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Gina Pruitt Biography

 

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 Gina Pruitt Biography

Gina Pruitt grew up in a musical family and gave her first performance at the age of 4.  She received a Master of Music in performance at the University of Texas at Austin and studied at the Aspen Music Festival. Amongst her teachers are John Perry, Nancy Garrett, Gregory Allen, Nellie Tholen and she has coached with William Doppman and David Birge.  She was winner of the Idaho Arts and Humanities Trust Fund Award and semi-finalist in the Ima Hogg National Young Artists Audition in Houston.  Her students include winner of the Artists of the Future Competition and soloist with the Beach Cites Symphony in Los Angeles.  She studied jazz with recording artists Milcho Leviev and Charlie Shoemake in Los Angeles and has performed regularly for several years at the Adams Mark Hotel in Denver.  In 1999 she was commissioned to arrange a medley of Duke Ellington songs for the Lafayette Community Chorale.  She recently presented concerts and clinics at the University of Wyoming and the 2003 Gene Harris Jazz Festival in Idaho.  She has taught on the piano faculties of Colorado Christian University, Boise State University and California State University at Dominiguez Hills.

Book Review Links:

2004 Colorado State Music Teachers Convention Presentation

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Colorado Music Teachers

Jamey Aebersold Play-a-long recordings

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helping Your Student Play in the School Band: Gina Pruitt
reviewed by Debi Strick
I liked this seminar because it brought the world of jazz down to a level that was more on the ground level and easy to understand. Gina Pruitt had compiled a little booklet called "Student Jazz Handbook" that I purchased for $5:00. I bought the book and plan to use it with students wanting to be in the school jazz band. So far I've had three, and if I'd had this book I bet I could have helped them more. The book involves a lot of theory: circle of 5ths, chord theory, chord construction, chord symbols, 3-7 blues voicings, etc. It also involves scales, harmonizing melodies, blues scales, syncopation, swing rhythm, and exercises and little pieces to apply them to. The book is very easy to follow and understand—easy to read—not a lot of clutter on each page. In her seminar, Gina demonstrated things in the book. She has also composed many pieces which she has compiled into little booklets that were for sale. 

Again, I liked this seminar because of the easy-to-understand level of the information. You really don't have to have a master's or doctorate degree to understand how jazz is formulated.