Improv Choir Workshops 2012
Information
Workshop sessions:
LENGTH
These can be any length depending on what you want. If long travel times are involved I recommend at least a 3 hour session
There are no specific requirements regarding room space but it needs to be quiet and big enough for people to move around.
VENUE
For longer sessions we may divide into groups - this can happen in corners or corridors but breakout spaces for a large group are useful.
If you have access to a hall we can have fun with throwing the sound around but I have also done successful sessions in small carpeted 'dry' rooms.
I can bring my own keyboard if there isn't one available.
GROUPS
These workshops are suitable for choirs, performing professional and amateur groups, or if you want one to happen in your area you can just advertise generally. They work across skill, experience, genre, and age-range.
For established groups they are intended as a complement to the way you already work and an insight into how improvisation techniques can enhance your choir's enjoyment of rehearsing and performing.
They are not genre specific but I also do jazz and blues improvisation sessions for beginners and more advanced groups.
PRICE
The price will be around £200 for a half-day including travel and £300 for a full day. Please contact me to negotiate if you want to pay more (or less)! In some cases I might be willing to do a door split.
Sarah Wallcook, Opera singer and coach: "I can't recommend these sessions highly enough! At first glance it may seem like opera and improvisation don't go hand in hand, but working with Jilly has improved my singing by making me more flexible, responsive and empowered to be expressive within the rules of the music that I sing...Plus, if you're singing other genres anyway, then it can't fail to have a positive impact.
BlueJam Improv Choirs
The Improv Choirs project started out in 2010 as two groups in London and Cumbria meeting and exploring a range of improvisational techniques. As most people had worked together before a shared understanding of how to balance different priorities, experience and commitment developed quickly within the groups. I acted as a conduit for ideas generated in one group to be tried out and explored by the other, backed up by posting recordings and videos on this page.
These groups were lightly facilitated by me, but following requests in 2011 I started offering Improv Choir workshops both to established groups and as generally advertised sessions. These have turned out to work successfully and I really enjoy them I am trying to advertise them further afield and get to meet lots of new people!
picture gallery...participants
Kate W is doing a photography exhibition which we talked about adding a vocal soundtrack to, and we also did an Art Moves Art style piece, which was cathartic and great fun. Here is an excerpt:
Definite moves in this session towards composition - looking at how things can be put together and evaluating different processes.
We started with a warm-up where we all started singing at the same time and kept to our notes so there was a real possibility of holding on to dissonance. Then Kate W introduced the idea of working with questions and answers and exploring emotions and inhabiting an acting space. It was fantastic.
We then tried out the tritone exercise from the London session and combined it with the acting one - very interesting. Feel we're exploring a whole range of approaches. Another request for a 'song' - we may try one of my pieces next time.
We had two double bass players this month, so alternated. We stuck to the ideas from last time, adding some more structured work.
We ended singing a whole piece in two parts a tritone apart and improvising around it
One of the best sessions so far. We experimented with open impros, mainly groove-based, then added ways of listening - such as being sellotape or stickers.
We also experimented with a TUNE!
'This time I was thinking about working with instruments (piano and double bass so far) and looking at starting from some jazz grooves. Am aware that some people will feel Ooh yes, that's more like it, while others will think - Help!'
There were 4 of us as people were away - it was great singing with the bass - we also started writing a song. Here is a clip of an impro on my song 'The Living is Easy'
circle idea demo
warm-up | warm-up2 | Impro 1 - In The Garden | Impro 2 - Dusted Down
clip 1
silence to sound | intro to is you is | is you is | silence is golden | group 3: 'bucolic' | belle mama directed Sally Davies
thing for peach