George Duke/George Benson
The George Duke and George Benson Ensemble is designed to develop and enhance performance skills at the advanced level. Through studying the music of these two artists, this course covers a wide variety of styles and focuses on both instrumental and vocal-based music. Students encounter various real world situations, such as learning music with a set, short amount of time to prepare; learning songs/arrangements/lyrics on the spot and retaining it; having to come up with parts that work with the songs/arrangements, etc. Through these situations, students develop and enhance their skill level. Throughout the course of the semester students learn and practice a full set of music from these two artists for the purpose of performing a final concert at the end of the semester.