Aimed at all levels of vocal artists, from curious novices to experienced singers, this multi-tutor workshop gathers some of the most influential vocalists working today to present a diverse array of vocal techniques and practices. Across five intimate, interactive videocall sessions, we'll explore vocal performance with groundbreaking composer and vocalist Maja Ratkje , ideas of beauty and vocal layering with Tuneyards creator Merrill Garbus , vocal health and wellbeing with renowned opera singer Elaine Mitchener , the outer limits of vocal practice with radical vocalist/composer/sound artist Ken Ueno , and Tuvan throat singing with the legendary Alash Ensemble .

This unmissable series of workshops will expand your vocal abilities, your technical vocal toolset, your knowledge and understanding of a wide range of vocal styles and techniques, and your ability to sing comfortably, sustainably, and happily for decades to come!

Kicking things off with a bang we have the amazing Alash Ensemble - Alash is a trio of master throat singers Bady-Dorzhu Ondar, Ayan-ool Sam and Ayan Shirizhik. Trained in traditional Tuvan music since childhood, first learning from their families, and later becoming students of master throat singers, the trio have gone on to gain worldwide acclaim and win the most prestigious awards in Tuvan music. Joining us will be Bady-Dorzhu Ondar, and Alash's manager, interpreter, and accomplished Xoomeizhi (throat singer), Sean Quirk.

At age four, Bady-Dorzhu Ondar was discovered by Kongar-ool Ondar, who took him on as a student. A few years later, Kongar-ool brought along his young protege when he toured the United States, where they appeared on the David Letterman and Chevy Chase Shows. Since then, he has toured in Russia, Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, and the United States, winning such acolades as best soloist at the 2005 All-Russian Festival of traditional ensembles and orchestras, and best in competition at the Maxim Dakpai Xoomei competition in 2006. In 2007, he was named a People's Xoomeizhi of the Republic of Tuva, the youngest person ever to receive this prestigious award. At the 2008 Xoomei Symposium, Bady-Dorzhu was awarded the grand prize for throat singing. He specializes in the kargyraa style of throat singing, and is especially talented on the igil and the guitar - he's a big Hendrix fan.

For their session, Bady and Sean will strive to bring the students to a holistic understanding of Tuva through its music, teaching not only the vocal techniques required for production of xoomei, sygyt, kargyraa and other Tuvan types of vocal music but also Tuvan instruments such as xomus, doshpuluur, shoor, and igil. Additionally, Alash Ensemble members will illustrate the connection of Tuvan music to the language, nature, and way of life of Tuva.

Next up, Elaine Mitchener leads a two hour session entitled "vocal wellbeing is a tough business". Elaine is a British Afro-Caribbean vocalist, movement artist and composer working between contemporary/experimental new music, free improvisation and visual art. She is currently a Wigmore Hall Associate Artist; was a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow (2022) and an exhibiting artist in the British Art Show 9 (2021-22). In February 2022 Elaine was awarded an MBE for Services to Music.

She has worked with some of the most celebrated composers working today, including George E Lewis, Jennifer Walshe, Tansy Davies, Rolf Hind, Laure M Hiendl, and Matana Roberts; visual artists Sonia Boyce, Christian Marclay and The Otolith Group; chamber ensembles Apartment House, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble MAM, Ensemble Klang, Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble and Klangforum Wien; choreographer Dam van Huynh and experimental musicians such as Moor Mother, Joelle Leandre, Saul Williams, Pat Thomas and David Toop. Elaine is founder of the collective electroacoustic unit The Rolling Calf.

Elaine's session presents an opportunity to take a moment to breathe, to ask ourselves and one another how we think about vocal health, how we tend to our whole bodies and how we learn to read our creative compasses as we navigate the tricky waters of vocal performance.

In session three, we'll join Ken Ueno for his workshop "Orchestrating the Voice and Person-Specificity as Anti-Hegemonic Resistance", during which Ken will discuss how he develops harmonies from the analysis of his vocal multiphonics, how he orchestrates them in his vocal concerto, and how his vocal practice stands as anti-hegemonic resistance.

A recipient of the Rome Prize and the Berlin Prize, Ken is a composer/vocalist/sound artist, and currently a Professor at UC Berkeley, where he holds the Jerry and Evelyn Hemmings Chambers Distinguished Professor Chair in Music. Ensembles and performers who have played Ken's music include Kim Kashkashian and Robyn Schulkowsky, Mayumi Miyata, Teodoro Anzellotti, Aki Takahashi, Wendy Richman, Greg Oakes, BMOP, Alarm Will Sound, Steve Schick and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Nieuw Ensemble, and Frances-Marie Uitti. His music has been performed at such venues as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MusikTriennale Köln Festival, the Muziekgebouw, Ars Musica, Warsaw Autumn, Other Minds, the Hopkins Center, Spoleto USA, Steim, and at the Norfolk Music Festival. Ken's piece for the Hilliard Ensemble, Shiroi Ishi, was featured in their repertoire for over ten years, with performances at such venues as Queen Elizabeth Hall in England, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and was aired on Italian national radio, RAI 3.

