Eclectic Styles Workshop

This workshop will explore Jazz and Blues styles and improvisation techniques. Students spend most of their time in the Orchestra Classroom being classically trained; Eclectic Styles can provide students a creative outlet to grow as musicians and hone new skills! 

BERT LIGON, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, is the former Director of Jazz Studies at the University of South Carolina and was instrumental in developing the Jazz Studies Undergraduate and Graduate curriculum, classes and degree programs. 

Ligon has published four widely used books on jazz improvisation available from Hal Leonard, Jazz Theory Resources Vol. 1 & 2, Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony, and Comprehensive Technique for the Jazz Musician. 

Ligon has published compositions and arrangements for jazz strings, orchestra, jazz big band, jazz guitar ensembles, and steel drum ensembles. Commission’s include composing SCBDA All-State jazz audition music for South Carolina middle and high school. He has published hundreds of Etudes for Jazz Improvisation for all levels. He received many awards, including national PBS awards and an EMMY nomination, for his composing and arranging in the Radio, TV and Film industries. He has presented clinics and concerts at several national and state conferences for ASTA, Suzuki International, JEN, and others. 

Ligon plays piano, guitar, and baseball.

Kristen Harris is the Violin Coordinator and violin instructor at the Suzuki Academy of Columbia, and adjunct professor of Violin Pedagogy and String Techniques at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC.

Kristen began her musical career as a Suzuki violin student and became passionate about performing and collaborating with musicians of various genres at a very young age. With a current studio of over 20 students ranging in age from 3-18, her students regularly participate in regional and all-state youth orchestras and have won prestigious fiddle competitions such as the SC State Fiddling Championship, Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention, and Mount Airy Bluegrass & Old-Time Fiddlers Convention. When not teaching, you can find Kristen performing with her Americana group Boomtown Trio, the Hot Club Jazz band Flat Out Strangers, and frequently with the groups Resonant Rogues and Admiral Radio. She is an active freelance musician around the Southeast and performs and records regularly as a solo artist and with ensembles of various styles. She is the two-time South Carolina State Fiddle Champion (2013, 2019), the Jasper Magazine 2019 Artist of the Year, and was featured in the Summer 2020 Edition of Fiddler Magazine for the release of her solo old time fiddle album “Borger Wiggle.”