In this live webinar, Australian pianist/improviser/composer/educator Andrea Keller shares her processes for improvisation and creative learning.

Lauded for her musical inventiveness and prolific artistry, Andrea demonstrates her approach to practicing improvisation, how she uses concepts and external sources as impetus, and how she turns improvisational material into compositions and vehicles for further improvisatory explorations.

Viewers will gain personal insights into:
• Free improvisation as a tool for creative learning
• Concepts & Starting points for improvisation & composition
• Cultivating creativity in musicians at all stages

About the Presenter

Andrea Keller (Pianist and Composer)

Born of Czech parents, Andrea grew up in Sydney, Australia. She studied piano, flute and saxophone at the Sydney Conservatorium High School. Inspired by her older brother, she penned her first compositions at the age of 10 and received her AMusA with distinction on piano at age 14. It was around this time that she was introduced to jazz music and the art of improvisation. Continuing to explore classical, jazz and original musics throughout her teenage years, her musical path became more defined when she moved to Melbourne as a lone teenager in the 1990s to study improvisation at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Committed to creating new music with an emphasis on improvisation and collaboration, she has released twenty albums as bandleader since 2000, and has performed on many other albums, including those by the Black Arm Band Company, the Australian Art Orchestra, and Eddie Perfect. Andrea has also been invited to compose works for a variety of artists and ensembles – most recently for the Monash Art Ensemble, Genevieve Lacey and Marshall McGuire, and Ensemble Offspring.

Highly lauded with multiple awards, Andrea has received three ARIA Awards, seven Australian Jazz ‘Bell’ Awards, two Art Music Awards (including the award for Excellence in Jazz), an APRA Professional Development Award, the Merlyn Myer Composing Women’s Commission, a Music Victoria Award – Best Jazz Album, the Melbourne Music Prize – Beleura Emerging Composers Award, a fellowship from the Australia Council, and the inaugural MCA / Freedman Foundation Jazz Fellowship. Andrea most recently won the Music Victoria, Industry Voted Award for Best Jazz Act in 2021. In 2021 she was also nominated for the Music Victoria Award for Best Musician as well as the Music Victoria Award for Outstanding Woman in Music.

First Thursdays

These regular professional development sessions were originally the brainchild of MTA Member Annette Allerding, who wanted music teachers to be able to meet and share ideas. Originally named Keys, Cakes and Conversation (KCC) the group went online during Covid, and eventually reached numbers often in excess of 50 teachers, meeting each month on Zoom. The Music Teachers' Association of NSW is delighted to bring these sessions into our fold. We want the sessions to continue to be free to our members, but we also believe it is important to pay presenters for their valuable time. So we ask you to consider a giving a donation towards the costs if you are able. You will be given the option to donate when you book your place.