photo: Harry Shunyao Zhang

W O R K S H O P S

The workshop is designed to learn orally transmitted repertoire and strengthen vocal technique and listening skills based on my work as a facilitator, healer and vocal coach. These will require participants to be vocally fluent and to commit to becoming an ensemble of its own that can eventually engage with audiences as well. The repertoire will put an emphasis on oral transmission from various cultures, as well as my compositions. Workshops will be held on Sundays, 4-6pm. I request a monetary commitment for 4 sessions, to be attended within 2 months. I request a 4 session commitment as to ensure the stability and evolution of the choir. Exceptions will be made for participants who reside out of town, yet engage with AÏM choral collective core principles, as to contribute positively to established group dynamics. I encourage you to join this ensemble if you are interested in my aesthetic approach and would like to build a strong choral singing practice. The workshop includes everyone on the path of vocal mastery. This is a study group and as such, participants and facilitators are invited to hold space for mutual learning with a common understanding of liberation for a higher purpose. Guest teachers will be invited to share their research and experience with different singing traditions.

NEXT 2023 NYC WORKSHOPS: Register here

Sunday, 10/01 4-6pm Judson Memorial Church
Sunday, 10/08 4-6pm Judson Memorial Church
Sunday, 10/15 4-6pm Judson Memorial Church
Sunday, 10/22 CANCELLED
Sunday, 10/29 4-6pm Judson Memorial Church
Sunday, 11/5 4-6pm TBA
Sunday, 11/12 4-6pm Judson Memorial Church
Sunday, 11/19 4-6pm Judson Memorial Church
Sunday, 11/26 4-6pm Judson Memorial Church

• The rehearsal is a group made of the section leaders and focuses on more complex composition material from resident composer Anaïs Maviel for upcoming 2023-24 performances. This group is made of a rotating cast of 12 vocalists who are involved in the professional development of the vocal ensemble, with leadership roles ranging from rehearsal direction to admin. This leadership group will occasionally welcome workshop participants to join on specific projects and performances as well.
  
  
  

• TBA third ensemble is designed for folks who cannot attend in person but wish to cultivate a regular, collective singing and self exploratory practice with my guidance. Workshops will be online, include one-on-one vocal accompaniment, sound healing, group cultural exchange, remote choral recording and will launch in January 2024.
  

Please reach out to inquire about participation, commitment and locations.

Circle Singing

Vocal Freedom

Relating & healing through voice & oral transmission:
The voice is an ancestral and powerful music instrument, that everybody can enjoy : every body sings, as every heart beats! I offer a workshop around the use of the voice as a vessel to connect  with cyclic, oral histories / herstories of humanities and creation, in relation to the self and to societal transformations. Voice as a tool to ground in ancestral, spiritual practices as well as to explore utopian, political liberation narratives. From traditional singing to free improvisation, voice is a vessel for transmission of knowledge of the one and the multiple. I understand tradition as a culture that adjusts to the needs of the present, which is always in transformation, always integrates new stories and other perspectives.
Using a repertoire of traditional songs from Afrocentric continuum and beyond, we explore multiple (infinite) possibilities of the singing voice and the body as communication instruments: vibration, syllables, words, melody, harmony, counterpoint & percussion. Basic vocal technique and physical warm up always start the sessions to give space to everyone to empower with their own instrument. This workshop is for all.

I offer a workshop around the use of the voice as a liberating music instrument. Voice as a tool to ground in ancestral practices as well as to explore societal and futurist narratives. Drawing from deep listening and healing embodied practices, we'll use vocal technique, tone and presence as premises to approaching vocal improvisation. Invoking oral histories of circle singing and chanting, we'll ground our exploration in the body as archive. From there, sonic possibilities are infinite, among rhythms, melodies, harmonies and counterpoints inherent to our experience of self in relation to each other and to our environment. Vocal improvisation thus serves our unique and complex communication journey, in playfulness. Our study will structure around the following axes:
-Listening: the ear, essential tool to expression
-Knowing the voice: body / tone / language
-Communication: the voice in relation
-Improvisation / culture / self / togetherness: what is freedom?

Sound Healing

Your ear is the sense that is most directly related to your emotional brain. It is also the one sense that is constantly stimulated. Rather that perceiving this as a vulnerable, soft spot, we use the ear as an access point to deep meditation. To find inner silence, inner peace with healing vibrations, sounds that attune to the extraordinary openness and sensitivity of hearing. To balance outer and inner ear, and connect to a safe, trusting space deep inside, that is yours only to retreat within and to explore. I propose to connect to our core intentions, and balance out our energies in relationship to environment and acoustics. I use sacred instruments such as Tibetan singing bowls made of 7 metals, voice, percussion & gong to work on vibratory balancing. As music holds space for transformation in traditional societies, the sessions are rooted in the possibility to move from a place to another, energetically, emotionally, collectively.

For scheduling a private session please contact me via home page.
For being informed of the workshops and community sound healing sessions please sign up below.

vocal studies background

current offerings

I studied vocal improvisation at Paris 13th Conservatory with Claudia Solal, as well as Beñat Achiary & Jen Shyu, vocal technique with Hélène Sage and Judith Berkson, and vocal caranatic singing (South Indian) with Kamini Dandapani. I studied sound healing and circle singing with master improviser William Parker and music therapist Dominique Sylvain (Joyshanti), as well as with Meredith Monk Ensemble. My development as a vocalist was closely in touch with various singing and body rhythm traditions from Africa (especially Shona from Zimbabwe) and the African Diaspora (especially Haiti & Brazil). I approach teaching as an exchange: as an eternal student, teaching and learning are part of the same cycle. I have taught singing classes from beginners to professionals in Paris, New York & São Paulo, circle singing and vocal improvisation workshops in the US, Haiti, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile from favelas to universities. Thus I became an unique facilitator for community-based circle singing, vocal improvisation, body percussion & vocal technique supporting musical freedom and collective empowerment.

- Sounding Body at Movement Research
- Individual classes with focus on creative development; singing technique; improvisation. Rhythm, harmony and melody, vocal studies, and initiation to percussion. From beginners to accomplished musicians, all ages.
- Individual sound healing sessions
- Circle singing workshops
- "Story Songs of the African Diaspora" - free workshops in New York public libraries, in partnership with Urban Stages
- Children & young adults:
Performative musical creativity through voice, body rhythm & percussion training. Gently providing the bases for musicians and performers' skills sustainable growth.
Interactive Afrocentric oral history classes