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Musical Improv Level One (in-person)

Musical Improv Level One (in-person) with Frank Spitznagel and Jacob Horn

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Check below to see the full schedule for each session, see if your class skips a week for a holiday, and check out the date and time of your class show(s).

Class Description

Learn how to put your thoughts and emotions into song and take your improv scenes to the next level! In this 8-week course you will learn the song structures you need to make up musicals on the spot. No need to be an experienced singer! Through exercises in group dynamic, support, and movement, you will learn how to turn every song you improvise into a full-blown musical number. 8 weeks of classes followed by a class performance.

All students will be asked to show proof of vaccination prior to the first session in order to participate in this class

NOTE: Current mask policy for musical classes is that masks are required for students. This is reassessed on an ongoing basis.

Instructor: Frank Spitznagel

Frank Spitznagel is the Musical Director at Magnet Theater and a piano accompanist who frequently plays for such improv groups as I Eat Pandas, Veal, The Made-Up Musical, Gusto, and many others. He is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano performance. His work can be heard on several studio recordings. Frank has composed for Comedy Central and the Aspen Comedy Festival. He accompanied Itzhak Perlman in an original jazz composition by Benny Golson at Lincoln Center. He also played the American premiere of The Hired Man Off-Broadway. He has been musical director for productions such as Nunsense (all incarnations), A Chorus Line, Chicago City Limits, and several original musicals.

Instructor: Jacob Horn

Jacob started improvising in high school, switched to a cappella while studying Comparative Literature and Latin at Haverford College, and then moved to New York, where improv came back with a vengeance. His tendency to harmonize, syllabize, or beatbox to any music whatsoever—a residual effect of a cappella that musical improv has done nothing to help—continues to make him an unpopular guest at parties.

Since 2014, Jacob has studied and performed all over the city, including Magnet classes with Jon Bander, Armando Diaz, Elana Fishbein, Megan Gray, Louis Kornfield, Michael Lutton, and Peter McNerney. He performs regularly as part of Musical Megawatt and is half of the indie musical improv duo 4D Thieves (with Jennette Cronk), whose appearances include Pittsburgh's Steel City Improv Festival and the Tampa Bay Improv Festival. (Photo: Tim Tiebout Photography)

Full Session Schedule

Session Schedule*

  1. Jun 26, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  2. Jul 10, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  3. Jul 17, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  4. Jul 24, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  5. Jul 31, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  6. Aug 7, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  7. Aug 14, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
  8. Aug 21, 2022, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)

Show Schedule*

  1. Aug 28, 2022, 4:30 PM
    at Magnet Theater
    (254 W. 29th Street)
    2. *scheduling subject to change