Many musicians want to learn improvisation, but don’t know where to start. The process of learning jazz can be even more frustrating for a classically trained musicians who have musical skills but struggle with improvisation.

Improvisation isn’t a talent you are born with - it’s a skill that can be taught to anyone who is willing to work hard and learn.

At the Jazz Improv Institute, we teach people how to build those skills through exercises with structure, repetition, and the right content to match your level of playing.

The Jazz Improv Institute is an organization which provides training for musicians who want a structured path from “I don’t know where to start” to “I can improvise with confidence in any setting.”

Rather than a single course, the Jazz Improv Institute is built around a progressive framework which provides training for improvisational skills in stages, so you know what you’ve mastered and what’s next. Whether you’re learning your first ii-V7-I, or performing at a jazz festival, there is a next step waiting for you here.

We’re currently building out that framework into a full pathway with certification levels on the horizon for musicians who want formal recognition for their skill.

Our approach is built on the fundamentals of teaching the language of Bebop as the foundation of improvisation. Bebop is a jazz style which came out of the 1940s that has grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. We do this through guide tones, time feel exercises, licks, chord-scale relationships, and a supportive learning environment. Our lessons are focused learning by playing.

The Founder and Faculty

Shannon Gunn

Shannon Gunn is the Adjunct Instructor of Jazz Trombone at VCU and an in-demand freelance jazz trombonist. In 2024, she founded the Jazz Improv Institute to provide improvisation lessons for adult learners and music educators. As a musician, she actively uses her music for social justice causes. In 2015 she co-founded, with local non-profit CapitalBop, the Jazz and Freedom Festival, which has in turn raised funds and support for non-profits such as Empower DC, Black Lives Matter DMV, Just Neighbors, the Capitol Hill Jazz Foudnation, and WPFW-FM. In 2019, she founded Jazz Girls Day DC to empower young women to pursue jazz without boundaries from gender.

As a band leader, she has performed at the DC Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center, Castleton Theatre House, Washington Women in Jazz Festival, Takoma Park Jazz Festival, National Jazz Workshop, Bohemian Caverns, Mid Atlantic Jazz Fest, Levine Jazz Fest, Blues Alley, Reunion Music Society, at various TV stations such as DCTV, CBS Morning Show in Richmond, WJLA ABC in DC, and many other venues across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. As a sideperson, she has performed with the Fran Vielma Jazz Orchestra, Vaughn Ambrose, Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, DIVA! Jazz Orchestra, American Festival Pops Orchestra, and toured with Monica Herzig.

Read more about Shannon Gunn on her website and follow her on Spotify.

Ready to stop fearing the changes?

Start with our free eBook, 7 Days: Classical to Jazz, or explore membership.