Workshops For Trumpet Studio and Jazz Ensemble
Jim and Friends with Ornette Coleman


Jim and Friends with Ornette Coleman

It would be my pleasure to appear in concert with your jazz ensemble and or concert band or orchestra. I truly enjoy working with students of all ages. Connecting with the director and students is my number one goal for any workshop. I am there to reinforce the training that currently exists and to extend that knowledge, if possible, by way of demonstration, discussion, and interaction. I am an artist-clinician for Conn-Selmer (I perform on Bach Trumpets and the Selmer Paris Trumpet). Directors may approach Conn-Selmer for financial assistance in sponsoring me for a workshop or workshop/concert package. Contact me if you wish to talk about how we might work together.

From a recent workshop:
"On a personal note, I'd like to again say THANK YOU for an awesome experience for the students here at Tate.  It was a great concert and a real treat to have you here to work with our kids!  You set a new standard for our guest artists/clinicians for the future!
Thanks and I'll be in touch soon!"
Mike Philley
Tate High School Jazz Band

Workshop Topics for Trumpet

  • Connecting solid fundamental skill sets to high level performances
  1. Embouchure, breathing, and posture
  2. Warm-Up Ideas and Daily Routines
  3. The Focused Practice Session – Addressing Issues and Solving Problems
  4. Artistic Practice – Making music and connecting with your audience

These ideas work well with a workshop involving the entire brass section of a band, wind ensemble, or orchestra.

Jazz Workshops
  • Workshop with the ensemble (jazz ensembles and combos)
  1. Tuning and Intonation
  2. Balance and blend (in sections, across the band)
  3. Understanding the scoring of a composition/arrangement
  4. The rhythm section – connecting to the quarter note
  • Jazz Improvisation Workshop
  1. Developing vocabulary from scale/chord families
  2. The application of practice materials to tunes
  3. The development of a concept of swing, phrasing, and harmonic motion through the study of Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker.
  4. Approaching different jazz tune types: blues, standard, bebop, modal, ballad, and contemporary.
  5. Introduction to improvisational concepts – repetition, harmonic generalization, developing fluency in all keys, sequence, use of space, rhythmic variation.
Ensemble Workshops
  • Music Making and Teamwork
  1. Understanding the score and the composer’s wishes
  2. Intonation and Listening, Dynamics, Phrasing, and Expression
  3. Song and Dance
  4. Musical character – articulation, style, tempo, balance
  5. Melody/accompaniment
  6. Vertical and horizontal elements in music


Wynton Marsalis lends an ear to Jim's Trumpet

Informational Videos

Jim Ketch, Jelly Roll Morton composition style using Black Bottom Stomp from Swing Central Jazz on Vimeo.



Jim Ketch, Oliver Nelson compositional style of Stolen Moments from Swing Central Jazz on Vimeo.



Jim Ketch, Count Basie compositional style using Moten Swing from Swing Central Jazz on Vimeo.



Jim Ketch, Approaching a composition for the first time from Swing Central Jazz on Vimeo.



Jim Ketch, Jazz as a professional career from Swing Central Jazz on Vimeo.