Al Downing Jazz Education Scholarship
Offered by The Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association
Al Downing Jazz Education Scholarship is a scholarship from The Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association. It is open to students in Pinellas. A minimum GPA of 2.0 is required.
About 95 minutes of work, based on what the sponsor asks for.
- Essay required
Who can apply
- Minimum GPA
- 2.0
- Letters of recommendation
- 1
- Year in school
- High school senior
- Counties
- Pinellas
- Fields of study
- Arts – Jazz, Education – Music, Music Education
- Activities
- Band/Music
What the sponsor says
Scholarship Name: Al Downing Jazz Education Scholarship
Sponsor: The Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association
This scholarship was established to financially assist a senior in furthering their studies in jazz.
Criteria:
1. Applicant must be a graduating student of any Pinellas County Public High School.
2. Applicant must plan to pursue a career in Arts – Jazz. (Education – Music, Music Education)
3. Applicant must participate in Band/Music in their senior year.
4. Applicant must have a 2.0 or higher GPA.
Additional Requirements:
1. Students must submit a recorded audition (maximum of 20 minutes) demonstrating their ability to interpret music and improvise in a style reflecting exposure to the jazz idiom. The recording may be submitted digitally (mp3, video file, YouTube link, etc.) with the student’s name, instrument, school, and listing of tunes performed on the recording.
2. Students must perform 3 contrasting selections (one must be a blues) with live accompaniment.
Selected tunes must be from the standard jazz repertoire. The selections performed on the recording must be clearly labeled. Please include a lead sheet for each tune performed. All performers (except drummers) are expected to play/ sing the melody and to improvise. Pianists and guitarists must “comp” for another soloist as well in their selected tunes. Bassists must walk bass lines reflecting the tune’s harmony and rhythmic style. Drummers must demonstrate swing,
Latin, and ballad styles in their selections.
3. Applicants must complete an additional 100-word essay answering “What jazz means in my life”
4. Applicants must submit a band director’s recommendation letter.
5. Please ensure audition materials are labeled with the student’s name, instrument, school, home address and listing of tunes performed. All scholarship materials must be submitted no later than
January 31st. Digitally submitted audition materials should be emailed to Dwayne White,
Education/Scholarship Chairman at [contact detail removed, see the sponsor's page]. Please send any hard copy audition materials and essays to: Scholarship Committee Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association P.O. Box
2240 St.Petersburg, FL 33731-2240. If you have questions, please contact Dwayne White at [contact detail removed, see the sponsor's page] or Trace Zacur at [contact detail removed, see the sponsor's page] .
Quoted from the page it was published on, word for word. Where our summary above and this text disagree, this text is correct. Tell us and we'll fix the summary.
4 contact details in this quote were not part of applying, so we left them off rather than republish someone's inbox. Anything you need in order to apply is still here. The sponsor's page has the full text.
Our read on this award
3 figures we worked out, not the sponsor's. Free, and it takes an email address.
How these are worked out
- Our grade. From three facts the sponsor published. How few can apply: one high school or city 3 points, a county 2, the state 1, the whole country 0. How much it pays: $10,000 or more, or at least half of tuition, 3; $2,500 or more 2; $1,000 or more 1. Paid again in later years: 1. A is 4 points or more, B 3, C 2, D 0 or 1.
- How narrow the field is. Read from where the sponsor restricts it. An award open to one high school is competing against a graduating class.
- Conditions to meet. The conditions the sponsor published, each listed under Who can apply. More conditions means a smaller field, which is good news if you meet them.
- None of it is a chance of winning. We do not know how many people apply or how a sponsor chooses, so we do not publish a percentage. Anyone who does is guessing.
Read the full listing → We could not identify a separate application page for this award, so this link goes to the page the details came from. The application is usually linked from there or available from the sponsor.
Last checked 2026-08-24. Deadlines change without notice, so confirm with the sponsor before you rely on one.