Educational Programs and Philosophy

Tanya Kalmanovitch is Assistant Chair of the Department of Creative Improvisation at New England Conservatory in Boston MA and a regular instructor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London UK. She has pioneered creative improvisation programs for musicians from a range of backgrounds. Central to her teaching philosophy is a belief that all musicians, regardless of genre, should possess the means to creative self-expression and professional development.

Tanya has played a leading role in developing improvisational pedagogy for string players and creative musicians. She is a founding board member of the Jazz String Caucus of the International Association for Jazz Education, has served as a member of the 2007 Alternative Styles committee of the American String Teachers Association, and is the Canadian representative to the International Association of Schools of Jazz. In addition to her regular teaching commitments in Boston and New York, Tanya frequently presents workshops and residencies internationally, and offers private and small group instruction for musicians of all levels in New York City.

As an educator, Tanya aims to provide students with the tools necessary to reach a full expression of their unique creative voices. She aims to provide professional performers with the necessary technical, aesthetic, critical and practical tools for lifelong artistic and professional renewal. She aims to provide beginning and intermediate students with the experience of creative self-expression and the reward of honest work towards a sometimes difficult goal. For all students of all levels, music has the possibility of transforming lives. In the words of clarinettist Richard Stoltzman, “the nobility of working together honestly and sincerely on something greater then myself in order to share and nurture the potential for goodness and beauty inside us all.”

Tanya is currently writing a book on creative improvisation for classical musicians, excerpts of which may appear on this site from time to time.

Recent Workshops and Residencies

Tomsk State University (Tomsk RU)
Krasnoyarsk Conservatory (Krasnoyarsk RU)
Irkutsk Conservatory (Irkutsk RU)
Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London, UK)
Afghanistan National Institute of Music (Kabul, AF)
Konservatoř Jaroslava Ježka (Praha, CZ)
Koninklijk Conservatorium (The Hague, NL)
Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA)
Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA)
Arnhem Conservatory (Arnhem, NL)
The Royal Irish Academy of Music (Dublin, IRL)
The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
The International Association for Jazz Education
The International Association of Schools of Jazz
The University of Missouri (Columbia, MO)
The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
Midori and Friends Foundation (New York, NY)
The Brhaddhvani Centre (Chennai, India)
ESB Dublin Jazz Festival (Dublin, IRL)
Dundalk Institute of Technology (Dundalk, IRL)
University of Limerick (Limerick, IRL)
York University (Toronto, Canada)
Banff International Jazz Workshop (Banff, Canada)
Ionian University (Corfu, Greece)