The Singing Soul: Improvisational A Cappella
The Singing Soul is a creative and powerful way of improvised music making and of being alive in the world. Join in and raise your voice in joyous a cappella grooves of our own making. Experience both non-conventional and conventional uses of the human voice in the co-creation of authentic musical expressions of the moment. WE are the instruments in a musical journey of spontaneous self-expression and collaboration with others.
The Singing Soul is for those who are ready to let go of “getting it right” and are ready to embrace letting it just happen. Unrehearsed singing evokes the genuine and soulful voice. You’ll strengthen your abilities as a vocal musician in creating melodies and harmonies, laying down vocal percussion grooves and bass lines, and gelling with others in creating freewheeling counterpoint that just begs a soloist - then becoming that too! Experience new roles and genres in your music-making. Improvised movement and free-form writing will expand your sense of possibilities. The synergy of improvisation inspires and empowers as singers discover utterly new terrain vocally, musically, and expressively. Sessions begin with physical and vocal warming, improv style! A wide variety of clearly outlined structures are offered, for the full group, small groups, duets and soloing; each of which generates different experiences and outcomes. Sessions are punctuated with pauses to process our learnings together.
Improvisation itself is a master teacher. It is a life skill…an antenna that reveals how each moment holds a hundred possibilities, and how to access them in realizing the wealth of our creative intuition. New discoveries in science tell us that chaos and change are the only routes to transformation, and that relationships are what matters, even at the subatomic level. The conscious study of collaborative improvisation is a wise response. Those with improvisational abilities have significant leadership value to add to processes of creative problem solving, addressing issues of scarcity, difficult conversations, community building, and the transformation of conflict. Singers of all levels are welcome. Ready… ListenExcerpt from a duet featuring David Hatfield and percussionist Robin Reid: Excerpts from group improvisations conducted by David Hatfield:
The Singing Soul in 2011-2012:Calgary, Alberta, September 16-18, 2011 with the Rhythm of the Rockies Chorus. The Haven - Gabriola Island, BC A 4 day, residential intensive of The Singing Soul will he held at The Haven educational centre. This is a powerful journey into soulful vocal improvisation, supported by forest, ocean, and a physical space for our work that is acoustically and visually superb!! May 10-14, 2012 Creston, BC, October 14-16, 2011 For registration and information: Maureen Cameron: mtcameron@telus.net or Shirley Cameron: 250-428-3995 Canmore, BC, October 20, 2011 Edmonton, Alberta, tentative dates: May 18-20, 2012. Calgary, Alberta, tentative dates: May 25, 26, 2012. If you would like a workshop in your area please contact: david@davidhatfield.ca BiographyDavid Hatfield has a deep love of vocal music and spontaneous music making. Inspired by studies with master teacher and jazz vocalist Rhiannon, he has taught "Singing Soul" improvisational a cappella workshops extensively since 1997 in Canada, the U.S., Spain, Germany and New Zealand. David was the founder and conductor of “House of Song” improvisational a cappella choir. He was a conductor at “SongRise” - a 5-hour continuous improvised a cappella performance in Vancouver on New Year’s Eve 1999. He was also a founding member, 1995 - 98, of The Symphonic Work Assembly of Rhythm and Movement, “S.W.A.R.M.”, a five-member percussion ensemble playing original compositions on invented instrument with full choreography. He was a founding member of “The Tree Frogs” percussion ensemble playing traditional music of Ghana. David's performance experience ranges from street performing to off-broadway, from fully choreographed to fully improvised. He holds a diploma in Jazz Studies from Vancouver Community College where he was awarded the Jack Cullen Scholarship for Contemporary Voice in 1993. Vocal Improvisation Instruction/Performance highlights include:Association of Canadian Choral Conductors Canadian Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation - Vancouver Common Threads Choir - Toronto Cultural Medicine Cabinet Choir - Vancouver Essentially Men Network - New Zealand Gala Opening of Cirque du Soleil -Vancouver "Get Off the Concrete" Men’s Gathering - New Zealand Global Voices Choir, A Cappellago Choir - New Zealand Heart Politics Conference -New Zealand Kersley Musical Theatre Company - Quesnel, BC “Learning Love” International Conference - University of British Columbia “Power of Hope” youth gatherings - Canada and USA Rhythm of the Rockies - Sweet Adelines Chorus - Calgary Sarah McLaughlin Outreach Choir - Vancouver Schwelle 7, Berlin - Germany Studio 58 Theatre Program - Langara College, Vancouver Teachers Association of Albacete - Spain The Muse Community Music Trust - New Zealand The United Church of Canada - Youth Ministry Certificate Program
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Humming a tune while washing the dishes...tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel...wanting to hear a certain kind of song to suit our mood...emotional surges and absent minded creative moments. What happens when a space is made for conscious improvisation, grounded in the body and carried by the voice? Magic! We are moved by the preciousness of our own music, our own stories, perhaps for the first time.
Improvisation is an expression, a necessity, a liberation, and a homecoming. It is humming a tune while washing the dishes...tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel...wanting to hear a certain kind of song to suit our mood...emotional surges and absent-minded creative moments. The Singing Soul is spontaneous, in-the-moment singing; the unveiling of our very uniqueness in melody, harmony, and rhythm…our stories, in words, and beyond them. By turns edgy, hilarious, challenging, and deeply moving, each moment is an original composition that is unrehearsed, precious, and irreplaceable. And as fate would have it, it’s also profoundly fun! There are no wrong notes and there’s nothing to memorize, just breathe and sing….ahh.
Develop mastery in the intuitive skills of the improviser:
And the technical skills of the musician: