School for Improvisational Music
Accepting Applications for 2025 Summer Intensive
Brooklyn, NY • August 4-15
ABOUT SIM
The School for Improvisational Music is a core group of musicians/teachers who are committed to providing instruction for instrumentalists wanting to study improvisation in all of its contemporary forms and implications.
OUR MISSION
We offer an unequaled experience for students and faculty alike devoted to collaborative, creative music making and the pursuit of improvisation. Our students have the rare opportunity to pair with master musicians in an environment focused on exchange.
Meet the Faculty
“For me, the beauty of the SIM Summer Intensives is getting to witness a collective student Brain self-create over the course of two weeks, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. It happens every time! Magic! And all just from everybody listening to each other think/feel/invent/cope and learn through a practice that blurs the lines between doing and hearing done, process/result, failure/success, preparation/spontaneity, etc… I highly recommend the experience. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that such badass masters of risk as Ralph Alessi, Tim Berne, John Hebert, Chris Lightcap, Kate Gentile, Tom Rainey, Matt Mitchell, Brandon Seabrook, and a host of other teachers, are there to demonstrate the bold and sheer fun of spontaneous music-making…”
Michael Attias, Saxophonist
SIM 2025 Core Faculty
SIM 2025 NYC Summer Intensive
“I grew immensely during the week I spent at SIM way back in 2002. Even today I’m still experimenting and grasping with the concepts presented back then. When I meet musicians on the road or in the studio these days, there is almost always a SIM connection or backstory that is vital to that improviser’s growth or concept. “
Jon Irabagon, Saxophonist
SIM 2002 Participant
