Hey,

Is anyone interested in giving me input about a singing workshop I am putting together for folk music festivals around my state? The workshop will be limited 1 to 1 1/2 hours long, the normal festival workshop slot. This type of workshop is not being offered by anyone in my region, nor have I ever seen one at any festival I have been to? I would have found this really useful when I was starting out, so what the heck, I thought I would teach one myself.

Any suggestion from people who have given or taken similar workshops are welcome. I am also interested in finding out if others would find this useful.. if there is a need for this type of workshop out there. The workshop is intended to give people an overview of techniques, and to give them skills they can use themselves to analyse and improve their own singing. It is also intended to give them an organized way to think about the different factors involved in singing. It is not intended to cover everything - no time for that.

Thanks in advance for your feedback,

Claire


Here is my outline.

Purpose: to provide folk and traditional singers (festival goers) with basic vocal techniques to help them sing better within their own genre. To do this as interactively as possible, drawing on my own experiences applying voice lesson techniques to singing Irish traditional material.

Title: Skills for Folk Singing
(I have struggled to come up with a decent title, suggestions?)

Introductions, stretching, short warm up (to get everyone moving a bit and involved. Briefly state the purpose and also that listening to yourself recorded is your best way to improve your singing. Use a mini-disk if possible, since tape recorders distort.

Briefly describe the 4 focusses of the workshop:
1) Breath support (how to breath deeply, quick breaths, measured exhales)
2) Resonance (focusing the voice on your palatte, head and chest resonance)
3) Alphabet: vowels and consonants, singing on the vowels, placing consonants at the end of words, enunciation, sung consanants and how closing your mouth slows air flow down and may interfere with hitting notes.
4) Phrasing: stretching the rhythm of the phrasing for emphasis while staying on the beat.

Check in and ask if anyone has a particular interest in one of these areas, so that we can allocate more time to it.

Go through the above mentioned topics providing information and demonstrating. Given time, the following excersizes will be done by the group, so that the class is interactive and so they get some "body memory" of doing these things. I probably won't have time for all of these, but its good to have them in mind and planned out. I am sure I will have to make adjustments as I teach it.

Breath control
Practice breathing from diaphram, expanding back, deep quick breaths.
Using a song every one knows (words provided)... sing it through... then place the breaths. Sing the song slowly and fast and solicit input about how or if they had to breath differently to sing the song at the different paces.

Resonance
Talk about focusing in your face versus back of your mouth and how this is a mind game. Sing a group song, have everyone think differently and comment if the sound is different depending on what your thinking. May split into groups or ask for a volunteer to sing alone, to augment this part of the lesson. Talk about changing focus as you reach for high notes, demonstrate.

Alphabet
Various options to demonstrate this one. Split into 2 groups or get a volunteer. Have them sing a song and the other listen for dropped words, consanants or unsung vowels.   Have them try it again to fix those problem areas. Have another volunteer sing a song with sung consanants (l, n, r, do the same excercise) Won't spend a lot of time on this one, but it is worth mentioning.

Phrazing
Working with Mary had a little lamb or easy folk song, practice phrasing in as many different ways as possible. Will discuss the endless possibilities and that the singer has to decide what they really want the listener to get when they choose phrasing. Also, that it needs to be varied to keep the listener interested. This is key to the listener understanding your song.

For longer workshops, will ask a volunteer to sing a song, so that they can apply some of these techniques to their own song. I would work with them to identify how they might improve certain things starting with their own feedback and then asking others if they have suggestions. (If no one volunteers, I have one that I find continually challenging)

Could also extend the workshop by singing a song as a group, and go through techniques to improve the song.

Could discuss working with a band and the added complications of arranging and staying on someone elses rhythm, if there is time or interest.