Thirty-six of us gathered together at
6.30pm at the Royal Academy of Music where we were greeted by Helen Wills, administrator
of the Vocal Weekend Workout course The
course participants were an eclectic bunch, with some as young as sixteen, as
to the upper age, well, that would be telling, wouldn’t it? Suffice to say that
there was a huge variety of styles, abilities, backgrounds and aspirations, all
which made for an exciting learning experience. Friday
evening involved ice-breaker activities which enthused, settled some nerves and gave us a taste of what lay ahead. We
learned a catchy round, with snappy moves that were included in the Sunday
evening performance. Saturday morning involved dividing us
into two groups of eighteen with my group spending a decadent half hour on vocal warm-ups with Mary King. We then moved
to Pilates with Suzanne Wooder who led us through singer-focused physical
movements, engaging our core muscles in a gentle yet very achievable way. This
was my first experience of a Pilates class where I felt I knew what I should be
trying to feel. It has certainly encouraged me to consider enrolling in a
regular class and equipped me with what I should look for in a Pilates teacher.
My first ‘taster’ workshop was Music
Theatre with Maureen Scott who had presented a very good Rock & Pop
workshop for Tosini & NIMIC some years back. As well as having good fun
playing around with different vocal qualities using ‘Unchained Melody’, it was
very useful to have a refresher on the Estill Voice Craft courses that TOSINI had
facilitated back in 2005..
The second workshop I attended was in
Pop and Rock with Mel Lewis. Mel warmed us up with some great vocal exercises
using riffs from popular songs that I will definitely be using in the future. Very
evident was the importance of remembering where the power needs to come from and
that focus was at the heart of this very enjoyable workshop. We had the benefit
of the dance studio for this class and boy, did we enjoy the mirrors as we
belted out ‘Let me entertain you’ in three part harmony!
Saturday concluded with four
simultaneous Masterclasses, taken by Mary and three other tutors chosen by her.
In my Masterclass, we began by speaking a little about ourselves, stating where
we were at with our singing and what we hoped to achieve from the weekend,, This
no doubt helped Mary focus on what she wanted to work on with each of us. We
each sang through our songs while Mary scribbled furiously. I must admit by
this stage my brain had reached saturation point and I wondered if I would be
able to deliver vocally on anything Mary
asked me to but I was reassured by the rest of my group that the difference to
my performance was very evident once Mary got to work on me!
vocal warm ups and more delightful Pilates exercises - if only I could being every
day like this! We were then treated to a
Gospel workshop with Ken Burton. I had never had any experience of singing
gospel music before and so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Ken was wonderful in
explaining the vocal techniques involved in getting the gospel ‘sound’ and the
two songs he chose for us were uplifting in both a vocal and a spiritual way.
Laka D on Jazz. Again she chose two great songs for us but the focus of this
workshop was on improvising and it was wonderful! One of the girls in my group
had studied Jazz in High School in the United States and it was lovely to hear
someone so young scat in such a relaxed, chilled but confident manner. Laka D
talked us through some of the mysteries of how to improvise and this gave me
further insight into the true genius of some of the Jazz greats.
two groups together for plenary sessions on performance skills and these were
invaluable. Usefully, she compiled an information pack for us that summarised
all her points, with particular details for singers wanting to pursue their
studies at conservatoires and also information on how to approach auditions.
The weekend concluded with a
performance for friends and family. We performed material we had worked on over
the weekend from across the different genres. It was with great enthusiasm that
I improvised the first solo scat as Laka D’s finger pointed to me in ‘I’m
beginnin’ to see the light’. Some solo singers were chosen and Mary did a
mini-masterclass with some to show the audience what is involved in producing a
performance.
Mary’s finger on the pulse, as the need to educate audiences in this quick-fix
X-Factor era is so important if the arts are to flourish.
I hope from the above you will have got
just a hint of the wonderful time I had on this course. I would encourage all teachers
and students to consider this course as part of their continuous professional
development - you will not be
disappointed! Mary King is an
inspirational educator and I came home with a fire in my belly that I hope will
not fade any time soon!
New-bie scat Singer/Chair
