About Jelske

Hi, my name is Jelske Hoogervorst. I am a jazz saxophonist and improvisation coach based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

In addition to playing music for more than 25 years, I teach music improvisation. I can teach you how to improvise in a way that is creative, auditive, motivational and very personal.  

It’s no mystery at all to play along spontaneously with other musicians, create your own music and play the music you imagine.

I can teach you how music works and help you breakthrough the inhibitions that keep you from creating your music.

My approach

I adopt a very practical approach in teaching you how to improvise. I offer a detailed practice curriculum with clear video examples and great jam tracks. The method I use (called Improvise for Real) is based on a tonal orientation in harmony that helps you understand the sounds in the music around you the way our ear naturally perceives them. Which eventually enables you to play the music you imagine. This applies to all musical styles based on Western harmonies and is studied worldwide by music students of all levels.

Since improvising is the most personal way of expressing yourself, it’s a rule rather than an exception to experience obstacles in your music practice. This is why my personal guidance, during workshops and the 1-on-1 coaching, focuses on overcoming your creative battles to enable you to get to the core of improvising: expressing yourself through the language of music.

How can I help you?

Do you want to understand the sounds in the music around you and be able to play the music you imagine? Start with my Introduction to Melodic Improvising for all instruments, all levels of playing.

Need help and personal guidance? View my 1-on-1 coaching options.

My background at a glance

  • over 25 years of teaching experience.
  • International IFR coach for students worldwide at all levels.
  • Graduate from the Amsterdam Conservatory (jazz saxophone) and University of Amsterdam (musicology and arts management).
  • over 25 years stage experience as a professional saxophonist in jazz, pop, funk, latin, soul and improv. Find my music and my collaborations on Spotify and YouTube.
  • Intensively trained in online teaching, blended learning and coaching.

My happy clients

‘I now feel like a musician’

I can now shut my eyes, tune into what is around and inside me, and play it. I am not repeating something I did last time, I trust my understanding of the music, and my feel and just play!! Jelske is so positive and patient and intelligent and the method really seems to work. Her wisdom as a person shows in her playing and teaching. It's funny, I now feel like a musician, like I am not faking it anymore.
Julia Farrants
cello, United Kingdom

'A musical transformation'

I have loved and enjoyed it immensely, and it has enabled me to think and more importantly ‘feel’ about my music making in a new and exciting way. It has been a musical transformation for me. Even my long-suffering wife and daughter have commented how much my playing has changed and improved. Praise indeed
Martin Vincent
alto saxophone, United Kingdom

'An entirely new approach to playing music'

After playing the trumpet for 40 years, playing solely from sheet music, I have discovered an entirely new approach to playing music and have completely fallen in love again with my instrument. That's what I have managed to take from Jelske's course, and that is her achievement.
Johannes Frerick
trumpet, the Netherlands

'Great quality, really helpful'

What I've really appreciated and what sets this course apart is the quality of the feedback - always timely and also with detail. And the quality of the resources - the lessons, laid out well in the short videos, and especially the extra audio files and jam tracks in particular that scaffold the lessons, are all really helpful.
Charlie Rice
alto saxophone & bass clarinet, United Kingdom

‘Let go of inhibitions'

Thank you for your wonderful instruction over the past 6 months! I really do feel like you were the right teacher with the right material for me at the right time. What I most value from your classes was learning how to let go of inhibitions to create original melodies, and a practical method to analyze chord progressions in tunes.
John White
cornet, United States

'Playing my instrument is enjoyable again'

I wish I had learned this years ago. Jelske's enthusiasm is catching, her feedback without judgement is encouraging. The most important thing is that playing my instrument is enjoyable again.
Annemarie Post
tenor saxophone the Netherlands