Don't worry about not knowing "how to do it", or whether you'll like it -- it's easy to learn, yet endlessly challenging and changing. No harm done if you come & decide it's not for you -- and a world of joyful play to gain if it starts your heart singing!
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Circlesinging
3rd & 2nd Fridays (depending on the month) September 21, October 19, November 9, December 14 7:00-8:30 p.m. $10 drop-in fee at the Upper Valley Music Center, Bach room. People circlesing all over the world in countless different ways and it dates back to the earliest forms of human singing. Under Patricia Norton's guidance, our circle will use techniques developed by Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, and the amazing faculty at the Omega Institute circlesinging workshops. It will be different every time, and singers of all levels of experience are included. |
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June 2018 circle sing. Photo generously provided by Holly Pierce.
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Circlesinging draws on traditions of chant, jazz and gospel improvisation, meditation and mindfulness to create one-of-a-kind choral improvisations. It is accessible to beginning singers, but also challenges and inspires the very experienced. The fundamental building blocks of rhythm, melody, and harmony are used in repeated patterns, creating music unique to the moment.
Sometimes the circle invites a solo improviser into the center, sometimes it stays in the meditative pulse of a musical pattern. Circles reflect the people in them -- folk, jazz, African, bluegrass, Mediterranean, South-American, pop, gospel, rock, hip-hop, classical, funk, new-age, Québécois, beat-boxing -- you bring what is in you, no need to label it, and it becomes part of the circle. |
Circlesinging is an opportunity to tune in, listen deeply, shed beliefs and judgments, and tap into something larger than a single individual. It’s powerful. It’s embodied. It’s bonding. It's healing. It’s life-affirming. Some practicioners call it "my church", others simply call it fun. There's only one way to find out what it will be to you....
A history & links about current circlesinging, thanks to vocal improviser and educator Amado Ohland:
Many attribute the renaissance of the practice of circlesinging to Bobby McFerrin. There may have been other leaders who were experimenting with this form at about the same time, but Bobby helped raise it as an art and increase its visibility. Bobby recruited singers for a group he dubbed “Voicestra.” They appear on two tracks of his 1990 album “Medicine Music,” are recorded in the act on the 19th of July, 1997 episode of “Sessions at West 54th,” and are featured on the 1997 album “Circle Songs.”
Several members of that ensemble, perhaps most notably the WeBe3 trio of Rhiannon, Joey Blake, and Dave Worm (Sovoso, Glass House, Oakland Circlesings), kept the tradition going and developed other techniques for improvised choral singing. Together with Bobby McFerrin, Voicestra alumni Judi Donaghy Vinar and Christiane Karam, body percussionist and cooperative practicioner Zuza Gonçalves, and beatboxing artist Tiago Grade (Rizumik) they make up the faculty of a week-long workshop called Circlesongs, held at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. Patricia has attended the workshop four times.
Many attribute the renaissance of the practice of circlesinging to Bobby McFerrin. There may have been other leaders who were experimenting with this form at about the same time, but Bobby helped raise it as an art and increase its visibility. Bobby recruited singers for a group he dubbed “Voicestra.” They appear on two tracks of his 1990 album “Medicine Music,” are recorded in the act on the 19th of July, 1997 episode of “Sessions at West 54th,” and are featured on the 1997 album “Circle Songs.”
Several members of that ensemble, perhaps most notably the WeBe3 trio of Rhiannon, Joey Blake, and Dave Worm (Sovoso, Glass House, Oakland Circlesings), kept the tradition going and developed other techniques for improvised choral singing. Together with Bobby McFerrin, Voicestra alumni Judi Donaghy Vinar and Christiane Karam, body percussionist and cooperative practicioner Zuza Gonçalves, and beatboxing artist Tiago Grade (Rizumik) they make up the faculty of a week-long workshop called Circlesongs, held at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. Patricia has attended the workshop four times.
