal. I am wondering if he still advocates changing fingers with every left hand shift (i.e., no 1-1 or 4-4 shifts, etc.). Maybe somebody can ask at the next class.

Farin · #9 04-09-2006, 10:32 PM

He did advocate burning our Real Books! Haha. Good thing I didn't end up asking him to sign mine like I usually do.

jgbass · #10 04-10-2006, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicman5string

That sounds great JGBass; I can't imagine performing for Rabbath.

Yeah, John Clayton is one amazing guy and bassist. Any info on what was discussed about learning standards?

Yes, it was a stretch performing for Rabbath, but my teacher highly encouraged this. I thought I played absolutely terrible, but he made some good suggestions and I lived through this, haha.