Merrill Garbus is best known as Tune-Yards - we'll just go ahead and say it, we're superfans! Active since 2008 with the release of the singular BiRd-BrAiNs, a groundbreaking lo-fi collection of incisive song-blasts recorded on a dictaphone, Tune-Yards has forged a truly unique sound, not least thanks to Merrill's unique vocal abilities. A year after the self-released cassette, Tune-Yards signed to 4AD and BiRd-BrAiNs got a full worldwide release, followed in 2011 by w h o k i l l, the band's second album, which ended up in numerous end of year lists including Time, Rolling Stone, Spin, and the New York Times. In early 2012, the Village Voice named Whokill the No. 1 album of 2011. 2014 saw the release of Tune-Yards third album Nikki Nack, and in 2018 Merrill's fourth album I Can Feel You Creep into My Private Life emerged, including the absolute bangers Look at Your Hands and Heart Attack. Album five - Sketchy - came out in 2021, keeping the energy high, the melodies wild and the messages deeply social. Music writer Heather Phares defined Merrill's work as "explorations of complex issues like race, gender, and privilege with bold song forms indebted to playground chants, work songs, and non-Western musical traditions".

In our fourth session, Merrill will take participants through her personal vocal practices, and ask questions to encourage the group to find new, previously unexplored pathways to sound. She'll focus on staying curious about the voice, and how that might encourage vocal health across decades. Participants will be asked to challenge their assumptions about "beauty" in voice, and ask what freedoms we might find upon redefining that word, for ourselves and for each other. Using basic recording software (just a phone is fine), the class will experiment with layering vocals as Merrill practices in her work with Tune-Yards, indulging in play as much as possible.

Performing composer Maja Ratkje is at the forefront of the musical avant-garde - at the heart of her music lies Maja's own voice, an open door to her individual musicianship and a constant tool for realigning her work with natural expressions and human truths. During her studies, Maja played in a gamelan ensemble, worked with the experimental percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love and joined the ensemble SPUNK as a vocalist, a move that would have a lasting impact on her day-to-day creativity. Her exploration of her own voice's timbral properties led to its involvement in the compositional process. In 2002, she released the album Voice, a catalogue of previously unexplored vocal production techniques fused with electronics that was awarded the Prix Ars Electronica. Maja's exploration of the voice as an instrument came to maturity in Concerto for Voice (2004), commissioned by Radio France.

According to Wire Magazine: "Anyone who has seen or heard Ratkje perform live will know what a superb musician she is, and one who can genuinely be said to be extending the expressive range of the voice through technical and technological means... her work is celebratory and inclusive, an energising rallying call to those who are curious enough to peek out from behind the curtain of mainstream mediocrity."

For our final session, Maja will shed light on her compositional and vocal performance work, and push you to explore your own vocal practice.



WHERE AND WHEN?

This is an online course, but it involves realtime sessions and contact time with your tutor - it's not a "download these videos and watch them at your leisure" type of thing - it's a real workshop with live lectures, individual tuition, assignments and feedback sessions. We've tried to make this remote session as close as possible to the experience of an onsite workshop at CAMP. The course starts on 03/11/2024 and ends on 25/11/2024. The schedule for sessions is as follows (all times are CET):

• Session 1 - Alash Ensemble: 03/11/2024, 14:00 - 17:00 CET
• Session 2 - Elaine Mitchener: 13/11/2024, 19:00 - 21:00 CET
• Session 3 - Ken Ueno: 17/11/2024, 19:00 - 22:00 CET
• Session 4 - Merrill Garbus: 20/11/2024, 19:00 - 22:00 CET
• Session 5 - Maja Ratkje: 25/11/2024, 19:00 - 22:00 CET

HOW TO BOOK

To book your place on the course, click the button in the green section above. You won't pay anything right now - we'll send you a booking confirmation email with everything you need to know next. Your place is reserved without payment for three days.

You'll find a payment link in the booking confirmation email - follow the link to make a payment (either in full, or the first payment of a 2 month payment plan). In the latter case, a monthly payment plan will be put in place, so your card will be charged 1/2 of the fee today, and 1/2 each month (on the same day) for an additional 1 months. All card payments are handled by Stripe, and are extremely secure. We don't store any card data ourselves - all of this is handled securely off-site by Stripe. If you have a discount or grant code, you will be able to add it when you follow the payment link in your confirmation email.

Once you've made a payment, you'll receive another email containing your receipt, links to resources, contact information and access to our group chat to discuss the workshop with other participants.