Vocal Workshop on September 11, 2010

This workshop is now full.

The vocal workshop on September 11th will be led by Stuart Barr. Stuart is a singing coach and musical director, working among other places at the Royal Academy of Music. His most recent challenge was as Chorus Master for the special BBC Prom which celebrated Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday. In June, BBC Radio 3, in The Choir, featured the work Stuart has been doing to help choirs change their sound to suit the music. You can read more about him on his website, www.stuartbarr.net.

Stuart will be assisted by our own conductor, Sam Gardner.

The workshop will be held in the relaxing environment of The Barn, Westfield Farm, Sheriff Hutton  YO60 6QQ. Tea and coffee will be available from 10.30, so that we can start promptly at 11.00.

Stuart and Sam have planned the programme as follows:

11.00 Welcome

11.05 Building the sound (Stuart Barr)

A whistle-stop tour around the basics of the voice. Stuart will look at why warming up is important, how it can be done efficiently and then provide tips for improving technique, including: airflow, efficient voicing, breathing, registers (larynx tilting), resonance, freeing tongue/jaw tension & posture.

12.30 Lunch – this will be Bring and Share

1.30 Singing with style (Stuart Barr)

Using the latest voice science research, Stuart will show how to change vocal colours to suit the music, concentrating on the Classical and Renaissance periods.

2.30 Break – tea and coffee

3.00 Performing Renaissance music (Sam Gardner)

A short introduction to performing music of the Renaissance; focusing on repertoire from the last concert. Identifying the techniques composers were using to draw attention to certain areas of the music and how our performance could reflect this.

3.30 Ensemble performance

An opportunity for the singers to split into groups and prepare their own performance of the day’s music, with advice and guidance available from Stuart and Sam.

4.30 Performance

Each group performs to each other with a short introduction from each about the musical decisions they made.

5.00 Finish